Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Supply is increasing. That is a fact. The Government is focused, collectively, on implementing all strands of Housing for All. New public stock is not just delivered by our local authorities. It is also delivered by approved housing bodies and the LDA. The question is, when it comes to this House making decisions, which might be difficult ones where trade-offs are involved in our planning system, will the Deputy support the new consolidated planning Bill that will be brought before this House with a view to accelerating the delivery of the homes we all want and that he says he wants as well? Will he call on people to stop objecting to developments where appropriate developments are being proposed by local authorities, the LDA or the private sector? The Deputy is shaking his head but these are the relevant facts that really matter when it comes to getting construction sites under way all over the country.

Much has been said in the last ten or 15 minutes about the issue of targets, whether we are building enough homes and the extent to which the population has increased significantly. It is worth making the point that the targets in Housing for All were set on the basis of a housing need and demand assessment informed by the ESRI, which was engaged to undertake independent research. Since then the results of the census, at a headline level, have been published by the CSO. It is intended to review the underpinning research and update the tool when the full census data become available from the CSO next year. It should also be said that the preliminary census results for 2022 will show our population at 5.1 million, indicating that the population of Ireland and the consequent overall level of national housing demand is broadly in line with that projected by the ESRI for the same year. For people to say the targets in Housing for All are completely inaccurate and out of date is not backed up by the facts or the results of the census. When we have those full results, we will do a reassessment of what the revised projection should be to ensure the homes are delivered.

The issue we have to tackle here is ensuring there is sufficient capacity in the system, in our public system and across the private sector, to deliver the homes our people need all over Ireland. The Government is leading on this issue through a range of different initiatives. More public homes are being built than at any point in recent history. We have new affordable housing schemes that are now up and running. We have extended the help to buy scheme and we have brought in the first home shared equity scheme, through which transactions are now getting completed and people are purchasing homes which would not otherwise have been possible without the intervention and direct involvement of the State.

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