Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy the last thing we want to do is to squeeze out owner-occupier first-time buyers. That is why every measure we put in place in the Housing for All policy, such as those mentioned by the Deputy, including the first home shared equity scheme, which will kick in at the end of quarter 2 and be able to help people to bridge the gap between the finance they have and what they need through the State taking an equity share, is a supply-side measure. We are advertising advanced purchasing arrangements now among all the local authorities to activate planning permissions that would not have been brought forward otherwise. We have had a decent response to Project Tosaigh operating through the LDA. Again, that is concerned with compact growth in areas in our cities, but not exclusively so, where we have issues with affordability.

Those are short-term supply measures as well. I assure the Deputy that the pipeline we have in social housing for the next several years is actually very strong. That is why we need local authorities and local authority members to continue to support the delivery of social housing. We approved at Cabinet only today the start of the construction phase to provide 1,047 homes at O'Devaney Gardens. That involves an investment by the State of just short of €135 million. I remind the Deputy that his party opposed this project in Dublin City Council, DCC. These are 1,047 new homes for working people.

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