Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As many speakers have noted, it is a year since Housing for All was published. We all recognise there are still significant challenges to overcome. However, it is important to recognise, too, that progress is happening. House completions, commencements and planning approvals are up. An additional 200 staff are being hired by local authorities to deliver on their housing targets. More than 2,000 people have signed up to avail of the new affordable purchase scheme. For the first time ever, cost-rental apartments are being let. Throughout the country, we can see boots on sites and cranes on our skylines once again. We are finally seeing an increase in housing supply. That is the light at the end of this tunnel because it is what will drive down the cost of renting and buying.

I am conscious that whenever we speak in this Chamber about housing, there are people and families at the centre of the debate for whom owning a home right now feels like a fairy tale or pipe dream. They do not feel any progress is being made for them because they do not yet see a change in their circumstances. That has to change and the statistics show it is changing. In the past 12 months, 25,000 new homes were completed. Construction has started on another 29,000 houses and more than 44,000 homes have been approved for planning. Completions, commencements, planning permissions, purchases and first-time buyer mortgage drawdowns are all trending in the right direction at last. These indicators show Housing for All is working and change is happening. It is not happening as quickly as any of us would like but it is happening and it must continue at a faster pace.

The ultimate goal is to deliver 300,000 new homes by 2030 and record funding has been set aside to make that happen. There is no denying the impact of external global challenges that were unforeseen this time last year. However, as committed to last year, the Government will review its action plan in light of those challenges, looking at cost inflation, for example, and adjusting where necessary. Does this mean we will reduce our targets? Absolutely not. It means we will reinforce them and back them up with further funds if needed. That is the action for which I will fight and vote.

Listening to the debate, one could be forgiven for thinking Sinn Féin Members have voted to support policies that deliver homes and drive affordability. In fact, that is often not what happens in this Chamber. They voted against the establishment of the Land Development Agency, which is the body set up to deliver public homes on public land. The party did not propose an amendment to that legislation but simply voted against it. It opposed the shared equity scheme even though it oversees a similar scheme in Northern Ireland. It is against the help-to-buy initiative, which has helped 35,000 people to purchase their own home. What does the party support? From what I can tell, it has two flagship policies on housing, namely, to freeze rents and deliver public housing on public land. These are nice, catchy sound bites but what do they mean? If we want to see what a rent freeze would mean, we need only look at Berlin, where the situation got even worse for tenants after such a freeze was introduced, with the supply of rental properties drying up and landlords abandoning the market. The rent freeze was eventually overturned by the courts. It is a policy that might sound good but would, in reality, drive up rents and further exacerbate the situation. Where will public land come from if Sinn Féin does not want a body like the LDA in place to deliver public land and transform that land into homes?

I want to see public housing on public land, which is why I voted for the establishment of the LDA. I also want to see the delivery of private homes, which is why I voted in favour of a project in my constituency that is seeing 1,000 homes, comprising a mix of public and private, being delivered right now. Sinn Féin voted against that too. While some in the Opposition are busy pushing populist policies and arguing over who builds homes, the Government needs to stay focused on getting those homes built. That is what people care about the most. I do not think many of my constituents care who builds houses; they just want good-quality, affordable homes. That is what the Government's housing strategy needs to deliver as quickly as possible.

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