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

I thank Deputies for their contributions. I join Deputy Dillon in welcoming the approval of more than 100 new social houses in Mayo. We are seeing very good numbers now in new social housing provision. We will probably build more new social housing this year than any year since the 1970s. It looks like the 2020s will be a record decade in terms of public housing provision in the history of the State. I agree with the Deputy that there needs to be a greater focus going forward on affordable purchase provision and cost rental so that more people have more opportunities to buy their own home.

Deputy Tóibín raised the issue of vacancy. There is always going to be a proportion of homes that are vacant for one reason or another. When it comes to public or council housing, the vacancy rate is approximately 2% and a lot of those units are designated for demolition, refurbishment or re-letting.

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