David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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70. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the progress made by his Department to date in increasing the supply of affordable housing with reference to the key objective of the Housing for All plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3083/22]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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This question is about affordable housing. I am particularly interested in what the Minister is doing to unblock the blockages that are there, in particular for people who cannot get a mortgage at the one end but who are earning too much to avail of social housing at the other end, that is, people in the middle.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Housing for All commits to delivering 36,000 affordable purchase and 18,000 cost-rental homes by 2030. The Affordable Housing Act 2021 established two separate affordable purchase schemes and a new form of tenure in cost-rental, which saw the first 65 homes tenanted in 2021. The target delivery for affordable homes in 2022 is 4,100. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, recently approved a further round of cost-rental equity loan applications to allow approved housing bodies, AHBs, to deliver over 700 new homes this year. This will be further supported by the LDA provision of cost-rental homes under Project Tosaigh. The First Home affordable purchase scheme will operate for the period 2022 to 2026, utilising funding of about €400 million. It will support first-time buyers on moderate incomes to buy a new-build home and will be available for applications in quarter 2.

Despite the impacts of Covid-19 on the construction sector, the first local authority affordable purchase homes will be available in Cork shortly. In addition, and to scale up the delivery of affordable homes and kick-start stalled private developments, expressions of interest have been issued by local authorities and the LDA to enter advance purchase agreements.

Finally, a new local authority home loan scheme commenced on 4 January of this year as a successor to the Rebuilding Ireland home loan. This scheme incorporates a lower interest rate, higher income eligibility and more flexible home size requirements than previously applied.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I ask the Minister of State whether he agrees with me when I quote the new housing plan for Ireland, Housing for All, which states: "Housing cannot be delivered unless we have the supporting critical infrastructure, including transport.." That includes affordable housing. Is the Minister of State aware that Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, has recently decided not to proceed with an N25 road in County Cork, which was vital to support in the delivery of 2,500 houses, including many affordable houses? I wrote to the Minister about this matter. Because TII has decided to withdraw its support for this critical road project, the construction of 2,500 houses, including affordable housing units, may not go ahead. I ask the Minister of State to comment on that issue. Will the Minister of State be contacting TII to ensure that this decision is reversed?

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I will make a general point, rather than one on specific road projects. Critically, one thing that Housing for All is clear on is that housing delivery has to be connected to lots of infrastructure, including public transport and sustainable modes of transport. On the issue the Deputy raised, namely, that housing may not be delivered because a specific road project may not proceed, the ambition around public transport across the country, both urban and rural, is going to help the delivery and unlocking of land. It is critical that all housing delivery is connected to good public transport routes. While not commenting specifically on that particular project, I think it is critically important for housing delivery to be connected to sustainable modes of transport.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Minister of State fully on this. There is a rail link at one end of this development and a motorway at the other. There is public transport between Midleton and Carrigtohill. The Government has now decided to ruin this project. The Department has funded the project to the tune of €4.13 million already. That is now going west. Some €1.3 million has been spent on the road network. That is also going west. It is critically important that the project is delivered. I ask the Minister and the Minister of State to look at this project and talk to the Minister for Transport to ensure that this stupid decision is reversed as soon as possible.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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On the question of affordable housing, in April 2018, the Boherboy Road affordable housing project was announced. In 2019, the then Taoiseach, now Tánaiste, opened the project. It is now 2022 and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is saying that it will be launched. Is it wrong that Deputies, Ministers and the Tánaiste go and open up affordable housing projects only for them not to be started or delivered?

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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To answer the specific question asked by Deputy Stanton, he is correct in stating that the issue around rail links and public transport is critically important. This is something that we are clearly committed to under Housing for All. I am not privy to the decision of TII in respect of that specific road project. However, looking at the sustainable delivery of housing units and building sustainable communities, there has to be a connection with sustainable transport. We will get back to the Deputy on the specific project he mentioned. I cannot comment on the other question that was asked by Deputy Gould.