Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand the theory. The problem is that it is going to run into some significant problems in practice, particularly when we look at the pipeline. As the Minister is aware, 2020 is the last year for which we have figures, and half of all new-build social homes were turnkey units delivered by local authorities and approved housing bodies. The other half was partly Part Vs and partly direct builds. Given the pipeline in the social housing sector, it is difficult to see how that is going to ramp up in respect of direct delivery this year and next year. It may happen by the end of the plan, but not in its first years. The Minister has also added the affordable housing fund, the cost-rental equity loan, Project Tosaigh for the Land Development Agency, LDA, and the Croí Cónaithe cities fund, including forward purchase agreements for the Housing Agency for apartments in the cities.

Given the limited targets in the Minister's plan, it is hard to see how new-build activity developed by those agencies is going to deliver those targets. The pipeline is not there for this year and next year and probably not even into the year after. That means turnkey units and forward purchases are going to be required and those mechanisms often activate supply. While we may disagree with how this process may pan out, the question is, what are the Minister, his Department and those agencies going to do to ensure that there is not increased competition for turnkey units and forward purchases, thus pushing up prices for public housing delivery and squeezing out owner-occupier purchasers?

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