Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Deputy where she stands. I listened to her soundbite after soundbite, slogan after slogan, which is really all about electioneering, is it not? The reference to Ringsend is no accident, obviously. We have all been out and about. I am very conscious of the significant issue that housing is. I have said repeatedly in the House that housing is a crisis. The Government is just about 12 months in office, dealing with a global pandemic that, unfortunately, impacted on house-building in 2020 by about 5,000 houses that we could have got built if there had not been a lockdown, and the lockdown of 2021 has impacted on us as well. That said, the Government has been very focused on building more houses, getting more supply into the market, which is the key issue, and doing it in such a way that we can make it affordable for people.

The Deputy knows the figures. About €3.3 billion has been allocated for housing alone in 2021. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is introducing a shared equity scheme, which will help people in terms of affordability, and the Government enhanced the help-to-buy scheme last year. That has helped about 22,000 buyers get on the property ladder. That is 22,000 people who have benefited from that scheme, yet the Deputy opposed that scheme and then comes to the House and lectures everybody else about affordability and trying to make housing affordable. She cannot have it both ways in respect of her stance on housing.

The Deputy seems to want to exploit it to win votes but comes up with very few solutions to it. She opposes every measure the Government introduces to try to make housing affordable. She is opposing the Affordable Housing Bill and the measures the Minister is introducing, in regard not just to shared equity but also to the enhancement of the serviced sites fund, which will involve the State providing thousands of affordable new homes over the next year or two. She opposes an extension and expansion of Part V of the Planning and Development Act to designate a range of homes for first-time buyers.

The first ever cost-rental scheme, being introduced by the Minister and providing up to 400 units, will be expanded significantly in 2022 and beyond. We have brought about 2,500 voids back into use very quickly through the July stimulus funding of last year. The Land Development Agency Bill is going through the Oireachtas and will provide additional capacity, through the agency, to get more houses built - both affordable and social. The initial portfolio for the Land Development Agency can potentially provide up to 4,000 homes to 2025, yet the Deputy opposes that also.

Family homelessness, in the past 12 months, has decreased by 39% on the total recorded in March 2020. It is the lowest number of families in emergency accommodation since February 2016. In a short space of time, that represents very significant progress by the Minister on this issue. He is using every possible opportunity, including a suite of affordable measures and a strong social housing programme, to try to get additional supply into the market.

In sharp contrast to that, the Deputy opposes all the affordability measures that have been introduced to date and that will be introduced in the coming while, and on the ground her party has been opposing many housing projects that are shovel ready. Thousands of houses have been rejected and opposed by her party, which is completely inconsistent with the stance she takes in the House.

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