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

Let us see what is really happening out there. Let us look at the figures with regards to increased housing supply. In the first quarter of this year, there were 5,669 new homes completed. There were 34,846 commencement notices received in the 12 months to February this year. It was the single biggest number of commencement notices in a 12-month period since figures were collated in 2011, and it was the same with quarter 1.

What we need to do is to make sure there are homes for people to purchase. How are we doing that? We are doing it through the affordable housing fund, which, by the way, is open to every local authority. There are 18 local authorities in the plan right now. We addressed it last week as well where we have other schemes coming in from other local authorities. What have I done with the affordable housing fund? We have raised the subvention to €100,000 to address affordability issues in the areas in which they are most acute, particularly in the cities but not exclusively so. That has been done already. Some 1,731 new homes have been approved under the affordable housing fund already. One does not turn this around overnight. The Housing for All plan was launched last September and is taking root already. People deserve honesty. They deserve a real plan that will work and that is taking effect rather than them coming here and quoting figures that are one quarter of what Deputy Ó Broin knows anyway, because he deliberately left out the other part of the answer within the parliamentary question. That might suit a narrative, and that is fine. In fairness, people will look through that.

Let us look at what homeownership means to Sinn Féin. I have been clear that I believe in homeownership and I believe people should get a start, but Sinn Féin's affordable housing would apparently deliver leasehold homes. One would not own the home at the end of it and Sinn Féin would restrict who can buy that home and whom one can sell it to. What it is conditional homeownership. We need to make sure that across the board the measures taken by the Government activate supply. That is the reason the Croí Cónaithe cities fund was launched today. Believe it or not, there are thousands of planning permissions, particularly in the cities, where we need compact urban growth. We need to develop within the cities the brownfield sites that Sinn Féin says it wants to develop. One needs a plan to do so and we are brave enough to put that forward and deliver it.

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