Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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45. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he is planning further updates to the national development plan in light of the growing consensus that Ireland’s housing demand will significantly exceed current projections and plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18088/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Some of us thought the Housing for All targets were inadequate to begin with. The housing crisis, ever worsening, is testimony to the fact that is the case. There is now a growing consensus that we need to dramatically increase our targets. The Housing for All targets of 33,000 per average year are not enough and we are not delivering on the social and affordable targets in any event. Is the Minister considering changes to the national development plan to ramp up the plans for housing and, in particular, for social and affordable housing?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister for housing has indicated that the level of housing targets for the years ahead is something he is considering. The Deputy will be aware that the Government agreed in March to the deferral of the approval of a revised national planning framework, and to set out a revised timeline for the process. This is informed, to a significant degree, by census data. The postponement of the census in 2021 due to the pandemic resulted in the delayed publication of crucial census outputs relating to housing and demographics. In light of the extent of recent demographic change and the implications for future population projections and structural housing demand, the Government has decided to defer the approval of a draft revised national planning framework until the full set of data required to properly consider matters relating to demographics and population projections has been completed by the ESRI. The ESRI has produced a draft final report which is now subject to peer review. The independent report will published by the ESRI once all the final reviews have been completed. To recap, the ESRI is doing an independent research project on what future housing needs could be. Once that has been received by the Minister for housing and considered by the Government, this will then lead to a consideration of what our future housing output targets should be for the medium term.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The ESRI has already indicated that target of 33,000 in Housing for All is inadequate. There is a general consensus that we need at least 50,000 a year. When the Housing for All targets were first set, in my local authority we did the maths and it was clear that the failure to take into account those who will join the housing list meant that at the end of Housing for All, and this was a few years ago, there would be more people on the housing list in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown than there were when the targets were set.

The Government seems unwilling to acknowledge that the targets were always inadequate. It is now absolutely clear that they are wholly inadequate. The problem is that even those targets cannot be delivered on in regard to social and affordable housing in particular. It is all well and good to talk about the census being delayed and the national planning framework, but there must be a recognition that we urgently need to ramp up the targets, to deal with the problem, which is that we are unable to deliver even on the existing inadequate targets, and to do something about it in regard to the national development plan.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The publication by the Government tomorrow morning of the latest update on the delivery of the housing action plan will show the progress we are making in the delivery of our housing targets. The Deputy only has to look at the figures for the first quarter of this year - the number of commencements and the number of homes currently being built - to see that we will do more than deliver on our targets for this year. That, in turn, will set the foundation for the delivery of more homes into the future. If we are to make the progress necessary to build more than 40,000 homes per year, we need to build up our ability to do it. We need to have a labour sector that is big enough, with the people available to do the work. We need to ensure the right projects are being delivered. We are doing that at the moment. While we will always need to make more progress in terms of supply and affordability - this is the case throughout Europe - increasingly we are seeing more houses, apartments and homes being built, year after year, by this Government. I believe this is reaching a height under our Administration this year, allowing us to set even better targets for the years ahead.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is still not enough. We have record numbers in homelessness, huge numbers on housing lists and a particular failure to deliver social and affordable housing. Even properties that are built are too expensive. They are completely out of the reach of the vast majority of people. It is clearly not enough. The Minister raised the issue of capacity. The NDP says that the Government will strengthen the capacity of local authorities to deliver social and affordable housing. The local authorities seem to have no capacity to deliver housing. We have argued for a State construction company and for massive recruitment of tradespeople, construction workers and so on in the local authorities in order that the State will have its own ability to deliver capacity. Instead, the Government leaves it to the private sector. However, as said by Goodbody Stockbrokers and others, the private sector does not have the capacity to do it. If the targets have to go up, and given that it is clear that the existing targets cannot be met, what is the Government going to do to build up the capacity to deliver housing, particularly the social and affordable housing we so urgently need?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I do not understand the Deputy's argument. It does not make any sense to me. If the Deputy is acknowledging on one hand that the capacity is not there, how is creating a State entity overnight immediately going to create that capacity? I do not see how that can be done.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is a matter of recruiting and training.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is acknowledging that the capacity was not there for some time because our construction sector needed to grow. Regardless of whether the State or a private sector developer was trying to employ them, the reality is that we were constrained because we did not have enough people available within our country to build the homes we need. That is improving. We are beginning to see more people working in the construction sector than we have seen for some time, in part due to the work that is under way with an improved apprenticeship pipeline. The Deputy always makes the inference that anything the private sector does - such as a home being built by a developer who wants to make a profit out of it - is bad or not to be trusted. That kind of ideology is a recipe for Ireland building fewer homes in the future. We need local authorities and approved housing bodies to build social and affordable housing - I accept we need to do more of that - but we also need a private sector that is capable of standing on its own two feet and of building more homes. We are making progress in the delivery of that.