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

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The issues concerning housing in Tipperary are ones that are reflected across the entire country. The only response to it is a sustainable comprehensive one, which is what the Government has provided in the form of Housing for All.

Housing for All provides a comprehensive set of measures and targets with financial backing to increase housing supply. That is the most fundamental thing we can do in relation to the housing situation, which is difficult and challenging for many people, particularly the scarcity of supply.

Basically, Housing for All is committing to the creation on average of 33,000 homes per annum over the lifetime of the plan. We have had setbacks with Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021, in terms of the lockdowns which slowed down construction in housing, but there has been a very significant rebound since then, with 31,000 commencements in the year to January 2022, which is a 48.4% increase year on year. That is the highest rolling 12-month total since comparable data were first published. Construction of 1,861 homes commenced in January 2022. That figure is up 35% on January 2021.

Approximately 20,400 houses were completed in 2021, while the number of apartments completed increased by over 30% for the year. Progress is being made and we have got to make much, much more. It really is about supply on the house construction side, and then a variety of offers to people including affordable housing, in terms of the local authorities supporting affordable housing with State backing, social housing, of which we want to construct up to 10,000 annual with the approved social housing bodies and the local authorities, cost rental, which will be increasingly more significant as an option for people and we want to develop a critical mass of supply on the cost rental front, as well as giving supports to help to buy through the shared equity scheme to young first-time buyers. Last year, approximately 46,000 homes were purchased, with over 30% of these being bought by first-time buyers.

Approximately 40,000 planning permissions were granted up to quarter 3 in 2021.

HAP is a huge provision from the State. At the end of quarter 3 in 2021, over 97,500 HAP tenancies had been set up since the scheme commenced. This comprises more than 62,000 households actively in receipt of HAP support and over 33,400 separate landlords and agents providing accommodation to households supported by the scheme. Budget 2022 allocated €585 million in Exchequer funding for the HAP scheme. That will enable a further projected 14,000 households to be supported, in addition to the supports to existing recipients.

There are facilities whereby each local authority has statutory discretion to agree to a HAP payment of up to 20% above the prescribed maximum rent limit to secure appropriate accommodation for a household that requires it.

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