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

I thank the Deputy. That is not the case. We want local authorities to build more. We want the approved housing bodies to build more. We want the Land Development Agency, LDA, to build more. We are not ideological about this. What we care about is not ideology but outcomes for people. We are interested in talking to anyone who can build housing for us. That includes local authorities and approved housing bodies, such as the Iveagh Trust, and the LDA. We are interested in talking to whoever can do it because we understand the depth of the crisis.

In respect of our targets, more than 30,000 new homes were built in Ireland last year. That does not include student accommodation or bringing derelict homes back into use. That was us exceeding the most important target. The thing that gives me the most encouragement is that we are now seeing 350 or 400 first-time buyers every week. We have not seen that since the Celtic tiger period and certainly not since 2010. There are 300 or 400 first-time buyers every week. There is a motion before the Dáil today to take away the help-to-buy and first home schemes and make things harder for first-time buyers. I ask everyone in this House to speak and vote against that Sinn Féin motion.

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