James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for being present in the Chamber. I ask for a progress update on the ongoing house building targets for 2022. We have seen some reports in the media during the week and there seems to be a discrepancy between details provided by the Department and what will realistically be produced. I would appreciate the Minister providing an update in that regard.

I am in my mid-20s and the youngest Member in Dáil Éireann, so I am acutely aware of the significant challenges facing a new generation of people without assets who want to be able to purchase their own homes but simply cannot because of the current level of pricing. It is an enormous concern and this Government more than any other in recent memory has given it the priority it deserves. I have plenty of confidence in the current plan being put forward, although I have some concerns around who will end up owning the homes we build on completion. These are valid concerns that must be put forward and I will take this opportunity to make that particular point.

In the construction of new housing it is great to see a significant ramping up of social and affordable housing. I want to put the case for tens of thousands of young, educated working professionals who are the life of the Irish economy but who are unable to purchase their own homes. I am a Cork Deputy but I will speak about Dublin because it is important to recognise it as a primary city that is a huge part of the ecosystem of developing young working professionals who may be educated in Cork, Galway and Dublin. People travel from all over the country to work in Dublin in many of our companies across a range of different sectors at a young age before eventually transferring back to their home. That seems to be the pattern for so many young Irish working people.

Somebody who wants to rent a two-bedroom apartment in this city with the simple luxury of an en suite bathroom could expect to pay well in excess of €2,000 per month. With parking, that could go to €2,600 or €2,800 in many parts of the city. This shows the system is utterly broken.

I respect the Central Bank of Ireland's independence but we are elected by the people. It must be acknowledged that for so many people who are fortunate or in a good position to earn a high wage, it is unrealistic to expect them to get a 10% deposit if they have been paying extremely high rents over five, six or seven years, which in itself proves they are more than capable of meeting mortgage repayment obligations. As a Government we must go to the Central Bank to outline our specific concerns in that regard.

There are so many people who could buy a house tomorrow, with mortgage repayments significantly lower than rent. Although a mortgage is a major burden on every family in this country and any individual who is repaying a mortgage, at the end of the term he or she owns the asset. It would not be a cuckoo fund in Singapore, Shanghai or Tokyo owning it. It is deeply frustrating to know this when I listen to many of the esteemed economists advising there is a requirement for them to be involved with the market to push the building of new premises in this country.

The simple reality is those who are in a position to be able to purchase houses in Ireland and repay mortgages are being restricted because they are paying high rents and there is a requirement for a deposit when buying. It is perhaps something we could look at. I look forward to the information the Minister of State will provide to the House on housing provision for 2022.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to provide an update on social and affordable housing provision. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, who sends his apologies but who has provided me with the reply to the Deputy's question.

Housing for All is the Government's plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes out to 2030. The focus of the social housing programme will be to increase the number of new builds with a target to reach delivery of more than 9,500 new-build homes on average every year for the next five years to 2026.

In September 2021, the Minister issued targets for new-build social housing to all local authorities for the period 2022 to 2026. Delivery of affordable new housing is also a key objective across the affordable housing delivery streams. In March of this year, five-year affordable purchase and cost rental delivery targets were issued to those local authorities with an identified and significant need for affordable housing provision.

One of the actions in Housing for All requires local authorities to develop and submit housing delivery action plans to include details of their social and affordable housing delivery. In the action plans, local authorities provide information on the location where housing will be delivered and the planned number of homes to be delivered in each year. The plans also include information on other delivery streams, including delivery by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Land Development Agency, LDA. All local authorities submitted initial housing delivery action plans to the Minister in December and there has been further engagement between local authorities and the Department to ensure all plans are consistent with social and affordable targets, in addition to the range of policies set out in Housing for All.

This year sees the beginning of delivery under the range of affordable housing programmes, representing the first State-supported affordable housing and delivery in a decade. Households are already enjoying the benefits of the new cost rental tenancies, with over 200 homes already tenanted and more schemes opening between now and the end of the year.

The first local authority affordable purchase homes in south Dublin will have their new owners next month and in Cork city, we will be advertising shortly affordable homes for purchase in two schemes. In addition, the first home shared equity schemes will launch next week and will be funded to support 8,000 home purchases by 2026 by affordability constrained first-time buyers and some households starting again under a fresh start principle. I hope that addresses some of the questions the Deputy asked. I do not believe the Minister would have been able to address the issue raised regarding the Central Bank in his statement.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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The response is quite interesting as it does not provide a figure for 2022, which is what I asked for. That is a little frustrating and I wish to underline it. I am sure my constituents in Cork East and every Deputy's constituents want those figures and want certainty. I know the Minister of State shares that view. I thank her for the response and I appreciate it but I ask her to bring back to the Minister the message that I want this year's figures, which I asked for but did not get this morning.

We have done Trojan work. The sole focus of much of the discussion in Fianna Fáil was that we would take the broken housing system when we entered Government in 2020 and try to put in proactive measures to increase the supply of housing, despite having to deal with a pandemic. That cannot be disputed and I fundamentally disagree with what many Opposition parties wanted to do to fix the problem. By tearing up the rule book, we will push the process back by a number of years.

When these houses come on stream, whether it is the houses for which planning permission has been granted or new private housing developments, I am concerned about who is going to buy them. I want domestic residents and first-time buyers in this country to be prioritised over the next two to three years. I make no apology for saying that. We need to tackle the argument that there is a necessity to have vulture and cuckoo funds and other institutional investors involved in financing the construction and purchase of new apartment developments and housing developments in this country in order for them to be built. We must remove that argument and reallocate that demand by looking at the tens of thousands of people who in recent years have clearly demonstrated that they can afford to pay the price of a mortgage because many are paying rents that are double what they would pay in a mortgage. I ask that the Minister champion this matter on behalf of the House with the Central Bank. While I recognise the Central Bank's independence, it is failing and that has to be acknowledged. The social and economic consequence of what is happening when it comes to who is purchasing residential property is absolutely shocking and we need to put a stop to it. That is my view and the view of tens of thousands of young working professionals, many of whom feel they have been forgotten about.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Housing for All is a clear priority for the Government. We are committed to delivering on targets across all pathways of the plan. The delivery of social and affordable homes is central to the plan and these homes are expected to comprise approximately half of the housing delivery over the next decade. The provision of individual local authority targets and the development of housing delivery action plans addressing delivery over the next five years has introduced a more strategic approach to housing delivery. Local authorities are working closely with the approved housing bodies, delivery partners and the LDA to develop a pipeline to ensure we meet these targets.

A central element of Housing for All is to build institutional capacity. As part of the measures to support institutional capacity, Housing for All commits to strengthening the capacity of the local authorities to initiate, design, plan, develop and manage housing projects and to recognise that this requires the resourcing of the housing services of local authorities.

Funding has been approved for 250 new posts for local authorities to support the delivery of social housing and work is nearing completion to identify additional resources required to support the delivery of affordable housing. The Government, the Minister and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will continue to work closely with local authorities and all the key stakeholders to support the delivery of social and affordable housing.

That addresses the content of the Topical Issue matter the Deputy raised. He also raised the need to recognise the capacity of young professionals to earn more and how they could be accommodated in the purchasing of new homes. That is the message I heard and it is one I will bring back to the Minister.