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

Níl an ceart ag an Teachta. Tá fianaise ann go bhfuil polasaí an Rialtais ag obair. Tá níos mó tithíochta á cruthú againn. Tá sé sin soiléir ó na figiúirí atá againn maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta.

The Deputy is not correct in saying that the Housing for All strategy, launched last September, is not working. It is working. There has been a rebound in construction activity since we emerged from Covid. Covid did cause difficulties. It closed down construction for a substantial period in 2020 and 2021 and the impacts of that are still being felt. Notwithstanding that, 35,000 homes were commenced in the year to March 2022. That is the highest rolling 12-month average since 2008. That is a significant figure - 35,000 new commencements. There were 31,000 homes commenced in 2021, the highest since 2008. There were 24,000 apartments commenced, while the number of apartments completed increased by over 30% year on year. There were 43,000 planning permissions granted in 2021, a fourfold increase on 2011 but we still need more supply. Housing for All is a substantive suite of policies that is designed to increase supply. That is fundamental.

The RTB index relates to new tenancies. The ESRI is saying that if it was not for the rent pressure zones, RPZs, and the restriction of increases to 2% that rents would be far higher in existing tenancies. The RPZs are having an impact but in terms of new tenancies, the increases are very worrying. They are not satisfactory but they are related to the supply issue. There is an onus on everybody to facilitate the supply of housing. Sinn Féin objects to build-to-rent developments here in the Republic. Deputy McDonald keeps opposing it and her party opposes it in terms of planning applications and so on, on a consistent basis, and yet in Belfast there is no difficulty. Her party supports 800 apartments in Belfast in a big development there of build-to-rent units. It is a different policy in the North that her party engages in, which is in complete contrast to how it operates in the Republic in terms of its opposition to a whole series of developments.

The cost-rental initiative within Housing for All is very important. The first cost-rental tenancies are now in place in Balbriggan and Leixlip, with rental prices at least 40% below comparable market levels. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage opened 50 further cost-rental homes in Stepaside last April. We have targeted 9,000 new-build social homes in 2022 but Sinn Féin has never explained how you can double that in one year. The party just threw that figure out there, with no substance. It is top-of-the-head stuff. Working with people in the field and in the Department, we have said that we want to target 9,000 new builds in social housing for 2022, between approved housing bodies, AHBs, and the local authorities and we will continue to do that. Since the Government came into office, because of a new emphasis on voids, we have brought back close to 6,000 local authority voids for reallocation to those on the social housing list. A further 2,000 will be brought back in 2022.

A range of initiatives is being taken to increase supply significantly and as I said, that has happened. In Dublin, for example, we are 78% up on the number of units commenced in the year to March 2022 as against March 2021. Outside of Dublin, we are up by 139%.

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