Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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72. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the progress between his Department, Dublin City Council and approved housing bodies to deliver social and affordable public housing in north-west Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3355/22]

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Last year the Oireachtas housing committee spent our time ensuring the Affordable Housing Bill and the Land Development Agency Bill were passed. This year we will focus on the delivery, particularly the role of local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Department in ensuring the legislation all of the Deputies on this side of the House passed starts to turn into action. Will the Minister outline the progress he has made working with approved housing bodies and local authorities to deliver affordable and social housing in my constituency of Dublin North-West?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy McAuliffe for the work he continues to do on the housing committee with colleagues in government on delivering very important legislation such as the Affordable Housing Act and the Land Development Agency Act that enables us to ensure 2022 is a year of delivery. As the Deputy knows, under our housing strategy we aim to deliver 300,000 new homes between now and the end of the decade. This includes 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes, while tackling the issues of vacancy and putting our existing stock back into use.

Under Housing for All each local authority is required to prepare a housing delivery action plan setting out details of social and affordable housing delivery in the period from 2022 to 2026. This includes information on the location where the housing will be delivered, in addition to information on planned delivery streams and delivery in the preceding years. In September 2021, I issued social housing targets to each local authority setting out building targets over the next five years, while exiting out of leasing and reducing the amount of acquisition. The main focus under Housing for All is delivering new homes through new build.

In developing these housing delivery plans, each local authority was required to assess the demand in its area for affordable and social housing under the housing needs demand assessment and to plan provision accordingly. In December I received a plan from Dublin City Council, including Deputy McAuliffe's area. The Department is working through it with the housing delivery co-ordination office and reviewing the plan to make sure it will hit the targets we need, having regard to the policy objectives we have set out with the Deputy's assistance in Housing for All.

The review will require further engagement in the short term with the city council and this will be done in the coming weeks. The Department worked closely with Dublin City Council to increase the supply of housing in the constituency of Dublin North-West and throughout the area of Dublin City Council. We expect to have the work concluded on Dublin City Council's housing delivery plan in the coming weeks.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. Until we passed the legislation last year local authorities were not in a position to deliver mixed tenure and mixed income housing and this will assist Dublin City Council in bringing forward projects. We all know the importance of this. Having represented Finglas and Ballymun for more than a decade I know the importance of it. It is very clear that local authorities have all the tools on the table. They have a multi-annual budget, partners in the approved housing bodies sector with which they can work and the Land Development Agency with which they can work on master plans.

If the Minister walked across my constituency he could start with social and affordable housing in Kildonan and senior citizens' housing on the site of the Church of the Annunciation. There are proposals for affordable purchase homes in Silloge and Balbutcher. There is more senior citizens' housing in Coultry. There are also other sites throughout the constituency. The timeline and the ability of the local authority to deliver is crucial. We want to see it happening. The biggest project we will have is on the border of the constituency on the Oscar Traynor Road site. It is interesting the Minister and Deputy Ó Broin mentioned Oscar Traynor Road and O'Devaney Gardens because they are different sites. They are different because of the policies and legislation we passed in the House.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. It is crucial that we use the land we have. The Deputy referenced Oscar Traynor Road. It is correct to say that because of the actions taken by the Government through increasing the affordable housing fund and allowing flexibility in it, Dublin City Council was able to rework the proposals, which were supported by 38 of the 60 councillors, to deliver 341 social homes, 341 cost rental homes and 171 affordable purchase homes. This is what Sinn Féin, far left and Social Democrat representatives in Dublin voted against. This was on top of O'Devaney Gardens and other sites such as Ballymastone.

Our focus must be on delivering these homes and ensuring local authorities get the support to do so and that pressure will be applied by Government to make sure delivery happens. We have a cohort of people who want to see there is something for them and that they will be able to own their own homes. With Housing for All and the Government's plans and actions they will be able to do so.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. I emphasise the importance of ensuring we put pressure on local authorities and approved housing bodies to deliver. They have been out of practice for some time. We are back in the business now of local authorities leading. I get the impression from the Opposition, particularly Sinn Féin as it criticises us, that it no longer criticises us on policy but on the inability to deliver a house overnight. We all know this is not possible. It is caricaturing the Government as being uncaring knowing we pass policies that support public housing. We had the lowest of the low tonight with the Opposition spokesperson trying to caricature the Taoiseach as some sort of cartoon villain on social media when his party objected to his leader being caricatured as a witch. It was wrong then and it is wrong against the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach is a decent man and Deputy Ó Broin should apologise and delete the tweet. We should focus on delivery. This is what the people in my constituency want. We want the Minister to build houses with all of those people who have the responsibility and to do it in an affordable way.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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When they are losing, they play the person not the ball and that is the fact. We have a plan that will deliver for people and we are determined to do so. In the Deputy's constituency there are opportunities in Ballymun, and I have walked those sites with him, to deliver good quality affordable housing at scale for working people because we have put the funding in place. We passed the Affordable Housing Act. We have an affordable housing fund. We are now giving funding to our local authorities on a multi-annual basis. There is €1.2 billion more a year going into capital in the Government's plan than in that of the Members opposite-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Not true.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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-----but we will not hear them say this.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is simply not true.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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They will interrupt consistently-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Misleading the House again.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Again with regard to Oscar Traynor Road, O'Devaney Gardens, Ballymastone and I could go on and on, with any proposal that comes forward from any local authority the people to the forefront of objections and voting against it are the people opposite-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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In Clonburris 11,000 homes were opposed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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-----and Deputy Ó Broin knows it.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Moving on.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Misleading the House again. That is what the Minister is good for.