Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, a very ambitious programme of delivery of affordable housing - the first in at least 15 years - commenced in 2022. Under the schemes introduced via the Affordable Housing Act 2021, this saw significant delivery of cost-rental homes for the first time by approved housing bodies and also by one local authority that is expanding further. That was using the cost rental equity loan. The first cost-rental and affordable purchase homes were also delivered via the LDA, and the first affordable homes for purchase were made available through the first home scheme and by local authorities. Last year was significant in that we had the delivery of affordable housing for the first time in a very long time.

Under the affordable housing fund, my Department and I have already approved funding of over €210 million in respect of 42 specific projects across 15 local authority areas. The local authorities in question will assist in the delivery of more than 2,800 affordable homes for purchase or rent. I assure the Deputy that the momentum in this regard will continue through 2023. The pipeline for housing delivery in place has been developed by local authorities, by the approved housing bodies, AHBs, and by the LDA, as well as, crucially, making homes available through the first home scheme, for which, I am glad to say, there is incredible demand.

Local authorities have begun systematically collating information on delivery of affordable homes right across the country in 2022. That includes all the delivery mechanisms that I have already mentioned. The returns will be submitted to me shortly. They are being validated by local authorities. They are currently being verified by my Department. I expect that they will be in a position to report the confirmed figures for social, affordable purchase and cost-rental delivery in 2022 by the end of this quarter, namely, this month, or certainly before Easter. That is what I want to do. We are verifying the returns that have come in.

In addition, the first home scheme has confirmed that in its first six months up to the end of December, more than 750 approvals were issued.

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