Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Delivering more homes and preventing homelessness is the number one issue for this Government. It was the number one reason my party decided to go into government and sought the housing portfolio. When we look at the investment that this Government has put in place, and the three parties working together, it shows the commitment we have to ramping up as fast as we possibly can the delivery of new homes, enabling people to have a house that they can call home and, in particular, enabling them to own that home.

Every year, under the Housing for All strategy, we are seeing significant progress in regard to house builds in this country. It is not so long ago that the total number of house builds in the country was between 7,000 and 9,000 units per year. Last year, it exceeded 30,000 new homes. That included very significant investment in social homes directly built by the Government or with the support of the Government through social housing bodies. Some 10,000 homes were delivered last year, with 7,400 of them being social homes. We are going to continue to deliver that because, ultimately, it is the solution to the housing challenges we have.

In regard to the properties that are there, especially when social properties become vacant or voided, we must ensure the support is in place to make sure they come back into circulation immediately. Deputy Bacik has raised specifically an issue in regard to Dublin City Council. This year, the Government, through the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has allocated more than €4.8 million to the city council so that 445 homes can be remediated. In addition, €870,000 has been allocated for planned maintenance. Also, officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage have been in contact with Dublin City Council in an effort to identify additional units and funding requirements. Every effort will be made to support these additional requests.

It is crucial that we make sure properties are brought into circulation. That is something the Government is focusing on in terms of our social housing stock. We are also focusing on the many vacant and derelict homes that are in private stock across the country. That is why, under Housing for All, we have introduced the vacant property grant of €50,000 where a property is vacant for more than a year, to enable it to come back into circulation. It is also the reason we have introduced the derelict property grant whereby a grant of €70,000 from the Government is available, through local authorities, to bring derelict properties back into circulation. That scheme has been extended to ensure it applies to all parts of the country, whether it is a village, a town or a rural house that has been derelict or vacant, to bring them all back into circulation. The Government is working on this every day. Ultimately, in terms of addressing homelessness and bringing down rents, the key objective is to drive, as fast as we possibly can, the delivery of new houses. That is the number one objective for this Government every day, week and month.

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