Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy McDonald is terribly confident about the outcome of the next election when she says I am walking out the door for the final time and all of this sort of stuff. It is good to see the arrogance is back. The reality is that this Government took a responsible decision today. We decided to set housing targets for the next five years to show people how, over the period from now to 2030, we can deliver 303,000 homes, an average of 50,500 a year. That is going to make a real and meaningful difference to people right across this country. Effectively, it will mean a doubling of new housing supply over that time period. That will enable more first-time buyers to buy their homes. It will enable us to provide more social homes than ever before. We are not coming at this from a standing start. Already we are seeing an increase in mortgage drawdowns and in the number of first-time buyers. We are seeing 500 new individuals and couples buying their first home each and every week. That is progress. There is a lot more to do. The country has the resources to do it. We have the plan to do it.

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