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

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of housing and I want to report some encouraging news on housing to the House. In recent days we received from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, the housing commencement figures for April so we know that the number of new homes that started construction in April was 10% higher than in April of last year. Just since New Year's Day, more than 10,000 new houses and apartments started construction in Ireland, and I am increasingly confident that we will be able to meet, if not exceed, our target of 30,000 new homes being built in Ireland this year.

We also know from the numbers that house prices are falling and have been falling for the past six months in Dublin, which is encouraging. We know that more than 400 first-time buyers are buying their first homes every week, the highest we have seen since the Celtic tiger period. That is almost certainly an underestimate because it does not take account of the fact that many first-time buyers are couples, which are counted as just one person. It is encouraging to see that progress and I am happy to share that information with the House.

I was in Tipperary on Friday and spent the day around the county. I had a chance to open a social housing development and to speak to members of the council, council staff and people working in the community information service there. They said they are seeing a huge interest and increase in people contacting them about the vacant property refurbishment grant. This is an important and useful innovation by Government, giving people grants of between €50,000 and €70,000 to bring homes back into use. They might be homes in our towns and villages or they might be homes in rural areas and I would encourage people to look at that as an option. It does not always have to be a new build. Renovating or bringing back into use derelict and vacant buildings makes a lot of sense and I want to encourage people to take up that grant. We also offer the help-to-buy scheme for people who are building their homes.

In terms of one-off housing, as the Deputy knows, it is always about getting the balance right. We want people to be able to build a house on their own land or their family's land if they have a genuine local need or reason to live in the area, but we need to balance that with environmental concerns, such as increased commuting and the higher cost of services if people are more sparsely spread out than if they are living in areas that are more densely populated. There are thousands of permissions granted every year for one-off housing. I believe the vast majority of planning permissions are granted. I cannot remember the exact figures, but the vast majority are granted.

The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, has particular responsibility for the planning area. He may want to come back to the Deputy with some more information and detail later on in the day or during the week. I am not aware of the issue of anonymous objectors. I will look into it. I did not think it was possible but I will double-check and if it is we will review it. I would have thought that anybody making an objection would have to give their name. We will double check that.

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