Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, for being here for this Topical Issue debate because I know that he, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, treat this matter with the utmost seriousness. We have had nearly two days of housing meetings with chief executives and housing directors of local authorities across the country with the Minister. I want to point out the massive ambition in this House for the delivery of public housing. We put in a lot of hard work on the Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage; at departmental level; and in the Oireachtas by all parties on the Affordable Housing Act 2021, the Land Development Agency Act 2021 and the publication of Housing for All with all the tools that are in that document. Then there is the €4 billion multi-annual budget. All of that ambition has to be translated to the local authorities; the approved housing bodies, AHBs; the Land Development Agency, LDA; and the many other bodies that will implement this plan.

Our work is not done when we pass these Bills or budgets. The work has to be continued and we have to continue to focus on almost every one of the sites in each of our constituencies to make sure our ambition is matched by the ambition of the local authorities and AHBs to deliver. The local authorities have to do far more in the delivery of social housing and far more again in the delivery of affordable housing. They have been out of this space for some time, although that is not true of all of them. Dublin City Council built thousands of homes during the Ballymun regeneration project only ten or 15 years ago so there is some legacy of building public housing within our system. They need to get back to having that sort of ambition of seeing a site and being aware that they have the policy tools, budgets and ability to deliver on them.

I mention some of the sites and some of the frustrations I have had with them. The Parkview site is being developed by Ó Cualann in partnership with Dublin City Council but there have been far too many delays in the transfer of the legal title from Dublin City Council to Ó Cualann so it can develop that site. On the Kildonan lands, much of which have been lying idle for many years, consultation has occurred and a project manager has been appointed but there is no clarity on the design and the scheme and timeline are still unclear. The Whitehall car park site has some local issues that need to be ironed out with residents. People have accepted it will be built on but there has been no progress on that site since the summer. Thankfully the majority of Dublin City Council has voted to approve the Oscar Traynor Road site. We expect a planning application but it might only be for part of that overall development so we are a long way from the completion of that project. Pre-Part 8 planning approval is expected on the port tunnel site but we still await procurement and construction and it is only for part of that site. The Coultry Gardens site has been identified for cost rental homes but there is still no clarity on who the partner will be on that. Cranogue Islands on Balbutcher Lane has thankfully been identified for affordable purchase homes but we are a long way off the pre-Part 8 becoming a Part 8 and then being constructed. I mention the Church of the Annunciation site, identified for senior citizens. The church has been demolished and the site lies idle so we need action on that site. Belclare Drive has been identified for affordable housing. It is another complex site and may be further delayed. I could go on and on about all of these sites but if we do not keep an eye on each one of them, the ambition and legislation we have will not be translated into keys in doors and homes for people. The Minister of State and I agree that this is needed and we need to make sure that the next step, delivery by local authorities and AHBs, is carried out.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his support for the work of the Government and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Increasing the supply of housing is a priority for this Government. Last September, the Government published Housing for All, which sets us on a path of delivering 300,000 new homes between now and the end of 2030, including 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. The plan is backed by historic levels of investment with in excess of €20 billion through the Exchequer, the LDA and the Housing Finance Agency over the next five years. This will provide the sector with the stability and certainty it needs to increase supply to an average of 33,000 homes per annum.

Work undertaken in the Department during 2021 identified estimated housing supply targets of 14,000 in the Dublin region for the period 2021 to 2027, with almost half, 6,800, in the Dublin City Council area. Data published by the Department today show that 1,861 new homes were commenced in January 2022. In the past 12 months, February 2021 to January 2022, commencement notices for 31,201 new homes were received. With the exception of 2020, when significant restrictions on home building existed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of residential homes for which commencement notices were received has increased every year since 2015, the earliest year for which comparable data is available. That is a 42% increase on the number of homes for which construction commenced in 2020. Indications are that the proportion of commencements in Dublin in 2021 is on target in accordance with the national planning framework.

