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

I also welcome Deputy Hearne's family to the Public Gallery, although I am not sure if they are still up there. I had a sense that he was a lot more measured in his approach today. He was a lot more tempered. Usually, he does not hold back and gives it both barrels. He is clearly on his best behaviour, although I had better not speak too soon. I appreciate that this is his first time introducing legislation in the House. It is an important day for him in that regard. I welcome everyone who is in the Gallery.

I thank all Members for their contributions. Housing is a cross-sectoral societal challenge that has a real impact on people's lives. Solving this challenge is one of the Government's top priorities. Within that, we are placing a special emphasis on supporting home ownership and affordability for those seeking to buy or rent homes. As I outlined earlier, the Government has put several measures in place to support access to affordable housing and assist those aspiring to buy their own homes. On the ownership side, much of what is happening involves providing financial support directly to prospective home buyers through a payment or by means of the State taking an equity stake in the property that can be redeemed by the buyer in the future. This support can be coupled with a home buyer's deposit and mortgage to enable them to achieve the price of their new home. On the rental side, these measures are about addressing the viability challenges of producing developments which can provide cost rental accommodation and rents below the market value. In the programme for Government, we committed to embedding cost rental as a permanent fixture in the housing system.

Putting in place barriers to the private sector engaging in these schemes would be totally counter to the goal of these supports, which is to increase the supply of affordable housing for sale or rent. In any event, a company registered under the Companies Act 2014 is obliged to submit an annual return and financial statement to the Companies Registration Office, CRO. These financial statements are available through the CRO's open data portal free of charge. Most developers of scale are likely to fall under the Act's definition of a company. The Government's longer term ambition is to create an environment for housing supply where greater affordability arises naturally from a greater supply of housing and greater efficiency in the development of that housing.

I will now address some of the comments of Deputies during the course of the debate. In response to Deputy Rice, we see the exact same challenges in Cork South-West. We understand the difficulties with affordability and access to housing. We are not turning a blind eye to those issues. We are completely aware of them, which is why we are trying to deliver at scale.

Deputy Sherlock seems to think that it is only those on the Opposition benches who believe that the State should lead on the supply of housing, but that is absolutely not the case. The Government is by far the biggest investor in the delivery of housing in this State, with up to €7 billion spent.

The Bill misinterprets the purpose of the first home scheme. We must remember that this is a support that goes directly to the buyer. It goes to the buyer in order to facilitate the purchase of a home; it does not go directly to the developer. In this House, we constantly hear about barriers to delivery in housing. One of those barriers is red tape. Members talk about the onerous red tape that all sectors are required to deal with and we are constantly called on to reduce that red tape. Another level of onerous accounting or reporting would disincentivise the uptake and use of the first home scheme which we absolutely do not want to see. As already stated, there is a requirement for larger developers to publish their accounts with the Companies Registration Office. As a result, the transparency that is being called for is already there.

Deputy Hearne suggested that we could simply consult with the Attorney General about contractors. First, it is not defined as an entity. Then we have to think about the ramifications. There are contractors involved right across everything to do with the delivery of housing. Does what is being suggested refer to subcontractors such as, for example, those who bring plant onto a site or carpenters? Where does it end? I could see a situation where the introduction of a requirement for additional onerous paperwork would completely stall the delivery of housing at scale. For all of those reasons, the Government will be opposing this legislation.

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