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

I was delighted to see the scheme in Ballymastone receive approval from An Bord Pleanála. That will deliver 253 social homes and 253 affordable homes, as well as private houses. Sinn Féin councillors in Fingal did not support that scheme. That is fair enough but it is on the council record. There are many other such examples. That is one aspect of matters. We must deliver more affordable housing, which we are doing. We also need to deliver more social housing. The figures in that regard do not lie.

I will turn to new tenancies. There is, of course, a very serious issue within the private rental sector. That will be dealt with by exiting in particular those people in HAP and rental accommodation scheme, RAS, tenancies into permanent social housing. That is happening. It is not happening at the scale I would like but it is happening at an increased scale. The tenant in situscheme has ramped up and is delivering. The local authorities are resourced to deliver on it and are very focused on doing so. In respect of other backstops that are there, the cost rental backstop is in place now for people who cannot afford to purchase a home. Cost rental with the tenant in situis now available. We will work night and day to ensure that all the supports are there for the people who need them. A continuation of the eviction moratorium would have made a difficult situation even worse. What Government must do, and what all governments should do, is to take the responsible and correct decision even if it is difficult in the short term. Fundamentally, the way out of this situation is to deliver more homes. We did that in 2022 and will do more in 2023. I hope we get the support of Sinn Féin representatives across the country to do so. We need to ensure we are delivering social housing at scale through the likes of the Land Development Agency, LDA, which was set up and capitalised to deliver social and affordable houses on idle State land. What did Sinn Féin do? It opposed the LDA. It was against the LDA. Sinn Féin is against every single measure that the Government brings forward.

I will move to the vacancy grant. Deputy Gould, who has now left the Chamber, consistently talks about vacancy. There is a dereliction and vacancy issue. We brought forward a support, the Croí Cónaithe vacancy grant, for which 1,500 applications have already been made. Some €30,000 is available for vacant homes to homeowners across constituencies and €50,000 is available for derelict buildings. Sinn Féin opposed the scheme without ever explaining why. I note that a reference to the scheme has been dropped from the motion before the House so perhaps Sinn Féin has had a change of heart in that regard.

See this speech in context