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

I thank the Deputies for their questions. I was asked by Deputy Gould about the IBEC report on the housing crisis. As I have said before, the housing crisis is holding us back as a country in many different ways. Yes, it is about people having to pay very high rents, first-time buyers not being able to become homeowners and rising homelessness, but it is also holding us back economically. IBEC acknowledges this in its report and that it is an issue for employers and would-be investors thinking of creating jobs or employing people in Ireland. Certainly, for the past number of years when I met with employers, foreign direct investment, FDI, companies and major investors, it has been one of the concerns that they raised about Ireland – around infrastructure generally, but particularly around housing. They are also measured about it because they are often companies that have headquarters or big operations in places like London, LA, San Francisco or Lisbon, where they face many of the same issues. They acknowledge that it is far from being a phenomenon that is unique to Ireland.

Regarding targets, we met our main target last year when it came to housing. Almost 3,000 new homes were built in the country, according to the Central Statistics Office, CSO. That did not include student accommodation or derelict properties being brought back into use. We do not have the exact figures for social housing yet, but we think it is going to be in or around 8,000 this year, which would be the highest since 1975. Of course, in addition to that, there are other forms of public housing now being realised for the first time, for example, cost rental. We are going to review the housing targets. We are aware of the work of the Housing Commission in that regard. It may well be the case that we need to increase our housing targets. It is important to bear in mind that the existing housing target is to work upwards towards 40,000 new units per year by the end of the decade. Of course, any housing target that we set has to be realistic. We will probably add about 10,000 units to the public housing stock this year, and hopefully more. Would it not be great if we could get to 20,000? Yes, it would, but getting from 10,000 to 20,000, even with the best will in the world, would take a bit of time. We want to do it in such a way that we do not take the houses away from people who might be building properties for people to buy and become first-time buyers. What we want to do is increase the pie and make sure that more and more homes of all types are built. What we do not want to see is one form of housing increasing and other forms of housing decreasing. That is the challenge. It is right to have ambitious targets, but they also need to be realistic ones. I do not honestly believe, as the Deputy's party would claim, that just by electing it to office it would somehow be able to double the number of public homes built in one year. I do not think that is credible, and I do not believe very many people do.

On community employment, CE, everyone in the House knows from our constituency work and our day-to-day lives how valuable community employment schemes are, not just in terms of the work experience that they give the individual, but also the very valuable work that is done, be it in sports clubs, community centres or social services. However, it is primarily a labour activation measure and the rate at which people are paid is set at the level of jobseeker's plus an additional payment recognising the costs that arise from having to go to work. Certainly, we are open to increasing that allowance further, but that would obviously be a matter for the next budget. I am not directly involved in the talks on a pay increase for CE supervisors, but I hope that can be agreed sooner rather than later.

On the social housing income limits and HAP eligibility, we have increased the income limits, so more people can qualify for social housing and more people can qualify for HAP. We keep them under constant review.

Deputy Cathal Crowe raised the issue of Shannon Heritage. I know it is a matter of interest for Deputy Carey as well. He reminds me of it all the time, including as recently as yesterday. I am not directly involved in those talks, but I think Deputy Crowe is correct to say that they do appear to be moving in the right direction. Hopefully, we can have an agreement quite soon that gives Clare County Council the additional funding it needs to take over those properties and run them well. They are really great heritage assets. Everyone will know that Bunratty and Craggaunowen are some of the best heritage assets in the region and along the Wild Atlantic Way.

On jobs in the tech sector, I just want to sympathise with the workers in Google who are getting bad news today and to wish their representatives the best in negotiating a good redundancy and exit package. I am sure that will happen. I just want to say to them that the Government is here to help. Whether it is advice around job searches and other job opportunities, educational options and training options or help in setting up their own businesses, the Government is here to help. That is what people pay their PRSI for, and they should not be afraid to seek the help of the Government in that regard.

What I think we are seeing in the tech sector is a retrenchment of about 5% to 15%. It is probably closer to 5% in most cases. This still means that there are more people employed in the tech sector now than there were two or three years ago. There are still a lot of tech companies that are hiring, so there are opportunities. I think we will see jobs growth again in the medium term. The future is tech, the future is digital, the future is artificial intelligence, AI, it is robotics, it is virtual reality, VR, it is augmented reality, AR, and all of those things. There are going to be a lot of jobs in that sector. I would encourage young people to take account of the news about job losses that we are hearing now but to be aware that it is still likely that there are going to be lots of jobs in this sector and to consider studying science, technology, engineering and maths.

In the context of the Sparkasse banking model, an examination was done by the Government on that a couple of years ago.

There were two difficulties, one of which was, in my understanding at the time, that there was no barrier to such a model being established in the State but that those involved wanted the State to capitalise it. The State, as the Deputy knows, already owns a number of different financial institutions, so the difficulty was twofold. One, the request was that the State would not just not stand in the way but would capitalise it, which is a financial ask. Second, there was a real concern that rather than providing competition for the main retail banks, what was proposed would provide adverse competition to An Post and the credit unions, which we want to strengthen.

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