Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I agree there is a housing emergency and have said so in the past. I agree there is a housing crisis, which is a term I have used in the past. However, competing with each other to find new and more dramatic words to describe the housing challenge does not build any houses or solve problems for any of the people the Deputy mentioned in his contribution. What we require is housing action, and that is what we are doing, led by the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. We are implementing Housing for All, which is a good strategy that I believe is working. I will give the Deputy a few reasons why I think that is the case. We will exceed our targets for building new homes in Ireland this year. Roughly 28,000 new homes will be built in Ireland this year. That is not numbers; that is 28,000 families who will be living in a house this Christmas that did not exist last Christmas. It was not long ago that only 4,000 or 5,000 were being built in Ireland per year. We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of new homes being built. It is not enough, however, and we need to go further and higher in the years to come.

This year, we will provide more new social housing than has been provided in any other year in the history of the State. People often talk about all the homes that were built by councils and housing bodies in the 1920s, the 1950s, the 1970s and the 1980s. There is not a year in the history of the State that we will have built and provided more social housing than this year. That is a significant achievement. However, it is not enough and we need to do much more.

Many people do not know this but it is really important. In the past 12 moths, 15,000 first-time buyers, mostly couples, have bought their first homes. That is the highest number in 15 years. That is significant but it is not enough and we need to build on it and do even more.

When it comes to helping people with the cost of rent - I agree it is a real challenge for many people - we are bringing in the rent tax credit, which the Deputy has advocated for in the past. That will mean €1,000 for a single, tax-paying renter and €2,000 for a tax-paying renting couple. That will put the best part of a month's rent or more back in people's pockets. That is something for which the Deputy has called and that we are making happen. It is actions that matter, not the words used.

As long as a year and a half ago, I said that we should aim to build 40,000 new units per year. That target is contained in the Housing for All plan. We want to ramp up as quickly as we can to 40,000 units per year. We acknowledge that since those targets were set, the population has increased faster than we thought. We have welcomed 62,000 Ukrainians to Ireland. Many of them will stay and more will arrive. Our economy is growing faster than anyone expected. New households are forming all the time, particularly smaller households. We are absolutely going to review those housing targets with a view to increasing them next year. Let me be clear about the targets. We are going to exceed our new housing target this year through the building of 28,000 new homes. However, we do not congratulate ourselves for exceeding a housing target. It is a not a matter of meeting a target, ticking a box and thinking it is great. We need far more housing in Ireland. We probably have a deficit of 70,000 or 80,000 homes. If we could build them overnight, we would. There is no lack of money being put into the area. There is no lack of political will. However, we are dealing with real constraints, including the availability of labour, materials and serviced sites. No matter who is in government, they are going to have to deal with those real constraints. There is no lack of money, effort, care, compassion or political will. However, there are real constraints with which anyone would have to deal.

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