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

I thank the Deputy for raising the question and the issue. The Government came into office more than a year and a half ago, and I have made it clear that housing is the key social issue facing our country and society. Ireland needs, on average, 33,000 homes constructed per annum right out until 2030. These homes are needed to satisfy demand for housing across all four types of tenure: affordable, social, private rental and private ownership. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in the context of the Housing for All strategy, has broken down the tenure types as follows in respect of our objectives: 11,800 new privately owned homes; 6,500 new private rental homes; 4,100 new affordable homes; and 10,300 new social housing homes. Therefore, the State is investing the largest amount of capital ever in social and affordable housing, with clear targets to reach the figure of 33,000, which we desperately need to get to. Supply is a bit like last year and the year before because of Covid. There is a need in the market and there will be demand in the market for 6,500 new private rental homes per year. If the market supplies fewer than that number, rents will rise even further. We cannot wish away the basic law of supply and demand. We need more supply, and we need it as quickly as possible.

I have been very consistent and open in the House in saying the State sector will invest in an unprecedented way in social and affordable houses. We will also need private investment to make sure we reach the target of 33,000 across all four types of housing we want, from cost-rental and affordable housing to social and private housing.

With respect to funds, including institutional funds, we have already passed planning laws and introduced taxation measures to stop the bulk-buying of houses and homes in the State. The Deputy knows that. That is the position. An Bord Pleanála has followed up on that with recent decisions, copper-fastening the legislative changes the Minister has made. It is basically about supply. I am aware that the Deputy may not agree and does not like me raising the issue of supply. People are objecting to various projects on an ongoing basis. If we believe there is a crisis, as I do, we do not have the luxury of consistently opposing planning applications for social, affordable and private housing. The Deputy opposed 1,100 rental homes on Clonliffe Road. She may have had good reasons for doing so, but I find it hard to reconcile the definition of a "crisis" with wholesale serial objections to projects that would supply homes that are badly needed.

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