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

The waiving of development levies and the refund of Uisce Éireann connection charges apply to all, including the single one-off homes of families who have saved and want to build their own homes as well as small developments. I will provide an example. We were contacted by a 44-home scheme in a rural village that was not going to start but will now do so because of these cost-saving measures. This is an activation measure. We built nearly 30,000 new homes last year and we want to build more. Deputies will understand that this Government will continue to do everything it can to ensure that happens. We are reducing the upfront cost of construction, which is approximately €308.5 million. It is not insignificant. We will be able to track progress, as commencement notices will have to be submitted by each local authority every month in order to receive refunds of those payments.

Last year, our capital expenditure on housing was €3.5 billion, which is the most we have ever spent. There was an underspend over the previous two years. We know why that was. We cannot wish away an almost five-month shutdown of residential construction owing to the Covid pandemic. That had an effect. Some might also want to wish away the impact on the supply chain of the war in Ukraine, but it had an effect last April, May and June in particular. The cost of funding has increased, affecting delivery.

We have other measures in place. For example, the cost-rental viability measure makes a subvention of up to €150,000 available across the board to AHBs and any cost-rental-designated developments. It will allow us to increase the delivery of cost-rental homes. We have approved more than 1,000 tenancies already.

Since we want more homes for our people – everyone in the Chamber says he or she does – we must take measures to ensure that happens. The waiver is a practical measure to achieve that on a time-bound, one-year basis. I have outlined the scheme's criteria to Deputy Joan Collins.

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