Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome today's discussion. At times, it has felt like a debate on the Housing for All programme. On that issue, when this legislation was being discussed in the summer, there were many debates in this House, although we were in the convention centre at the time. The issue had a very good airing. Obviously, some Deputies chose not to support it but ultimately all of us are coming from a good place on this. We all acknowledge that rents are too high. First-time buyers cannot access affordable housing and people are waiting years for social housing. It is clear the market-led system has failed. Everyone should have access to sustainable, good quality housing to rent or buy at an affordable price.

Housing for All is a massive State intervention in the housing market that will deliver social and affordable housing. It will transform how we deliver housing across Ireland. Housing for All is a plan that will assist the squeezed middle in buying their first homes and ensure that families on lower incomes have access to social housing. It will transform communities.

Housing for All will also facilitate a massive increase in the supply of housing. We often hear about the lack of supply in this Chamber. The plan commits to the delivery of 300,000 homes over its lifetime. These will include 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes, 18,000 cost rental homes and 156,000 new private homes to rent or buy. The State is taking responsibility for delivering 50% of all housing over the next decade. People talked about radical change earlier on. This is a radical step. It involves a €20 billion investment over the next five years. By any measure, that is a massive intervention in the market and is unprecedented in the history of the State.

Housing for All looks beyond housing output and includes commitments to increase rental protections, to eradicate homelessness, to introduce Kenny report-style powers with regard to land value and to establish a commission on housing.

Housing for All provides a number of pathways to accessing housing. For first-time buyers, the plan will increase the supply of affordable housing to purchase. We have seen pilot schemes deliver these homes at €250,000 or under. The plan will deliver 36,000 new affordable homes, including thousands in Dún Laoghaire, where we are seeing the first homes being built in Shanganagh. The first house scheme gives first-time buyers a chance to bridge the funding gap, with the State taking an equity stake in homes.

For renters, Housing for All creates an entire new affordable cost-rental system whereby people will be able to rent at rates at least 25% below local rents. We have seen the first of these units let in Enniskerry Road in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and 200 more are planned in Shanganagh, in Shankill, County Dublin. It will also improve tenants' rights, place caps on deposits, cap rent increases and introduce tenancies of indefinite duration which will give people certainty in their homes. For people who need to access social housing, the plan will deliver 90,000 new social homes. Local authorities will again start building homes, supported by approved housing bodies like Tuath and Respond.

Housing for All is an ambitious plan, as is recognised across the Chamber, but there will be challenges. The cost of construction needs to be addressed. We need to see reductions in input costs such as the €7,500 Irish Water levy; the equivalent is a mere €1,278 in the UK. We also need to see action on felling licences for timber. We need to address labour shortages. I welcome the plan to ramp up apprenticeships that is being pursued by the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins. There are also plans for a national centre of excellence to advance construction technology and methods.

However, what is perhaps the biggest challenge is in this Chamber. I call on Deputies to get behind the plan. As one Opposition Deputy said earlier, we need houses now. We have a plan. Let us get behind it. The public will not thank Deputies who continue to play politics with their future.

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