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

Ar dtús báire, arís, níl an fhírinne a rá ag an Teachta. Níl an ceart aici. Go bunúsach, is í an aidhm atá ag an Rialtas ná tithe a chur ar fáil do dhaoine ar fud na tíre, na gnáthdhaoine agus cosmhuintir na tíre. Is í sin an t-aon aidhm amháin atá ag an Rialtas. The Deputy's attempts to portray Government policy as being almost exclusively about institutional investors are very wide off the mark, disingenuous and dishonest. The fundamental tenet of Government policy has been to provide the largest allocation in the history of the State to house construction. Capital housing funding of more than €4 billion will be provided in 2022. That is a fact. We are looking at providing 1,580 cost-rental homes next years by approved housing bodies, AHBs, local authorities and the Land Development Agency, LDA, at 25% below market rate. That is what we are interested in - making sure people can either rent or buy a house at an affordable rate and, in addition, providing very substantial amounts of social housing.

We have introduced the new national first home affordable purchase shared equity scheme, the Rebuilding Ireland home loans scheme and the help-to-buy-schemes. The Government has already introduced five rental Acts to help to deal with rent issues during the Covid emergency. In addition, the Minister is bringing in legislation to reduce the level of rent increases in rent pressure zones, RPZs, to 2%. That has been approved by Government. Again, the aim is to seek to protect tenants in every way possible, including students, having previously dealt with the upfront payments students have to pay. The Government has approved that Bill to cap rent increases in RPZs to no more than 2% per annum pro rata. Project Tosaigh, providing €1 billion, will enable the LDA to deliver approximately 5,000 affordable homes. Budget 2022, as the Deputy knows, provides for the delivery of more than 11,800 social homes in 2022, of which 9,000 will be new builds. In voids alone, 5,500 social homes have been brought back into use over the past 18 months by the Government. A further 1,500 voids are to be remediated and brought back into use next year.

Why do I say all of that?

See this speech in context