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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 12, inclusive, together.

The next meeting of the Cabinet committee on housing will take place on 27 November. The committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Housing for All and programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters. Housing for All is now in its third year of implementation. Next week, the Government will publish the second annual update of actions under the plan. In undertaking this review, we have committed focus on prioritising measures to speed up home building and sustain the momentum evident across many indicators, including new home commencements and completions. Despite considerable challenges in the external environment, building has started on almost 30,000 new homes in the past 12 months. In the first nine months of this year, 22,000 homes were completed, an increase of 8% on same period in 2022. We are now very confident that the target of building 29,000 new homes this year will be exceeded. The pipeline is also positive, with planning permission granted for in excess of 20,000 new homes in the first six months of this year alone.

Budget 2024 reaffirmed our commitment to increasing housing supply, with a record capital funding allocation of €5 billion for housing in 2024. We will continue to support affordable purchase initiatives introduced under the plan, including the first home scheme, the local authority home loan, local authority affordable purchase scheme and Project Tosaigh. We have also extended the help-to-buy scheme to the end of 2025. We are seeing large numbers of first-time buyers entering the market, with more than 30,000 first-time buyer mortgages approved in the past 12 months. That is well over 500 per week.

Under Housing for All, the Government is committed to improving the rental market by providing greater security, affordability and viability to both tenants and landlords into the future. The rent tax credit, which benefits 300,000 renters, will be increased from €500 to €750 next year. That is €1,500 for a couple and €2,250 for three taxpayers sharing.

Budget 2024 also introduced significant changes to the tax treatment of landlords to encourage them to stay in the rental market. Government has responded to the financial viability problems in the residential construction sector as a result of high inflation and rising interest rates. The Croí Cónaithe cities scheme is assisting the building of apartments for sale to owner-occupiers and the new secure

tenancy affordable rental, STAR, scheme will aid developers to build more than 4,000 cost-rental homes. We are also continuing to reduce vacancy through the significant grants available under the Croí Cónaithe towns fund.

As well as these schemes, a major emphasis for the coming year will be on reform of our planning system through the new planning and development Bill and the improvement of the long-term sustainability of the sector, including through the adoption of modern methods of construction. We will also focus on enhancing construction sector capacity through increased apprenticeships and implementation of the action plan to promote careers in construction.

Housing for All is working in terms of the number of homes available but also in terms of reforming and renewing the housing system in our country.

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