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

I thank the Deputy and do not disagree with what he is saying. There are many different bottlenecks and points where one can run into trouble in terms of housing construction. All of those bottlenecks must be dealt with to allow for a clear and flowing pipeline of houses, which is what we want. I agree with the Deputy that every town and village in Ireland should be able to expand. I do not mean a return to sprawl or to development distant from the major cities, but any town in Ireland should be able to expand and we need to ensure that is reflected in our planning laws. Smaller builders who can build houses in fours and fives, relatively inexpensively and on relatively small sites, can make a big difference for people. That is a part of what Home Building Finance Ireland, HBFI, is supposed to be doing in lending to those small builders. It is doing that, although perhaps not to the extent it should be.

The Deputy is also right when he says that meeting the target of 40,000 houses per year as soon as possible, although we have not yet decided what year that will happen, is not just about building new houses from scratch. It must also be about bringing derelict houses back into use. Although I would not count such projects in the 40,000, we also need to ensure that vacant properties are brought back into use.

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