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

More than 6,000 voids have been brought back into use in the past two years as a result of the initiative of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage on that. We want to get to at least 33,000 a year. I think the target this year is about 24,000 and last year, about 20,0000 was achieved, given Covid had an impact on that. Interestingly, from March last year to March this year, we had the highest ever number of commencements, at about 35,000. The war on Ukraine, the cost of materials and commodities and inflation are having an impact, but the recent co-operative framework for tenders announced by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will give some capacity to try to finish projects and enable people to tender for new ones.

Homelessness is a very key issue for us. Again, the Minister has taken a lot of initiatives, particularly working with the sector and with all the non-governmental organisations in respect of homelessness and the approved housing bodies, to do what we can to provide homes for the homeless and to prioritise them through Housing First and so forth. The current level of family homelessness is too high at 1,308. It is 26% below the peak figure recorded in July 2018, but it is increasing and a range of factors are behind that. It is not as simple or straightforward as is sometimes articulated. Our priority will always be to do what we can, working with the non-governmental organisations, to increase the supply.

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