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

Deputy Durkan raised the issue of institutional investors. The Government recognises the need for protections to prevent institutional investors displacing owner occupiers. For this reason, we introduced tax and planning changes to protect traditional family houses from bulk purchase. These include changes introduced in May 2021 to the rate of stamp duty on bulk purchases. A 10% stamp duty levy was introduced by Government for the cumulative purchase of ten or more residential houses in a 12-month period. Section 28 guidelines for planning authorities provide for an owner occupier guarantee preventing multiple units being sold to a single buyer in new estates, although, of course, this does not apply retrospectively to permissions granted before 2021. About 40,000 homes have received planning permission with conditions attached prohibiting bulk purchase or multiple sale to a single purchaser since that law was brought in and we are considering further measures. We believe the role of institutional investors is to finance new housing developments that otherwise would not be built, not to buy up existing ones when people have a legitimate expectation that they may be able to buy them themselves.

Deputy Dillon raised the issue of affordable housing schemes in Mayo. I agree that we need a mix of affordable housing schemes and social housing schemes. It should not just be social housing. The argument made in the past was that counties where affordability is better than others do not need these schemes. I do not agree with that view. I think every county should have at least one scheme but I would also point out that there are ways other than affordable housing schemes to achieve affordability. Help to buy does it by helping people to afford a deposit and the first home scheme can close the gap between what somebody gets in terms of mortgage approval and the cost of building a new home.

There are lots of ways we can achieve affordability. Social housing is clearly one way. As I said before, it benefits everyone. It takes people off the housing list, frees up properties for other people to rent and has a downward dampening effect on house prices. That is why we are building more social housing now than at any point since the 1970s. The Deputy may be interested to know that if we compare the 2022 census with the census ten years ago, we find that there are 40,000 more families on social housing than was the case back in 2011 and the percentage of people living in social housing is now higher than it was ten years ago. That shows how committed this Government and previous Governments in the past ten years have been to social housing.

We are also trying to reduce the cost of building homes by waiving development levies, servicing more land, reducing the cost of finance and focusing on vacancy and help to buy. Let us never forget what help to buy is. This is tax that people have already paid. It is their own tax they are getting back and they can put it towards their deposit. It would be terrible if that was taken away.

Regarding the Vienna model, Vienna is a great city. I have been there many times and I love the place but there are merits and demerits to its housing model. One of the things people in Vienna tell me is that because there is such a focus on public housing, it is very hard to own your own home in Vienna. Home ownership rates in Austria are among the lowest in Europe and are lower than they are in Ireland. I am not sure if that is the model people want in Ireland, one where people are less likely to own their own home and are in public housing for life no matter how good and secure it may be.

I think we all appreciate that there will always be some level of vacancy but there is still too much of it. It is still too common even though vacancy rates are falling. I agree with Deputy Barry that local authorities need to be more assertive and proactive in what they do regarding vacancy. Some are better than others. Waterford is a very good example of a local authority that is particularly active when it comes to vacancy and other local authorities could learn from that. The Government is adopting a carrot-and-stick approach. A figure of €150 million is available to local authorities to purchase derelict properties and bring them back into use. They can buy the property, sell it on and use the money again to buy another property. I am really encouraging local authorities to do that. They have compulsory purchase order powers that are not used enough. There is the derelict site levy, which they are often too slow to impose, and there is the vacant property tax. Grants are now available to individuals to renovate properties and bring them back into use. Over 3,000 of those have been approved and the drawdown is picking up.

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan raised the issue of a social housing passport. I will have to come back to him on that issue. It is a good idea, particularly where people are moving back to their own county, that they would carry their years with them. One thing we would need to guard against is people being on multiple lists because it could create all sorts of difficulties if people are on housing lists in several different local authorities.

I do not have any information for Deputy Tóibín regarding the issue he raised concerning the Land Registry. There are, however, lots of options available to people who are still in financial distress from the crash 12 or 13 years ago. Mortgage to rent is one option while personal insolvency is another option. I would say to anyone to get good legal and financial advice on their options.

The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, made a statement on the housing adaptation grant earlier in the Dáil today. That is probably a more up-to-date response than I can give.

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