Dáil debates
Wednesday, 10 July 2024
Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
12:20 pm
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source
Hang on a second. We are doing it but we do it in a clear, methodical, evidence-based way. I clearly announced before I became Taoiseach that we needed to build 250,000 more homes between 2025 and 2030. Many people scoffed at that - not people in this House, in fairness - and said it was not possible or credible. Now ESRI research, Housing Commission reports and the CIF indicate it is absolutely possible for all parts of Ireland - not just the public sector - to deliver 50,000 homes on average per year from 2025. I cannot speak for any other party but I think there is growing a political consensus that is where we need to get to.
I am very clear we will need more funding mechanisms to do that. We have a number of work streams under way under the remit of the Cabinet committee on housing to prepare for the publication of the new targets. We will be back here in the autumn with the benefit of public input, and I hope that of the Deputy, on the draft national planning framework, with the ESRI research, when the Minister for housing will outline how he intends to raise the targets in granular detail. It is not fair to suggest the summer economic statement portrays the full picture in terms of capital investment in housing.
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