Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank colleagues for their questions. In response to Deputy Ó Murchú, I send Dundalk Football Club my best as well.

In relation to the Housing Commission, I have obviously been briefed on the report by the Minister for housing. The Housing Agency is now working its way through each of the recommendations. I look forward to the report being debated in the House. We should find time to debate it. I do not believe there will be political consensus on every element of it and I am not sure there is a political grouping in the House that would agree with every element of it. However, there are very good things in it and we need to thrash that out in advance of the publication of the updated version of Housing for All later this year. There is now a consensus that we need higher housing targets. The debate we will have is on how to deliver them and the credibility behind each plan to deliver them as well. On the Dundalk housing project the Deputy raised, I am pleased there was contact but I will follow up on that again.

Deputy Boyd Barrett spoke about the inadequacy of Housing for All. I would argue that Housing of All has got us to a point where there are very significant increases in supply. I accept, however, that we will have to increase again the targets we need to reach. The Deputy is correct that whether one looks at the Central Bank of Ireland's report, the ESRI, the Housing Commission or the views of political parties right across the spectrum, there is a consensus around the need to increase supply. The question is how we will fund that and create the capacity.

When it comes to the Apple tax, investing it in infrastructure, which includes housing, is a good way of considering how to spend it. Looking at how we deploy the sale of bank shares and the like - there is a significant amount of uncommitted resources in the ISIF - is another good way of going about that. These will be matters for budget day and beyond. We have the Land Development Agency as a vehicle, from a State point of view, for trying to make progress. From a capacity point of view, if there are capacity constraints in the economy in general in terms of workforce and public versus private, those capacity constraints are there.

I do not think I dropped any hints but I thank Deputy Barry for looking out for them. I certainly did not say the Central Bank was wrong. What I said was the Central Bank gives forecasts and that last year and the year before that, we significantly exceeded the forecasts. The Deputy will acknowledge that is a statement of fact. I put the figures on the record earlier. The Central Bank published its quarter 3 quarterly bulletin in quarter 3 of 2022 and its quarter 3 quarterly bulletin last year. In both of those bulletins, it predicted a number and we exceeded those numbers. I predict we will do the same based on information given to me by the Department of housing. The Deputy should not read too much into my comments.

In response to Deputy Cian O'Callaghan on stamp duty and the bulk buying of homes, some of the measures we have taken have had an effect. I can point to some of the planning changes we have had which have made sure that lots of homes were made available for owner occupiers. The stamp duty measure was important but we should constantly review it to make sure it is having the desired policy effect. Any changes we wish to make in this area, whether to stamp duty or on other issues to do with bulk buying, will be a matter for budget day. To answer the Deputy's question on when the Government will decide, it is our intention to do so on budget day.

In response to Deputy Paul Murphy, I do not accept that there were delays with accepting the Apple money because Apple was always going to contest this case. The question was whether the Government wished to stand by the independence of our revenue system. I do not believe the argument that if the Government of the day did not join the case, the case would have ended more quickly and, therefore, the money would have been available more quickly. We now have finality in relation to the issue. The court has given its final word. That is it, and now these resources are available. It is now a question of how we best deploy them. I do not believe, however, that it would have been made available to the Irish public quicker if the Government had not joined the case because Apple was always making the case.

Deputy Tóibín and I do not agree on everything but I must say I agree with him on the matter he raised. He made a logical point and he has made it to me in this House previously. I give him a commitment that I will come back to him in relation to it. There will always be a time lag, as the Deputy correctly said, and there will be reasons, good reasons on occasion, that it may take longer in the public sector than in the private sector but the reasons are not good enough to bridge that gap. The Deputy made a constructive suggestion and I thank him for it. I will come back to him directly and speak to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on it.

In response to Deputy Wynne, we do not have a plan to reintroduce the ban on no-fault evictions currently. I will not get into the debate in the time available. However, we saw homeless numbers rise when we had the ban on no-fault evictions in place. I take seriously the issues the Deputy raised in relation to County Clare and the constructive suggestions she made regarding the cold weather initiative. I will ask the Department of housing to engage with the Deputy and Clare County Council on these matters.

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