Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The scaling up of investment in housing is unprecedented. This year we will invest €5.1 billion in housing, which is the highest amount ever. Next year we have budgeted for over €6 billion through all the funding mechanisms. The revised targets are being worked through right now in conjunction with the revised national planning framework. I cannot give the Deputy a definitive deadline on that, but it is important we set new targets. The three parties set targets, and I am sure the Deputy's party will do so as well. It is also important that we show people how we are going to get there, because there are some people in this House who will just pluck a figure from the sky and expect people to believe they can deliver 60,000, 70,000 or 80,000 houses in a year. They come forward with plans that do not stack up, with regard to new tenures of housing and various different ideas, but the people will decide upon that. We have always been very deliberate in our approach to setting targets and showing how they will be attained. A particular tool in our armoury to do that is the reform of our planning system. That is why we worked so hard to bring forward the Planning and Development Bill, which the President has signed into law. It is the single biggest reform of our planning system in over a quarter of a century, but not all parties here supported it. It will bring clarity, consistency and certainty to our planning system, which we need to underpin the increased delivery this State needs.

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