Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The completion figures for last year are disappointing; that is true. When we look at the past three years together, however, we have significantly exceeded the housing targets that were set. We significantly exceeded them in 2022 and 2023. We now have good momentum, with in excess of 60,000 commencement notices over the past year. This will, of course, as night follows day, translate into increased completion figures in the time ahead.

It appears there was some displacement in the market as a result of development levy waivers and water connections, where commencements increased at a higher rate than completions have so far. Under the scheme we put in place and the measures we took to reduce the cost of building a home, a significant pipeline of homes have been commenced and must be built under the scheme by the end of 2026. That is good news for young people and their parents watching these proceedings today.

Of course, we have published a new programme for Government. It commits to publishing a new fully funded, radical and realistic housing plan to get more homes built. We are going to ramp up construction capacity to reach 300,000 homes by 2030, and we are placing a special emphasis on supporting homeownership. Not all of the recent housing figures are bad. Banking and Payments Federation Ireland confirmed last week that first-time buyer activity is now at a 16-year high, with more than 500 individuals or couples buying their first home last year. These are real people, in the Deputy's constituency and mine. The outgoing Government met and exceeded plenty of other targets in housing and many other areas, including employment and job creation.

I assure people listening at home that we are going to continue to adopt policies that ramp up home building. I understand that a lot of people are not happy with progress in this area. We have a lot more work to do. The Housing Commission has said that, and it is right on that point. Rather than point scoring or throwing rhetoric around the Dáil, we need to continue to work collectively for better solutions for housing. The Deputy can play a constructive role in that work or he can come in and throw brickbats. That is up to him.

The Minister wrote to me last summer in good faith outlining what a number of projections available to him, including from Deutsche Bank, said would happen. Of course, that did not materialise. The new Government is more determined than ever to deliver for the people of Ireland. Sinn Féin's alternative policies did not convince the people at all.

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