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

The number of people in social housing, and the number of families who benefit from social housing - and I do not mean HAP or RAS - has gone up by 40,000 in the past ten years. That is 40,000 more families who benefit from social housing than was the case ten years ago. I know the population has gone up. The percentage has also gone up to about 10%. Deputy O'Callaghan's party has consistently alleged, for years now, that this Government and previous Governments are running down social housing and were not committed to it. The census shows that this claim is untrue.

During his time as Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, the current Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Simon Coveney, started the social housing programme again. It is now ramping up to the point where we are building more social housing than at any point since the 1970s, and the census shows an increase in the number of people in social housing in raw and percentage terms. That is the main way we are going to get rents under control. More social housing and more cost rental, which again is going to be a big part of future housing policy. There are also measures such as the rent credit, which helps people pay less tax if they are paying high rents.

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