Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy very much for his question. I start by joining him in welcoming the agreement that was reached last night to appoint a new Executive and a new First Minister, Paul Givan, and facilitate the reappointment of Michelle O’Neill as deputy First Minister. Mr. Givan and Ms O'Neill are now co-equals and joint heads of the Administration in Northern Ireland. Despite the fact that one of their titles may suggest otherwise, they are joint leaders of that Administration and should be treated as such. I look forward to meeting them on Friday should the meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council go ahead.

I welcome the fact that we have agreement on an Irish language Act, Acht na Gaeilge, going ahead as well as increased legal protections and rights for Ulster Scots speakers. This should not threaten anyone’s identity and it is supported by the majority of parties and people in Northern Ireland. There is a Welsh Language Act, a Gaelic Language Act in Scotland and an Official Languages Act here. What was agreed last night has been a long time coming. A commitment was made by the sovereign Governments at St. Andrews a long time ago and a commitment was made by the parties in Northern Ireland to each other. I look forward to seeing all of those involved honouring their commitments on language rights and legislation within the next year.

Let there be no doubt that I am somebody who believes in homeownership, as does my party and the Government. More than 65% of people in Ireland own their own homes. We have one of the higher rates of homeownership in the developed world. That is not because of Sinn Féin, it is because of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The problem we face is that that is not a reality for the vast majority of younger people. By younger people, I do not just mean those in their 20s and 30s. The situation has got that bad, I am also referring to people in their 40s. It is our mission over the next three years to turn that around and make homeownership a reality again for many more people than is the case today.

On property prices, the Deputy is correct in saying that they are going up. They went up by approximately 4.5% in the past year. It is worth pointing out that, notwithstanding this, home values in Ireland are still substantially lower than was the case when they peaked 14 years ago. Essentially, what has happened is that the Central Bank rules have been successful in putting a lid on house prices - they are less than they were 14 years ago - but they have caused rents to soar. That is real problem and has created a perverse situation and a real paradox whereby houses are cheaper to buy than they were 14 years ago but many people cannot get adequate mortgage approval to buy homes. They now end up paying more in rent than they would do if they were able to get an adequate mortgage. I welcome the fact that the Central Bank is now reviewing its policy.

I appreciate that this is a complex matter. There is a concern that if we allow people to secure larger mortgages, it may cause house prices to rise. Nobody wants that to happen. At the same time, it may actually drive supply and get developers and builders into the space where they are building properties for amounts that people, if they can get mortgages, can afford. All of that has to be worked out. There is a potential role for Government in all of this. If we look at the model in the Netherlands, for example, the Government there provides partial guarantees for first-time buyers to obtain mortgages for reasonably priced houses in order to protect them against negative equity. Perhaps we can examine models in that regard.

In the context of the Deputy’s question on increasing the budget for housing, we continue to do that. We have increased that budget dramatically. In 2016, 600 social houses were built. In 2019 and 2020 it was more like 6,000.

There has been a tenfold increase in the building of social housing by the State and its agencies in that brief period. Once we had the money to do it, we did it. We will build on that, and the Deputy will see the details of that in Housing for All when it is published.

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