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

I look forward to this and I will assess myself in a positive way any application that comes forward that makes sense. That is one aspect of how we deal with affordability.

The second one, which is open to all 31 local authorities in the Republic of Ireland, is the First Home shared equity scheme. I referred to this earlier and I will launch this scheme on 1 July of this year. This will be a game changer for thousands of young and not-so-young people who heretofore were not able to buy their own home. This will bridge the gap between the finance they have and the finance they need by the State taking an equity in that. That will be available to potential homeowners in Tipperary and, I inform Deputy Healy Rae, in Kerry.

I also refer to what we are doing in respect to vacancy. The Croí Cónaithe towns and villages scheme, which we will launch shortly, will provide assistance to people to take vacant property that is in our main streets, right through Tipperary, Kerry and across this country, to be able to bring vacant properties back into use and to enable people to buy them. We will provide support for those homes to be renovated on the basis that they are bought by owner-occupiers, because I believe in homeownership.

I also believe in providing social homes for people who need them. That is why this year we will provide 9,000 new-build social homes. This will be the highest number of such new builds in any year since the foundation of the State. I thank the Deputy for his support for the Affordable Housing Act, and the plan is taking hold now. Unlike what others will say, which is that this situation can be resolved overnight, it cannot and the people know that too. We are making progress, however, in that space. We have seen approximately 5,700 commencements on new homes in the first quarter of this year. This is the highest amount since 2011. We have also seen more than 46,000 homes purchased to February 2022. There are still issues and I am not saying the situation is resolved - nothing close to it - but we have the most targeted plan to deliver affordable, social homes, tackle vacancy and drive down homelessness throughout this country that any government has brought forward.

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