Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like I always do, I want to declare an interest in all aspects of this issue that I am going to talk about. Some 20,535 properties were built in 2020, less than a quarter of what was constructed during the height of the housing boom in 2006. The national planning framework estimates that structural demands for new housing based on the demographics supplied is between 25,000 and 35,000 per year. Rebuilding Ireland has failed to meet its annual target every year since it was implemented. It was 41,000 units below its overall target. Cumulative annual defects in the new building completions have amplified trends in rents, house prices and homelessness. Supply-side constraints such as skilled labour shortages, rising costs of construction and excessive lead times are limiting the affordability of new dwellings. The shift in demand for dwellings has caused both house prices and rents to increase substantially. This surge in prices has made housing unaffordable for many, leading to a decline in homeownership rates from 78% in 2007 to 68.7% in 2020. High demand and low supply have been long-term obstacles in the path to providing a stable housing market. On the supply side, the most notable issues preventing affordable housing are the rising costs of construction, skilled labour shortages, poorly planned and executed Government housing policies and supply chain disruptions. Ireland's housing problems are rooted in the high cost of construction, which has driven up sales and rental prices and they are compounded by a lack of supply and a growing population.

It has become apparent that Rebuilding Ireland has failed in its objectives and that the past few years, under the rebranded Housing for All, have delivered little progress in providing a sufficient level of housing.

The eviction ban, for example, will not result in an increase in the provision of housing for people. It will not help any one person who is on the housing list in, say, County Kerry. It will not provide a home for them, and it has to be knocked on the head in case people think it is a magic bullet that is going to be great. People building houses on their own land should be encouraged, should nearly be given a medal, because if a young person wants to build a home on his or her own land, to hell with the crackpots, the objectors and the noodeenaws who do want not people to live on their own land. Let them go away and whistle their ducks to water but let the person who wants to build a house on his or her own land do it.

As for An Bord Pleanála, it is a discredited organisation that is a shame in its existence. It has held up building in this country for long enough and it is being shown up now for what it is.

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