Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the housing figures announced yesterday. It is really encouraging to see that there has been a 34% increase in commencements in the past seven months, that there have been strong completions and that 30,000 first-time mortgages were approved in the past 12 months. I request that the Land Development Agency, LDA, acquire more sites with full planning permission. It has acquired 2,500 in my constituency, which is a very strong and encouraging sign. Could there be more innovation in using the cities fund to ensure that more affordable LDA homes are available for purchase? Virtually all of them are available only for cost rental but there is very strong interest in affordable purchase. The LDA needs to bring about more of that.

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