Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

3. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his target of 33,000 new home completions a year will not be met until 2025. [34153/21]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

On Sunday, writing in the Mail on Sunday, John Drennan included a startling revelation. Apparently, a high-level memorandum from senior civil servants to the Cabinet sub-committee on housing said that the 33,000 new home completions that will be in the housing for all strategy will not be met until 2025. I do not expect the Minister to confirm or deny the content of a confidential memorandum to a Cabinet sub-committee but could he tell the House when he believes the target of 33,000 public and private home completions will be met?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I know the Deputy has a close relationship with that particular publication. I cannot say I read the article. My Department engaged the ESRI to undertake independent research into structural housing demand in Ireland right up to 2040. The findings of the ESRI on structural housing demand at county level were published last December so I am familiar with that. Based on that research and factoring in existing demand together with future projected demand, we know the State will probably require an average of 33,000 new housing units per annum and we have fed this into our housing needs demand assessment, which includes every local authority. While there has been a significant fourfold increase in output since the lows of 2013, some of this ground has been lost due to the effects of the pandemic and we all know that. As I said earlier in response to Deputy O'Callaghan, we estimate that housing completions will be between 18,000 and 20,000 this year. We hope to make up lost ground through some activation measures. Last year, the sector performed better than was originally projected.

To answer the Deputy's question about when we will reach that number, in the coming weeks, we will produce our new housing policy entitled housing for All. This will have targets. I neglected to tell Deputy O'Callaghan about that. The plan will set out a pathway to the sustainable supply we need at a price people can afford with appropriate housing options for the most vulnerable, including the areas around social, public housing, cost rental, affordable purchase and private housing supply, which we also need in this country. I will outline the steps in the ladder to get to those figures of 33,000 in the housing for all plan.

It is still being worked on but I know when it is published the Deputy will have intense interest in it. We can debate it in detail at that stage.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Hopefully the Mail on Sundaywill let me write a critique of the Minister's plan and I can sing its praises or highlight its weaknesses, depending on its content. For the second time today, the Minister has not answered the question, which was a simple one. When does the Minister believe we will reach the 33,000 new home completions target that will be in his strategy? If he will not answer that, will he tease out his last comments by confirming whether there will be targets for social housing and, crucially, affordable purchase and affordable rental for each year from 2022 to 2025? The average of 4,000 affordable homes has been widely reported, I presume on the basis of briefings from the Minister's officials or office. That target, on the basis of information given to the Oireachtas housing committee from Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage officials in the Land Development Agency, will not be met by 2025. Will the Minister have annual targets for, in particular, affordable housing? When will he meet the 33,000 target?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We will have annual targets. I hope the Deputy's party and other parties opposite will recognise that, to reach those targets, they need to support development. They need to support building and stop voting against housing developments and proposals brought forward at local authorities across the country. I referenced to Deputy Cian O'Callaghan probably the most significant scheme in Dublin this year, comprising 1,200 homes, which both Deputy Ó Broin's party and Deputy O'Callaghan's party opposed. There are also the ongoing difficulties with Oscar Traynor, which I am working with the local authority to try to resolve.

All of us need to focus on delivering homes and stop talking about it. My focus in Housing for All is on a housing plan backed with resources to deliver affordable homes and public homes that people need and put home ownership back at the centre of our response to the housing crisis. I am confident we can make up the lost ground over the last year. We will have targets in the plan for delivery and affordable housing.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin makes no apology for opposing sweetheart land deals for developers that will see 50% to 70% of the homes on public land sold at prices over €400,000. That is bad housing policy and reckless use of a public resource. I remind the Minister that Members of his party sided with Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats in opposing the appalling sweetheart land deal in Oscar Traynor Road. Despite the fact the Minister has been given an alternative proposal supported by a majority of councillors on Dublin City Council in March, he is setting delay after delay on the delivery of those much-needed 800 social and affordable homes. Does the Minister believe he will reach the 4,000 affordable homes target by 2025? If so, how much will be invested year on year to meet the target?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There will be a number of measures to help us deliver the affordable homes we need. One will be the Affordable Housing Bill, which I hope the Deputy's party and others will support, and another is the Land Development Agency, which will enable us to use our State land productively. I was taken aback when Deputy Ó Broin and his party admitted they wanted a Land Development Agency but do not want a State agency involved in residential development or building and, more strikingly, the Deputy said on the record of the committee that he does not want to master plan for housing.

The State owns enough land to deliver about 114,000 homes for our people, and probably more. We need to utilise the State land we have, get it into the market and use it productively. I have been focusing with colleagues on getting the Land Development Agency legislation passed before the recess. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating very soon when we see whether the Deputy and his party support the legislation. Alternatively, will they continue to let their perfect be the enemy of the good for all?