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

I thank Deputy Cian O'Callaghan for affording me the opportunity to have a debate on homeownership. I have heard some comment that the motion is constructive, although it lacks policy and lacks any type of suggestion as to what to do, with the exception of supporting an Ó Cualann-type model, which we do support. The delivery of Ó Cualann is supported through the State’s affordable housing fund, which was brought forward in the Affordable Housing Act, which the Social Democrats opposed and voted against in the Dáil. I would like to use the opportunity to outline what is available and some of the facts.

There is no question that there has been a decline in homeownership since 1991 and that is a decline I do not want to see. I support homeownership and I have been very clear and public about that. Every measure I have brought forward bears out that truth, such as the Affordable Housing Act, which the Social Democrats opposed, the Land Development Agency Act, which the Social Democrats opposed, and the Planning and Development Act, which the Social Democrats also opposed. They are perfectly entitled to vote against legislation and people have different views on it, but we need to focus on the measures brought forward within that. On the first home scheme, as of 26 May, some 4,348 households have applied to that scheme and, so far, we have issued just short of 1,700 eligibility certificates. I have met many of those households and families, many of whom are renters. By the State stepping in and doing exactly what many have been calling for, it is helping, and it is helping through equity, not through a second mortgage. There are no high interest rates and people can redeem it at the end. It is helping people to bridge the gap between the finance they have and what they need.

Then there is the help-to-buy grant, which I know the Social Democrats also opposed. I remind first-time buyers that the €30,000 they are getting back is the tax they have paid over the previous four years to help them with their deposits. Between the First Home scheme and the help-to-buy grant, there is €100,000 of supports from the Government, real supports that are actually working. Some 39,000 households have used the help-to-buy grants so far and this Government expanded that from €20,000 to €30,000.

What I do not see in the motion, and I say this respectfully, is any suggestion of what the Social Democrats would replace that with. They say they will get rid of it. Sinn Féin has also been very clear that it will get rid of it, but its Deputies are not here to respond this morning, although I know they were here earlier. That is €30,000 of people's own tax back in their pockets to buy their home. What can be wrong with that?

On the Croí Cónaithe vacancy grant, Deputy Pringle was talking about properties that are vacant. He knows the supports that are there and I hope he tells his constituents they are there. There is a €70,000 dereliction grant and a €50,000 vacancy grant. The most up-to-date figure for that at the end of quarter 1 of this year is over 15,000 applications and we have expanded that further. I have met families in my own constituency of Dublin Fingal and all across the country who are now able to buy those vacant homes. They wanted to do that before but they did not have a mechanism to defray the costs of doing up the homes, the homes that Deputy Pringle has spoken about. That is now in place but it is underpinned by the legislation and the budget that we put forward and which Deputy Pringle, Deputy Joan Collins and the Social Democrats voted against. They cannot have it both ways.

Looking at the census data from yesterday, the continued decline in homeownership has slowed quite significantly. With the measures we have brought forward, I want to see that reversed, and I believe it will be. If we look at the drawdown figures in regard to mortgages - this might surprise Deputy Cairns - some 10,908 new mortgages were drawn down by borrowers during the first quarter of this year, and they were first-time buyer drawdowns. One in two new-build homes built last year were purchased by first-time buyers, the majority of them using the help-to-buy grant that the Social Democrats opposed. Many hundreds upon hundreds of households - so far, 1,542, with nearly 1,000 already this year - have eligibility certificates using the first home scheme. The Deputy may be disappointed to know that is increasing every single week.

The local authorities are delivering affordable homes. I would say to Deputy Pringle that these are indisputable figures. I am not making them up. If we look at local authorities delivering social homes, the delivery last year is something that is indisputable: 10,253 new social homes last year. That is the highest number since 1975. Is that enough? Of course it is not, but we are dealing with ten or 12 years of significant underspend and we will deliver more than that this year. Last year, we delivered the first affordable purchase homes through local authorities in nearly a generation. So far, right across the country, I have approved 45 schemes that will deliver 2,300 new homes, and we are getting more and more in all the time.

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae mentioned a few cases where Social Democrats Deputies and councillors have objected to housing. That is their right, if they want to do that, and that is on the public record. I do not support them doing that but if they want to do that, it is there for everyone to see. There are schemes in Deputy Cian O’Callaghan’s own area, such as in Ballymastone, that the Social Democrats and its councillors voted against. Deputy Bacik was here earlier talking about this. Her local area representative on the ground in the Donabate area is one of the chief objectors to a scheme that would deliver 253 affordable homes, 253 social homes and, yes, some private homes for people to buy. There is nothing wrong with private ownership of homes either but the affordable housing fund is there to support.

Deputy Róisín Shortall might laugh but we know her record in her own constituency, opposing the Oscar Traynor scheme year after year. The affordable housing fund is going to support that scheme and we are going to see ground broken on that scheme. From meeting the residents who live next door to the Oscar Traynor site, I know they want that built for their sons and daughters. However, inexplicably, on the ground, the former co-leader of the Social Democrats continues to oppose it and oppose it.

That is fine but it is important that people know that. The party brings forward a motion bemoaning the fact that homeownership rates have declined while on the ground, its members are actually opposing developments, and not just private developments but developments that have been brought forward by local authorities on local authority land.

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