Dáil debates

Thursday, 8 July 2021

Affordable Housing Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

4:05 pm

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for tabling their amendments. This Bill will increase supply. We all want supply increased. I did not mean to interrupt Deputy O'Callaghan but I want to be clear that this is not about tipping any balance in favour of anyone else. It is about young and not so young people, and individuals and families being able to buy a home. We know this, so let us be clear.

I am conscious too that those who have spoken so far on these amendments, including me, are all Dubs. I say this because there are areas of the city and county that are seeing quite a lot of development. There are, however, affordability issues in other parts of country. Deputy Jackie Cahill spoke earlier from a Tipperary perspective. There may be times where there is a small development. Let us consider the working couple or individual who would meet the criteria, which we will publish, for an affordable home, but maybe in Graiguenamanagh, or Carlow, or somewhere else. We want to allow the flexibility to help them to own that home. It may be a small development of ten homes, for example, and above the Part V provision of 20%, which will increase in the Bill. Large affordable housing estates may not be built in their area. In such an instance, we will take the equity, as Deputy Ó Broin rightly said, through our affordable housing fund. It is to allow that flexibility. The acute areas of affordability relate to our main cities, especially Dublin and Cork, but we are seeing this issue throughout the country. I want to ensure that citizens, through their local authority, have the ability to own an affordable home. We want to get local authorities, which is the preference, to build these mixed-tenure homes. This Bill will provide for that. I have issued a circular to all local authorities on bringing forward mixed-tenure social and affordable schemes, where heretofore they had only been able to bring forward on their own lands single-tenure social housing schemes. While they are important, we want to bring forward mixed-tenure schemes with social and affordable housing. With the passing of the Bill, local authorities will be able to do that, and I have asked them to do so.

In this specific instance, I do not see this as anything that will be the norm, but as I said, it allows that flexibility in places where there may not be a lot of development, such as in other parts of the State outside our main regional cities. That is the purpose of this provision.

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