Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his elevation to his new position, which is long overdue. I wish him good luck with it.

I welcome the Other Members' Questions slot. It is not so long ago that I was on the backbenches. I recall how frustrating it was to get speaking time on Private Members' business. If I was lucky, I might have got a minute from a Minister. Some of the best contributions here today have been from backbenchers, including Deputies Crowe, Cahill and Toole. I take Deputy Heneghan's point 100% on activating planning permissions that are at risk of expiry. This is something we have to take on board. I certainly welcome the slot. It was worth fighting for.

I thank all the Members for their contributions. I echo the comments made by the Minister and reassert the Government's commitment to tackling the challenges in the housing sector. We know these challenges are having a genuine impact on people's lives and understand the urgency and need to ensure sufficient numbers of homes are delivered to ensure people are safe and secure in affordable homes of their choosing. We are working tirelessly to address these challenges and implement policies that make a positive difference. While there is still much to do, the Independents and Smaller Parties Technical Group and Opposition inputs here this morning do not fairly represent the efforts and progress made to date. Indeed, some of the proposals put forward in the motion would be more likely to deepen and perpetuate the housing crisis rather than resolve it. Let me touch on some of them.

The motion calls for a blanket ban on rent increases and no further rent increases. We propose that the more appropriate measure is a more considered approach to regulating the private rental sector, including any recalibration of the current rent pressure zones that may be required, which will seek to strike the most appropriate balance between protecting affordability for tenants and increasing the supply of new rental homes through new private investment and construction. A blanket ban on rent increases would worsen the situation.

Furthermore, the motion calls for a ban on institutional purchasing of houses and apartments other than by local authorities and approved housing bodies. The reality is that the latest CSO data on market purchases of homes by non-households, including institutional investors, show the State was the largest non-household purchaser of homes in 2023, having acquired almost half of the 12,000 or so homes bought by certain purchasers, and that the owner-occupier guarantee introduced by the Government in May 2021 has succeeded in preventing the inappropriate purchase of homes by a single purchaser, securing those homes for purchase by homeowners, with planning permission granted for 55,600 homes and with conditions prohibiting bulk purchase by, or multiple sale to, a single purchaser between May 2021 and November 2024.

The amendment affirms the Government's effort to “diversify sources of investment, noting the level of investment required in the long-term cannot be solely the responsibility of the State, and it will also require a very significant level of private investment, including appropriate institutional capital investment, which is essential for the delivery of critically needed private rental homes”. I will speak on those points further.

The motion claims the Government is not doing enough. However, it is very clear that we have securely laid the foundation and built a housing pipeline that will allow us to continue to ramp up delivery in the coming years. As the Minister highlighted, more than 133,000 new homes were built and delivered between 2020 and 2024, with 92,500 of these delivered between 2022 and 2024, exceeding the Housing for All target for the period by 5,500 or so new homes – an almost 50% increase on the quantum delivered in the previous three-year period.

The measures introduced under Housing for All have helped to establish a solid platform to scale-up delivery further in the short term and secure a sustainable level of supply that will help us to meet fully unmet and emerging demand. Indeed, the past three years have seen an average of 31,000 homes delivered annually. The Government is fully committed to delivering social, affordable and cost-rental homes at scale and to continuing accelerating housing supply across all tenures, with overall capital funding available of almost €6.8 billion for the delivery of homes in 2025. This will further increase the availability of affordable homes to buy and rent, securing a sustainable housing supply and building vibrant, liveable communities.

Last year's dip in new home completions was certainly disappointing but we remain optimistic that the building blocks we have put in place will bear fruit and that with the appropriately targeted action by the Government, many of the 100,000 commencement notices lodged over the past two years will translate into new home completions. A continuing increased supply of new homes will help ease the impact of recent price increases and bring stability to the market, with Housing for All supporting access to affordable housing and assisting those who aspire to buy their own homes.

From the launch of Housing for All to September last year, more than 10,000 affordable housing supports were delivered through AHBs, local authorities and the Land Development Agency and were facilitated through the first home scheme and vacant property refurbishment grant. Moreover, as the Minister pointed out, the level of affordable housing supports provided in 2024 will outstrip the delivery of 2023. Affordable housing schemes, including cost-rental schemes, are now operating at scale. This momentum will continue as a pipeline is developed by local authorities, AHBs and the LDA.

The supply of new-build social homes also continues to be at a higher level than for many years. Our ambition is to deliver much more, and we will continue to do so in partnership with local authorities and other delivery partners. While of course the dip in overall delivery in 2024 was disappointing, as the Minister pointed out, we remain on a clear upward trajectory and it is important to put the 2024 figures into context. It is clear that with the year-on-year increase in the number of houses built, plummeting apartment completions on the back of an almost complete retrenchment of institutional capital was the root cause of the dip in overall delivery last year.

I echo the Minister's sentiment that the level of investment required in the long term cannot be the sole responsibility of the State. We also require considerable private investment, including appropriate institutional capital, which is essential for the delivery of apartments and private rented homes. The State has stepped in to fill the gap in the interim, but continuing to do so over the longer term is neither desirable or sustainable. A vibrant affordable private rental sector with abundant supply and choice can be delivered only with a sizeable level of private capital investment. To this end, we will also engage with domestic lenders, ensuring the banking sector is maximising its lending capacity to support the development of new housing nationwide, especially for brownfield sites and for small builders.

Homelessness remains a serious concern and a top priority of the Government. It is a complex issue in which causal factors and family circumstances can vary considerably, as do the responses needed. Interrelated are other areas of the housing system and broader social and healthcare policy and service delivery. A whole-of-government approach is required in the response. This is how we are working, and we will continue to do so.

Supporting households experiencing homelessness remains a priority of the Government, and the programme for Government reaffirms Ireland's commitment to working to eradicate homelessness by 2030. Budget 2025 allocated more than €300 million to this end, up €61 million on 2024.

The motion calls on the Government to fund local authorities and approved housing bodies "to implement a tenant in-situ scheme, with a minimum purchase target of 2,500 homes per year".

My Department is working closely with local authorities and their service delivery partners to support households to exit homelessness to a tenancy such as tenancies in the local authority and AHB properties, or in the private rental market supported by the HAP as well as the tenant in situ scheme.

In light of the challenges in addressing homelessness, Government introduced the tenant in situ acquisitions in 2023 as a temporary, short-term measure to address the issue. This was continued in 2024 and is being extended into 2025. Since the introduction of the tenant in situ programme in March 2023, more than 3,100 second-hand homes have been purchased with approximately 2,000 of those being tenant in situ acquisitions. The Government agrees it is important local authorities have the option to purchase a property where a social housing tenant is at risk of homelessness due to a notice of termination. However, local authorities must also use other options such as allocating a social housing tenancy to social tenants in the private sector on HAP or RAS on receipt of a valid notice of termination.

In the motion and in Opposition contributions, it is never acknowledged that Government continues to exist an unprecedented level of investment in housing. It will amount to €6.8 billion in 2025. There were 92,500 homes delivered in the period between 2022 and 2024.

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