Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

First of all, I fundamentally disagree with the positioning of the Deputy in respect of the housing issue, which is the number one priority facing our country, particularly young people. Progress was made under Housing for All and the targets outlined in it were achieved, despite commentary to the contrary. Over 137,000 houses have been built since Housing for All was published, with €14 billion in terms of capital Exchequer funding allocated. Some 59,000 households have purchased their first home through the help to buy scheme. That is people out there in the private market. Another 8,400 have done so through the first home scheme, which I understand the Deputy opposed. These are real people out there who were able to buy their home because of access to the help to buy scheme and the first home scheme. The percentage of drawdown of first-time mortgages has risen significantly, to about 35%, from about 23% in 2015. There has been real activity in terms of enabling people to purchase homes but it simply is not enough and we have a lot more to do. There is no question about that.

We need to get from 33,000 to 35,000 homes to 50,000 to 60,000 homes per annum. That is the bottom line. We need both the public sector and the private sector. We also need unprecedented investment in infrastructure. If you look at what we have allocated through the public capital investment programme and the off-balance sheet procurement of finance by the State agencies on the energy side, you are looking at an investment of about €54 billion in transport, energy and water. All of that investment will enable more housing. A very structured, fundamental and strategic approach has been adopted by the Government. An unprecedented amount of public money is going into housing in terms of the unprecedented amount of money going into the infrastructure that will enable more housing. We also want to bring on board significant activity from the private sector to complement the work of the public sector. All of those strands are required to deal with the housing crisis.

An eviction ban will not deal with the housing crisis. Measures the Deputy has advocated in the past would seek to undermine any potential of any private sector investment coming into the market and we need private sector investment. It is estimated by the Department of Finance that we need about €20 billion per year to meet the required number of houses. The State on its own cannot provide that €20 billion. We need additionality to the public sector spend from the private sector as well.

I know the Deputy disagrees with that but I see no proposals from her that would in any way reach the €20 billion to enable us to get to 60,000 houses per annum.

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