Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank colleagues for their contributions and interventions. First, on the issue raised by Deputy Collins, I will certainly make contact with Irish Water. I have a clear view that State agencies should meet public representatives. There is a thing called democracy. It is important that State agencies engage respectfully, regardless of where people are on the political spectrum, and respect the mandate of people in this House and at local level. Uisce Éireann should meet with the Deputy and the other representatives in relation to that issue. I thank the Deputy for highlighting it.

On this issue, it comes down to whether we accept or do not accept that there is a viability gap when it comes to construction, particularly of apartments, in this country. I heard many references to what my Department estimates or predicts, but here is something else my Department predicts and estimates. It estimates that there are approximately 98,000 properties in this country that have planning permission in place but remain uncommenced. Around 42,000 of them are apartments in Dublin. We have a situation today where there are apartments that could be built but have not been built because they have been deemed unviable. This Government and I refuse to be prisoners to ideology. It is about adopting measures that reduce the viability gap. Contributors and colleagues are right. Deputy Collins is right. This measure in and of itself is just a measure. It needs to be seen alongside a range of measures that we are taking regarding housing.

Deputy Boyd Barrett had to head off, but he made the point around if there was no policy change. There has been a policy change. It is called the Government's new housing plan. It is called the revised national development plan. It is called the national planning framework. It is called the infrastructure delivery proposals that the Minister, Deputy Chambers, will bring to Cabinet shortly. It is called the budget that was just delivered and the Finance Bill that is working its way through this House. I accept that standing still and hoping that everything is going to work out all right on the night is not going to get us to where we need to get. That is why we are taking decisions that may not be popular with everyone in this House, but I genuinely believe they will result in more apartments being built for our young people, the very people that all of us want to see with a roof over their head and an ability to buy a home again. I say to the young people who watch these debates and hear these debates, this measure is for you. It is not for any developer; it is to make sure that more apartments are built so that you have an opportunity when you go onto websites and search to buy somewhere. When I meet young people across this country, that is what they want. If you want to see a reduction in price, you need to see an increase in supply.

I reject that this is about any sort of correction. This is actually about clarifying and expanding further the provisions the then Minister, Paschal Donohoe, announced. I accept the point that there are different views in relation to these measures, but I also accept the point that colleagues in opposition engage constructively, saying if we are going to go down this road we must make sure that approved housing bodies are included. This is an effort to ensure that happens. There has been much reference to developers, developers, developers. First, developers are not bad people. They are the people who build things, and we need to build things, by the way. None of us in this place build things. Good luck trying to build a house without a developer. It is not just about developers, however. Social housing will benefit from this because approved housing bodies will qualify. Affordable housing will benefit from this because approved housing bodies will qualify. Students will benefit from this because student accommodation will qualify.

I note that there have been lots of suggestions made in relation to when this is commenced and the likes, but ultimately VAT is a consumption tax. It is placed on a product whenever value is added at each stage of the supply chain, from production to the point of sale. If legislation was introduced that sought to apply different rates of VAT to the sale of identical goods at the same point in time on the circumstances or timing of when work on those goods began, we believe it would likely breach the principle of fiscal neutrality. I am advised by my officials and by Revenue that they are satisfied that the principle of fiscal neutrality would not allow for VAT to be applied in the manner that some Deputies might have suggested earlier on and that Deputy Doherty's amendment suggests as well.

There has been a lot of reference to first-time buyers and help to buy. This is a scheme to make sure that those who avail of help to buy can avail of the apartments that are produced as a benefit of the reduced VAT rate. There is a lot of talk about help to buy and what help to buy has done regarding the price of new houses. The Mazars review in 2022 found that there was no definitive evidence that help to buy pushed up the price of new homes. It actually also found that the prices paid for new homes by people who received help to buy relief were slightly lower than new house prices in the economy and generally, likely because of the price cap. We all know there are many factors that contribute to the rise in home prices, ultimately the lack of supply being the most compelling one. When talking about first-time buyers, I should also say that while we have a long way to go and we are living through a housing emergency, we have this year thankfully seen the highest number of first-time buyers since 2007.

I agree with those, including Deputy Tóibín, who say that there are other serious blockages here, including the infrastructure delivery, the judicial reviews and the planning system. They can expect the Government, through the work of the accelerating infrastructure task force, to come forward with proposals on how to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure, including enabling infrastructure for housing, in the coming weeks. I commend these two resolutions.

See this speech in context