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

I thank all the Deputies who have made contributions in the House over the last while. A lot of them summarised some of the challenges we face, including the need to urgently ramp up supply, quite well. There is clearly a common theme among Deputies' contributions, that is, a desire to make housing affordable, to increase supply and to reduce and eventually end homelessness. That has come through quite clearly. All of that will feed into the new housing plan, which is imminent. Many of those themes will certainly be covered. Obviously, a lot of those issues are not necessarily dealt with in this Bill. It is about enabling local authorities and approved housing bodies to access increased amounts of finance to deliver homes.

As mentioned at the outset, this Government is committed to ensuring that housing continues to be a priority. To truly meet the scale of housing demand, we must deliver more homes across all types of tenure.

To truly meet the scale of housing demand, we must deliver more homes across all tenures. The programme for Government commits to introducing a new national housing plan to follow Housing for All, and this will be published in the coming weeks. While that work is being undertaken, the measures detailed in the existing plan continue to be progressed.

Budget 2026 reinforces the Government’s commitment to boosting housing supply. The total Exchequer funding being made available in the budget for the delivery of housing programmes is €7.21 billion, comprising capital funding of €5.19 billion and current funding of €2.02 billion. An increased capital allocation of €2.9 billion has been provided to support local authorities and approved housing bodies in delivering 10,200 newly built social homes.

Additionally, €1.2 billion has been committed to the affordable-purchase and cost-rental schemes, which deliver long-term secure housing below market rates for thousands of individuals and families across the country. This will support the delivery of 7,500 affordable-purchase and cost-rental homes in 2026.

The capital provision of €5.19 billion will be complemented by investment through the LDA and lending from the HFA, bringing total capital funding for housing in 2026 to over €9 billion. Securing this increased level of capital investment will support the achievement of our programme for Government commitments and provide certainty and confidence to the public and to the wider housing market.

The targeted delivery for 2026 builds on the very significant progress already achieved in delivering social, affordable and cost-rental homes. This has made a huge difference in the lives of individuals and families, providing good-quality homes and contributing to sustainable communities across the country.

The HFA continues to be a vital funding provider for social and affordable housing in Ireland by providing loan funding at attractive rates to local authorities and AHBs. The agency has a recognised body of expertise and a 40-year track record in raising finance and providing long-term, competitive-rate loans for housing in a cost-effective manner. It has made a critical contribution to enabling the progress to date.

The Bill before the House is important. It will enable the HFA to continue to meet its increasing lending requirements for this transitionary period, supporting continued momentum in the delivery of more social and cost-rental homes at a time when they are required more than ever. The increase to €13.5 billion will provide sufficient headroom for the HFA to continue lending until mid-2026, by which time it will have funded more than 5,000 additional social and affordable homes. As the role of the HFA evolves in supporting the Government’s ambitious housing delivery plans to 2030, the agency will use the period to May 2026 to develop its new corporate plan, which will outline its future statutory borrowing limit requirements, factoring in delivery-partner and scheme-specific funding requirements. It will also set out how the organisation must evolve its own capacity and capabilities to meet this demand in a well-managed way.

This Bill is very much about increasing the statutory borrowing limit. As many have alluded to, local authorities right across Ireland need to do more. Some have been excellent in meeting their social and affordable housing targets and others less so, but this increase in access to finance will enable all local authorities to do that, in addition to the AHBs, which also play such an important role.

I have noted many of the positive comments from right across the floor. There is clearly a lot of support for this legislation and recognition that local authorities and AHBs and other agencies need increased access to finance. That is very much appreciated and noted. We look forward to the Committee Stage discussions.

I have noted many of the suggestions made by Deputies on how we can accelerate housing supply, provide more homes for people, ensure more people have security of tenure and make significant dents in homelessness figures. This is all very valid and will feed into the housing plan. We have heard about the need to address the number of vacant properties, the role of croí cónaithe in doing so and the need to reduce much of the red tape and bureaucracy associated with this type of measure. We have heard about the merits of modern methods of construction and the urgent need to accelerate the delivery of social and affordable housing and enable local authorities. We have also heard about the need not only for more investment in infrastructure but also for an acceleration of the rate at which we improve it.

We now have the main body of the NDP and the NPF. These will inform our targets. The new housing plan is imminent and many of the suggestions will fit into that. However, this legislation is very much about increasing the statutory borrowing limit and being a key enabler of local authorities, AHBs and agencies right across the board so they may deliver housing at scale. We look forward to the Committee Stage discussions tomorrow.

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