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

Our preference is to build social housing and that is exactly what we are doing - building thousands of new social homes every year, whether it is through councils or approved housing bodies. In some cases, we will purchase them. That makes sense too, particularly in areas where it is less expensive to purchase a home than to build one. There is a role for leasing, too, but it is not the main part of what we are doing as a Government. What we are doing is scaling up the number of new builds. I cannot remember the exact figure for this year but it is maybe 6,000 or 7,000. It will be higher again next year.

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