James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I want to set out some of these achievements that have been to date, but very much recognise that we are in a housing crisis. I am treating it as an emergency. I am taking rapid decisions to address the housing crisis in this country in order that people can get the homes they need where they need them. We will make bold decisions because that is what we have to do to get out of the challenging crisis we are in.

Despite the upward trajectory in supply under Housing for All, the number of new homes build last year was disappointing. Overall, we delivered more ahead of our targets under Housing for All. We will achieve that step change. It is important to reflect on the progress we have made in recent years under Housing for All. After all, in 2012 and 2013, fewer than 5,000 new homes were built in this country each year. By 2022, an undeniable step change in delivery was achieved, with almost 30,000 homes, and more than 32,500 homes delivered in 2022 and 2023, respectively, exceeding the targets in Housing for All. More than 92,000 new homes were built from 2022 to 2024, an annual average of almost 31,000 new homes over the past three years. Nearly 48,000 social homes have been delivered since July 2020. There is also a very strong pipeline, with more than 24,000 social homes at all stages of design and build, which will be delivered over the coming years.

Housing for All also provided for the introduction for the first time of a number of new affordable housing supports, enabling the delivery of a significant number of affordable homes through both new builds and homes brought back into use. Nearly 13,000 affordable home supports have been delivered since the launch of Housing for All to December 2024 by AHBs, local authorities and the Land Development Agency alongside schemes such as the first home scheme and the vacant property refurbishment grant. More than 7,100 affordable supports were delivered in 2024, the highest yearly figure to date, exceeding the year's target of 6,400.

On 13 May, the Government approved an additional €30 million State commitment to the first home scheme, bringing the total State commitment to the scheme to €370 million. Under this scheme, more than 6,700 buyers have been approved to date. More than 3,300 homes have been bought using this scheme to the end of quarter 1 of 2025.

The Opposition motion calls for a dramatic increase of investment in and delivery of public housing to meet social and affordable housing need. The Government and the previous Government, under Housing for All, have rolled out the largest social and affordable housing programme in the history of the State. We will continue to do so. This is demonstrated by the record level of investment provided for the delivery of housing in 2025, with overall capital funding now available of almost €6.8 billion. The capital provision for 2025 is supplemented by a further €1.65 billion in current funding to address the housing need.

Despite the undoubted progress, we must acknowledge that housing still remains a crisis. The number of new homes coming on stream each year is far short of what we need. The State has invested unprecedented levels of public money in the delivery of housing in recent years, and we must continue to do so. We must consider every available lever at our disposal. In the programme for Government, the Government has committed to delivering 300,000 new homes between 2025 and 2030, targeting at least 60,000 homes annually by the end of that period. New targets are ambitious, but they provide a credible pathway to delivering the scale of housing needed. Our immediate focus, however, must be on activating. Key to achieving targets will be the delivery of new apartment developments in our cities and urban cores, and much of the investment needed for such developments must come from the private sector, financed through appropriate sources of capital funding, much of which will come from international sources. Again, the Opposition will not say where this funding will come from. It is quick to criticise but has no solutions. The capital is critical to apartment delivery, particularly for the private rental sector. Many of the apartments delivered last year were State-led. While this has secured much needed social, cost-rental and affordable housing, it is not sustainable in the long term to get from 30,000 to 50,000 or 60,000 homes. The State delivered 50% of all homes in this country last year-----

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