Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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2. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his views on the adequacy of Housing for All building targets; when revised targets will be published; his plans to speed up delivery of housing in line with established need; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15950/24]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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Will the Minister for housing make a statement on the adequacy of Housing for All building targets, when revised targets will be published and his plans to speed up delivery of housing in line with established need? The question relates again to targets, but this time to the need for greater ambition and urgency on targets for delivery of homes.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Housing for All commits to delivering an average of 33,000 homes annually, rising to more than 40,000 by 2030. These targets are based on independent, peer-reviewed research and modelling by the ESRI. They are the only housing targets underpinned by such a robust evidence base. That said, it was always intended to review these targets, particularly in light of census 2022. The review has commenced, work is well advanced and refreshed targets will be agreed by Government and published this autumn. The revised targets will also be underpinned by research and modelling by the ESRI. They will take into account population growth, including migration; updated assumptions regarding housing obsolescence rates and household sizes, with smaller household sizes meaning more housing is required; and, as with the current targets, unmet or existing demand.

The Government has introduced a range of measures to support increased delivery, including Project Tosaigh and the secure tenancy affordable rental scheme, scrapping development levies and extending the value and coverage of the vacant property refurbishment grant. While significant uplift in supply this year and last shows we are clearly on the right track, we will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these and other supply-oriented measures to ensure they can deliver the quantum of supply needed, including in relation to any increased targets agreed by Government later this year.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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Before I respond, I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, on his appointment. I note that this is, I think, the third Minister of State with responsibility for planning in the lifetime of this Government. It is perhaps not such a positive sign with such a big planning Bill going through Committee Stage currently to see this changeover, but I wish the Minister of State well personally.

I express my disappointment at the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan's announcement - I think I heard it right - that it will be this autumn before we see those revised targets published. That is extraordinary. The Government has accepted for some time now that the existing targets are simply too low. To tell us now that the revised targets will not be published until this autumn shows the lack of ambition and urgency in the Government. We know that the target of 33,000, first of all, is unlikely to be reached, with housing output likely to fall this year and the existing target being at risk, according to BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland, but we also know the target itself is way too low. The Housing Commission says Ireland may need up to 62,000 homes per year, and the incoming Taoiseach announced that 50,000 homes per year would be needed for the next five years.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are over time. The Minister of State to respond, please.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I join the Deputy in welcoming, Deputy Dillon, our new colleague as Minister of State. The planning Bill is progressing well. The Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, will join us in progressing that important legislation through the Dáil.

The targets for 2024 will be met. By all accounts, they will be exceeded. Commencements are at a record high. If you look at the trajectory of Housing for All over the past four years, as the Minister said, it has taken time to build up capacity, which is now delivering. That is why the Government is committed to this review, underpinned by evidence with support and research by the ESRI, to ensure we are building the right kind of housing in the right place, the right quantum and the right type of housing mix and tenure types. We anticipate that the final agreed targets, with tenure-specific targets for social, affordable, private rented and owner occupation, will be published thereafter this autumn. It is important to underpin this work with evidence-based research. That is what we are doing, in partnership with the ESRI.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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People are crying out for speeded-up delivery of new homes. Every time any of us go out and meet people at any point, that is all we hear. It is across communities and multi-generational. It is the civil rights issue of our times. The Government is not going to publish revised targets until the autumn, when the incoming Taoiseach announced at the Ard-Fheis on Saturday that 250,000 homes would need to be built over the next five years, an absolutely clear acceptance of the need for increased targets. It simply does not sound as if this Government is approaching the need for increased delivery with the necessary urgency when it says it will not publish the revised targets until the autumn. Six months ago, the then Taoiseach conceded to me in the House that the targets were too low and that revisions would be needed. We understood they would be published earlier this year. We hear from different private sector and State entities that the Government will struggle to hit existing targets, yet it is not willing to increase targets with any sense of urgency. We in the Labour Party put forward sensible, constructive proposals as recently as 6 March when we tabled a motion, which the Government did not even oppose, on how delivery can be increased. It is so badly needed.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The Deputy will appreciate that we have to use an evidence-based approach, including looking at population growth, net inward migration, assumptions regarding housing obsolescence rates and household sizes, as informed by census data. Housing output went from 20,000 in 2021 to 34,000 this year. The Deputy will have to agree that is a significant trajectory upwards. That trajectory will continue. We cannot put a figure on it until we understand and delve into the research carried out by the ESRI. Targets are being bandied about of 50,000, 60,000 or 100,000 per annum, but it also requires capacity to be built into the system. We are looking at modern methods of construction and all of these elements combined. It is appropriate that we would be able to use this research to inform our decision-making and to inform and revise those targets in the autumn.