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

I thank the Deputy and what he refers to as a "revelation" in the Business Postwas no such thing. I brought a memo to Cabinet three weeks ago detailing the measures we brought forward over a year ago to protect first-time buyers against bulk purchases. What the Deputy has neglected to say is that in that period of time planning permissions have been granted for over 16,000 homes with the condition that they cannot be sold on a bulk basis. That is a fact and that has happened in just the space of one year.

I refer to the revelation the Deputy mentioned with the 351 homes. Mullen Park, as the Deputy knows, was not sold to investor funds. Those houses were sold for individual sale, which the Deputy has neglected to say. There were 47,000 house sales over the last 12 months, 351 of which were to investment funds, which is about 0.7% of the overall sales. The measures this Government and I have taken relate to planning going forward and they are working. We have levelled the playing pitch for first-time buyers and first-time buyers are up to the highest level on new mortgages that they have been since 2007.

I support home ownership and I want the person who has emailed the Deputy to be able to own his or her own home. That is why we have supported the help to buy grant, which the Social Democrats opposes. It is a €30,000 tax rebate that helps people to get their deposits together. I wonder if the Deputy will say that in his response to the person who emailed him. Will he also tell the person that the Social Democrats was one of the few parties to oppose the Affordable Housing Act 2021? The Social Democrats opposes cost rental, which is delivering hundreds of tenancies for people on a 40-year minimum basis on secure tenure and at 50% below the market rent. That allows for the direct build of affordable purchase homes, and the Deputy opposed 253 of those being built in Ballymastone in his county of Fingal in north County Dublin. Furthermore, the Deputy is on record as opposing what is probably the most significant measure that will be taken, which is the first home shared equity scheme which we will launch in July. That will help the person who emailed the Deputy to bridge the gap between the finance the person has and the finance needed by the State taking an equity, not by a second mortgage as the Deputy claimed last year when we brought it forward.

We bring forward these measures, including the €4 billion per annum we are bringing forward under Housing for All, because this Government has a housing plan that is published and financed. The Social Democrats, in comparison, has a lack of housing policies and a lack of finance behind any of the measures it wants to bring forward. We are clear on what we want to do and we are seeing commencements up to the highest level since 2007, with over 30,000 commencements in the 12 months to May, the highest quarter commencements and completions. We want to help people own their homes. The measures we have brought forward are targeted to do that. We want to build more social homes than we have ever done before and we are targeting 9,000 new build social homes this year through Housing for All as part of the 90,000 we will deliver between now and 2030.

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