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

On the home ownership issue, I acknowledge what Deputy Cian O'Callaghan is saying, that homeownership rates have fallen in recent years, and we want to reverse that. We made significant progress in the past year, where more than 16,000 people, couples and families bought their first home. That is the highest figure we have had in 15 years, and we have to go back to the Celtic tiger era to find an era when so many people bought their first home. We have a long way to go yet and there needs to be a great deal more than that done.

In respect of the underspend in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I am not aware how much that underspend will be yet, incidentally, but it will be much less than some of the figures that have been aired publicly. There are two reasons it has occurred. One is the record resources and the amount of money that has been given to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which has increased dramatically in recent years because of our commitment to solving the housing crisis. When spending is ramped up rapidly, it can be difficult sometimes to spend it, if, of course, it is being spent correctly. There are constraints in respect of the availability of staff, skilled labour and materials. All of those things can also create difficulties.

On the wider issue of housing, we have already taken many emergency measures on housing, whether they are the rent pressure zones, the eviction ban, the fund for compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, or fast-track planning legislation, and we will always consider further emergency actions that might help with the situation. We always have to remember the unintended consequences. I am aware the Deputy mentioned that the eviction ban is not working fully. The ban is also harming some people. We have both read and heard stories and have even met people who went abroad for six months or for a year and who now cannot move back into their own home. That is also a problem.

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