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

We had a Cabinet meeting today. I think there were 67 items on the agenda. I can absolutely guarantee the Deputy that more of those items were about housing than about RTÉ and that we as a Government spend a lot more time concerned about the housing crisis than we do about RTÉ, important as that issue is. I am happy to reassure the Deputy of that.

With regard to housing, this morning the Government published its report for the second quarter of 2022 on the progress that has been made to put right the housing crisis in this country, which is deep and affecting people in lots of different ways. The report shows the number of new homes being built has increased, as has the number of commencements. The number of planning permissions has increased by 40% on the first quarter of last year. The pipeline is very strong. Every week, 700 first-time buyers get mortgage approval. This is the highest since records began. The figure of 400 or 500 first-time buyers every week is the highest in 15 years. More social housing is being built than at any time since 1975. We are increasingly confident that we will beat and exceed our housing targets for this year. That is 29,000 new homes, plus student accommodation plus derelict homes being brought back into use. Today we announced new fund of €150 million to enable more local authorities to buy properties, refurbish them for residential purposes, sell them on and use that money to buy other properties. A lot of progress is being made but I do not for a second argue that it is enough or that there is not a lot more we need to do.

The really dark end and the most difficult end of the housing crisis is, of course, homelessness. There are roughly 12,000 people in State-provided emergency accommodation at present. We are helping in lots of different ways. We are ramping up social housing, as I mentioned earlier. We have the homeless housing assistance payment to help people find a place in the private market sector. There is also the tenant in situscheme, which has approximately 2,000 properties in process to be purchased by the Government from landlords so the people living in those properties can become regular social housing tenants, something I know Deputy Boyd Barrett supports and has advocated many times. It is something that is now happening at scale. I do not know why it cannot be done in Tathony House. I will look into it. It is a potential solution.

We are lifting more people out of homelessness than ever before. That figure is rarely spoken about or published. More people are being lifted out of homelessness by the Government than ever before. Unfortunately, there are many reasons people become homeless. They are not always under the control of the Government. There is family breakdown. Increasingly, there are people from overseas who are not Irish citizens. A total of 40% of those in emergency accommodation are people who are not Irish citizens, many of whom are not even entitled to social housing. It is a much more complicated picture than many would suggest.

In relation to the question on the eviction ban, we do not intend to reinstate it. When it was in place, it did not work. The number of people in emergency accommodation increased nearly every month it was in place. Yes, it has continued to rise since then but still at a similar rate. People argue this but it is 1% or 2% a month. Obviously, we want to see it go the other way but it did not work.

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