Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

-----headlines and criticism. None of that has ever produced a house. None of them has ever produced a house.

The target we need to produce is large but doable. It also creates another problem in that it leads to significant carbon emissions if these are all to be new builds, which I do not believe they will be. Concrete production is an enormous carbon emitter. If we take the existing stock of derelict and vacant buildings, and stock that is going into obsolescence, and provide the resources for people to refurbish them, it will also be a game changer. There are hundreds of kilometres of commercial streets with two or three storeys above them where no one is living. That brings life and vibrancy back into a town after 5 p.m. When the shutters come down, there is still life and light on the streets, which is important for a sense of security in local communities.

We need to match that town centre living with commensurate investment in the public realm in the creation of those nice public amenity places with good wide footpaths, safe walking routes to school and all the matching infrastructure that goes with living in a town centre. For the bigger projects we can do much of that through the town and village renewal, the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, and the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, funding. However, for the smaller projects we need to ensure our local authorities are well enough resourced and have the capacity to carry out the audits in our town centres to see where we need those small interventions and small bits of work that would make living over the shops or in the town centre attractive for residents and draw people into it.

Carrying out the health checks and audits for our towns is a vital part of deciding where and how we should direct public funds to generate the best return for the economic and societal benefits and to create towns that are attractive to live in. It all takes resources at local level as well as national level. Our local authority resources and staff are under pressure all the time. I welcome giving local authorities better powers to compulsorily purchase vacant and derelict buildings, to regenerate them and bring them back into use for society, but we need to resource them to do the extra work the compulsory purchase order, CPO, scheme demands.

It is important to audit our towns, identifying sites where there is no impediment to development and liaising with owners to encourage them or show them how they can change the use of these properties. Even trying to find the owners can be difficult in certain circumstances. Staff who are already under pressure do not always have the luxury of being able to do that.

There will be challenges with upskilling the construction sector for apprentices for professional services to deal with the new build, refurbishment and repurposing of buildings. The retrofitting of 500,000 units of our existing housing stock will be another challenge. However, it will create thousands of long-term, well-paid professional and trade jobs. I acknowledge the work done by the Minister, Deputy Harris, and others to encourage the uptake of apprenticeships.

This plan is costed, realistic, deliverable and funded. It will provide certainty for people who want to buy, build or rent at affordable costs. It commits to ending homelessness. It is the largest ever State intervention in a public building programme. It is State led and plan led. It will take time to get there but the route is clear. The legislation has been passed and more is on the way to ensure we deliver on housing, which is the most immediate critical issue we face.

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