Under Housing for All there will be significant investment to deliver both social and affordable housing in the Dublin region. The delivery of new social homes will be an important element of this increased delivery. Housing for All includes a target to deliver an average of 9,500 new build social homes per annum over the next five years, with annual targets increasing from 9,000 in 2022 to 10,200 in 2026. In this period, 17,750 new-build social homes will be delivered in the four local Dublin local authority areas, and over 20,000 new social homes will be built, including homes delivered through long-term leasing.

To increase housing delivery and more affordable housing, we introduced the Affordable Housing Act 2021, the first ever stand-alone affordable housing legislation. This Act established a basis for four new affordable housing measures to deliver on the programme for Government commitment to put affordability at the heart of the housing system and prioritise the increased supply of affordable homes. Housing for All provides funding for the delivery of 54,000 affordable homes nationally to 2030, including 36,000 affordable purchase and 18,000 cost rental homes. The Department is in the process of reviewing the housing development action plans from the 31 local authority areas in order to finalise regional annual affordable housing targets in the period to 2026 and this process will be completed shortly.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State outlining some of the many things contained in Housing for All, the Affordable Housing Act 2021, the Land Development Agency Act 2021 and the many other measures that he mentioned. We need to go further and start to make sure that every local authority knows the breadth and depth of this housing plan, that every local authority knows how much is in here and that every councillor has an understanding that there are tools in this housing plan that will allow them to progress the projects which they might have been frustrated at being unable to develop. I welcome the two days we have spent with our housing directors and I know each of the Ministers will be speaking to the councillors in their parties. I also welcome the Taoiseach’s comments that local authorities and councillors have to treat this issue, in its implementation, as an emergency. We have to make sure we get to a position where we start building homes and that will involve sacrifices and challenges for all of us. The biggest challenge that is faced is by the executives in the AHBs and, particularly, in the local authorities.

More than 250 additional staff have been provided across the country but there has not been any additional staff provided to Dublin yet. That is because, as the assistant secretary general at the Department informed our committee, they are waiting for the housing needs and demands assessment to be completed and they will be in a better position at that point to identify the numbers that are required. We need additional staff in Dublin and everybody accepts that. The local authorities need to tell us how many staff they need and they need to ensure that is approved by the Department. We have to get those staff in place and get to work on all of the sites I mentioned.

Thousands of homes could be delivered in my constituency alone. That is what progress and Housing for All will look like. It will not be a list of policy instruments, but a list of sites where homes are being developed and a list of families who are able to call those places home. It will be places that we will be able to call communities. I am not criticising Government policy. I am not even criticising progress at this point, but I am saying we need to make sure that ambition is one of the core points of the local authorities in how they deliver this plan.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy McAuliffe for his remarks. When the housing need and demand assessment, HNDA, is submitted by local authorities, it will be looked at forensically, because it will be the guide rails in terms of where demand will be and construction will take place over the coming years.

The Deputy has, quite rightly, pointed to what citizens need to see. They need to see developments going on around them, with the prospect of and hope to have keys to their new home in their hand in order that they can have a secure tenancy for their family. The Government is working night and day and is focused on that and ensuring that people can see the 31,000 commencements that are now ongoing throughout the country. That means the skillsets of labourers, bricklayers and diggers are on site delivering those houses.

A key priority for Government is ensuring the increased supply of social and affordable homes throughout Dublin. This year, we will deliver more than 2,000 new-build social homes throughout the Dublin local authorities. Affordable housing delivery is already happening and the first affordable purchase homes will be made available shortly in Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council. We have already delivered cost rental homes at 40% below market rates in Fingal in Dublin.

Importantly, affordable housing measures and schemes are designed to assist purchasers in meeting the costs of newly-constructed homes and increasing the overall housing supply. By significantly increasing supply we will help temper inflationary pressures on the wider housing market to benefit all home purchasers. We are working as hard as we can, in line with the sites Deputy McAuliffe pointed out, to ensure they are being realised for all our citizens.