Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

There are a lot of questions there. At the outset, I will say that Cork City Council has a good record generally in terms of regeneration. Particularly in one half of that Togher area, there was very successful early regeneration but, in fairness, it did not cover the Cherry Tree Road side or the Clashduv Road Flats. I would, of course, support the regeneration of those flats and, indeed, Noonan's Road, which has been awaiting regeneration for quite some time. Councillors have been particularly involved in that. We will continue to support regeneration.

In response to Deputy O'Meara's point, we have had discussions with Irish Water. I referenced the Cloughjordan case as illustrative of the need to facilitate developer-led wastewater treatment plants in small rural villages and towns because Irish Water has readily acknowledged that it will not be able to get those towns and villages notwithstanding the enormous allocations that we have given to Irish Water. There has to be pragmatism and realism, but it would oversee the construction and installation of those wastewater treatment plants and then would have a monitoring scenario with local authorities in respect of their efficacy and so on. That is something we are pushing strongly. We will get to a situation where that happens and that would release some housing, in particular, across rural Ireland.

Deputy McGrath is correct. Cork City Council was probably one of the first councils to develop a very innovative approach to downsizing and it won a national award for the scheme on the Skehard Road. This was where people moved out of existing three-bedroom or four-bedroom properties that they owned and downsized by agreement. As a result, they had some extra personal funding. In any event, it worked well. That should continue all over the country as an option because we have not used existing housing stock optimally. We have to continue to look at ways of incentivising the utilisation of existing housing stock. Airbnb has absorbed an awful lot of existing housing stock in cities as well to the detriment of the rental market and the residential and housing market.

In response to Deputy Brabazon in terms of the cost-rental pathway to ownership, it is early days yet in terms of building up cost rental as one particular strand within a menu of options for people endeavouring to get housing, either at affordable rent or at affordable purchase cost. That is something we will continue to keep under review.

Deputy Daly raised a number of issues. The wastewater treatment plants issue was similar to that raised by Deputy O'Meara. On the planning framework, it is the case that we need greater speed from the local authorities in respect of following through on the planning framework and they need to rezone more land because the ESRI is saying the Government has adopted a 50,000 per annum assessment of need. That is a needs-based target and we have to work out how we get there. The ESRI is saying we need 50,000 a year. Some are saying we need 60,000. That cannot be done without rezoning and yet it is clear to us that certain CEOs are humming and hawing about rezoning. I have been talking to councillors and proposals have not come to the table. I understand Dublin City Council is saying that it will not rezone and that it has enough land. I believe Fingal is in a similar situation.

There is a housing crisis out there. In response to Deputy Ward, I have not normalised anything. I am very clear about this. The cost of housing is excessive for young couples. That is why we need to rezone land and get more houses built and that has to happen over a ten-year period to get on top of the situation. We have moved from approximately 20,000 in 2019 or 2020 to 32,000, 33,000 or maybe 34,000 a year. That was a big shift from 2020 but we have to go much further than that. That needs both public sector and private sector investment.

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