Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Minister of State is very welcome. It is great to have an opportunity to talk about housing. This is a huge issue. It is a serious issue that consumes all of us in these Houses and in each and every one of our constituencies. It affects our families and communities. In reality, despite all the talk about all the different things, we have to build out of this nightmare.

Fianna Fáil has always believed that every person should have the right to a secure and affordable home, whether that is through ownership, social provision or cost rental. That belief is at the heart of our role in the Government and is central to the work we are doing under Housing for All. This is the most ambitious programme in the history of the State but we need to see more delivery, although we have already seen some. More than 32,000 homes were completed last year. That is the highest annual figure in more than a decade. More than 10,000 social homes have been added to the national stock. The cost-rental model, long championed by Fianna Fáil, is no longer a theory. It is a reality that is giving working families secure, affordable options below market rates. Let us be honest, however, that there is a very long way to go yet. For every young person priced out of the market, for every family waiting too long on a list and for every community under pressure, the progress is not enough and we know it.

We face many structural, financial and infrastructural challenges. We must be unapologetic in tackling each one head-on. There needs to be a mechanism to ensure that critical infrastructure is built, whether that infrastructure involves issues with the electricity grid or water infrastructure. We have huge deficits in these areas. Road infrastructure is also needed to support the development or unlocking of land, such as the port access route in Drogheda. Under the leadership of Fianna Fáil during the previous Government, we introduced the Planning and Development Act. This was a once-in-a-generation reform to make planning faster, fairer and more transparent. We need to see the start of this to make sure that we have results from this legislation.

The Land Development Agency was a huge flagship push by the previous Government to use public land for public good. We are seeing success throughout the country, including in Cork and Dublin, where sites have been activated. However, we need to make sure that places such as County Louth are firmly on that list. I am not satisfied at all about progress in County Louth. The LDA commits to meeting the need for affordable homes for purchase and rent throughout the country but no workable affordable housing schemes are available in Dundalk as yet. Three sites have been identified on which the LDA stated it could build up to 1,000 homes. To date, we have had no real action on making this a reality. Dundalk is a thriving town and is very important to the economic growth of the country. Housing is key to unlocking more growth in the area. I want the Government to make Dundalk, Drogheda and towns like these a priority in ensuring we have affordable housing schemes.

On his recent visit to County Louth, the Minister of State saw the building across Drogheda and elsewhere. There is loads of building. Louth County Council is reaching targets but it must be supported in surpassing those targets. It is working on its voids. To its detriment, it worked through voids at a very fast rate and ran out of money. It has the capacity and ability to work through voids faster. It needs funding for this. It must be supported to do more.

The massive increase in commencements was a big story in 2024. One factor in that was the waiver of local authority contributions, but we have seen a reduction in those commencements in recent years. What is more concerning is the trend of the decrease in the number of new applications for housing developments and housing units. If we do not have planning, we have no supply in the future and there is no way we will meet our targets.

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