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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 20, inclusive, together.

The Cabinet committee on housing has met seven times to date in 2021, most recently on Monday, 30 August. The next Cabinet committee on housing is yet to be scheduled. The committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters.

The focus of recent meetings has been on the completion of the Housing for All plan, which the Government published on 2 September. Housing for All builds on much progress and hard work in recent years, despite the setbacks due to Covid-19. It is the most ambitious housing plan in the history of our State and contains a range of actions and measures to ensure more than 300,000 new homes will be built by 2030. This figure includes 90,000 social, 36,000 affordable purchase and 18,000 cost rental homes.

Crucially, the actions outlined in the plan are backed by more than €4 billion in annual guaranteed State investment in housing over the coming years, including through Exchequer funding and Land Development Agency and Housing Finance Agency investment. The plan includes measures to support availability of the land, workforce, funding and capacity to enable both the public and private sectors to meet the targets.

Through Housing for All, we will also continue to support our most vulnerable, including those experiencing homelessness and those who have more complex housing needs. The plan will provide the basis for a long-term sustainable housing system for this and future generations and supports the ambitions of the forthcoming climate action plan through measures on retrofitting and waste reduction.

There will be a strong focus on implementation of the Housing for All plan. A delivery group of Secretaries General will oversee delivery, and a unit in my Department will prepare quarterly progress reports on implementation of the plan. This will set out performance against the targets and actions in the plan in a clear and comprehensible way.

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