Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The number of houses that are granted planning permission on a once-off basis is tiny, relative to what is needed. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle and Deputy Conway-Walsh will know what I am talking about here. The number of one-off houses in rural areas, compared with schemes of houses that are built, is minuscule. Naturally enough, the refusal rate will be smaller but the overall refusal rate for planning permission stands at 15%. In the context of apartments, which the Deputy mentioned, the number of completed apartments has grown from 2,258 in 2018 to more than 5,000 in 2021 and the other data will be available for 2022 shortly. Progress is being made in this area. I know the Deputy has an ideological opposition to what we are trying to do. He annunciates it every time, it never changes and I appreciate that.

See this speech in context