Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising these matters. First, I am somebody who believes in home ownership. This is a Government that believes in home ownership. I am not sure that is really true for many of the people opposite or on the left of politics in Ireland. Some 70% of people in this country own their own home and we want that to be a reality for people in their 20s and 30s. A huge part of our Housing for All policy is making the dream of home ownership a reality for more people in Ireland of all ages, particularly those in their 20s and 30s who now find it so hard to get a mortgage and find a home they can afford to buy.

What are we doing? We are increasing supply. Just in the past 12 months, the number of new homes that started construction hit 30,000. That is really encouraging. It is not so long ago that only 5,000 or 6,000 new homes were being built in Ireland every year. We are now up to approximately 30,000 new homes being built every year. As those homes become available, we will see more people being able to buy their first home, which is really encouraging. It is disappointing to see so many people, including members of the Deputy's party, objecting to new homes being built. In Drumcondra, for example, people objected to homes being built because they are one-bedroom apartments. Surely the Deputy knows how many young people are single. One of the changes that has happened in our society is that people tend to form their households later in life, get married later and be single for longer. Objecting to housing on the basis that it comprises one-bed apartments, as the Social Democrats so often does, really misunderstands the fact there are so many single people in society now. In fact, one of our biggest deficiencies in housing supply in Ireland is that we are a country of three-bedroom homes, by and large, and we do not have enough one-bedroom homes. I really encourage the Social Democrats to end its opposition to one-bedroom apartments and housing of that nature because I think it is wrong-headed.

Another thing we are doing is the help-to-buy scheme which, again, was opposed by a lot of people in this House. Very many of the people, particularly younger people, who have managed to buy a home for the first time in the past couple of years were able to do so because the help-to-buy scheme helped them to raise a deposit. That would be taken away from them if this Government was removed and replaced by a government of the left. Such a government would take that away. It might help them with a rent credit or something like that but it would take away 20 times more by getting rid of the help-to-buy scheme. I encourage all Members opposite to reconsider their opposition to the scheme, because it is one of the things that helps younger people, and young couples in particular, to buy their first home.

We are also making mortgages more available. A lot of people are paying very high rents of €1,500 to €2,000 a month or even more but cannot get a mortgage that would cost €1,500 or €1,400 per month. This leaves them trapped paying very high rents, unable to get a mortgage they could afford to pay. We are helping with that by expanding the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme to make it available to more people and making it a local authority loan.

See this speech in context