Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

By any objective yardstick, one would have to acknowledge that the last five years has seen extraordinary, exponential growth in the provision of social housing in this country compared with any decade going back to the seventies. A total of 50,684 social homes have been added to the social housing stock between July 2020 and quarter 2 of 2025, more than 13,700 homes were brought back into use under the voids programme, and 2023 and 2024 saw the delivery of newly built social housing reach levels not seen since the 1970s, with almost 16,000 social homes built over the two years. There has been very significant progress on the social housing front, which will continue with increased allocations in this budget for social housing and, indeed, for affordable housing. From the launch of Housing for All, nearly 16,900 affordable housing supports have been given.

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