Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The target was a fair reflection of what could be delivered when we were having to rebuild a construction sector almost from scratch. As a result, we have now absolutely exceeded the targets. Deputy Bacik has been a voice in this House calling for revised targets to be published, which the Government has now done today. That anchors the discussion for the weeks ahead. This Government believes we can deliver over 300,000 homes between now and 2030. We have outlined a breakdown of how many we believe can be delivered in each of those years. It will absolutely be up to political parties in their manifestos and in the time ahead in government formation discussions to outline what they believe the mix of that should be in terms of social homes, affordable homes and private-to-buy homes. I know people will have constructive ideas in that regard.

As regards the Land Development Agency, I would argue that in many ways we have gotten a lot of the way to what the Deputy is suggesting. The LDA is now partnering with many councils across the country to deliver homes on public land. I often hear in this House the need to deliver public homes on public land. That is now actively happening in many locations across the country.

On apprenticeships, we have taken a lot of action to try to incentivise apprenticeships, including providing financial assistance to anyone who takes on a new apprentice, accepting and understanding that the cost of actually training an apprentice, particularly for a small business or construction company, can be real. As a result, we have provided significant financial grants to businesses that take on apprentices.

We have also resourced other sectors. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has led on things such as staffing levels in An Bord Pleanála, which are up approximately 50%. Hundreds of more planners are in place right across our local authority system as well.

Today, however, we try to move forward by actually anchoring the debate and discussion about where we can get Ireland to over the lifetime of the next Government. That is a scenario in which, roughly speaking, for every new home built during the lifetime of this Government, two homes could be built in the lifetime of the next Government. Of course, all of that is contingent on a Government that will engage truthfully on this issue, have the credibility to show how it can do so and, of course, an economy which can continue to actually fund the delivery and the building of those houses.

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