Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It has never been more difficult to be a renter. Rents are through the roof, and last year almost 20,000 eviction notices were issued to tenants. The single biggest cause of homelessness, as I am sure the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform knows, is evictions from the private rental sector. According to the Residential Tenancies Board, the average cost of a new rental is now €20,000 per year. It is €26,000 in some parts of the city and as much as €36,000 in others. New rents increased by almost 5% in the past 12 months and existing rents by 6%. Even in rent pressure zones, RPZs, rents are increasing by more than the 2% cap. In almost all of our cities - Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford - rents for existing renters rose by between 4% and 5% last year. Since 2020, under the watch of the Minister and his colleagues, rents have increased by an astonishing 40% and their renter's tax credit has been swallowed up by rent increases for landlords. All the while, the Government's failure to meet its social, affordable and private-for-purchase targets means many people who do not want to be in the private rental sector are trapped there in insecure and expensive accommodation.

During the election campaign, Fine Gael promised to retain RPZs. In its manifesto, the Minister's party stated that it would review the effectiveness of RPZs. There is no mention in the programme for Government of ending the caps. On Sunday, however, Micheál Martin suggested just that. He said that the Government is considering replacing RPZs when they expire at the end of this year. His comments read like the speaking notes of an industry lobbyist for institutional investors. The more important point is that they caused real concern among renters.

I have been inundated with emails and telephone calls. One women told me: "The rule at the current rate of 2% is the only thing between myself and my daughter and homelessness." This woman is 70. She works to pay the rent. Her daughter has special needs. She lives in my constituency and pays rent in of €1,477 per month. Ending RPZs or allowing landlords to reset rents between tenancies would mean she would face rent of €2,700. Another constituent told me he never knows when his landlord might end his tenancy but at least with RPZs he knows what his rent will be year on year. A third renter told me that ending RPZs "is going to drive up rents and make thousands of people homeless".

One very distressed tenant wrote to the Taoiseach. He copied me and others on his communication, which states: "If you honestly cared about renters, you would not be considering how to benefit private investors, but how to benefit renters."

I cannot stress enough the impact the Taoiseach's comments have had on renters. Any renters reading the front page of the Irish Daily Mail today would be even more concerned because apparently the Taoiseach told members of the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party that they should brace themselves for unpopular decisions. It seems that the partial row-back by the Taoiseach in Brussels yesterday was about as misleading as his claim that 40,000 new homes would be delivered last year.

Will the Minister provide some comfort to renters who are genuinely concerned about the Government's intentions and make clear that it will not break its election promises? Will he give a commitment not to take any action that results in renters having to pay even higher extortionate rents?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. We are all encountering many constituents in Dublin and across the country who are facing difficulties with rent rises and accessing affordable homes. That is why housing policy is the single biggest issue for the Government and why we want to take further action in the area of housing. I assure the House that the Government is absolutely committed to delivering more homes for people, either to rent or own, quickly. We are advancing further policy options on how we can do just that.

I want to be clear that the Taoiseach stated he is open to the possibility of developing an alternative system to RPZs, which will protect renters but which will also allow people to have a clear, stable environment in which to invest. This is not about increasing rents for tenants; it is about increasing supply, which will ultimately reduce rents. It is incumbent on all of us in this House to be willing to examine all policy options and look at different approaches and models, because it is clear that we need to build more homes and increase the pace at which we build them.

We fully recognise the need to protect and support renters. That is why we advanced further progress for renters with the renter's tax credit in the most recent budget. It is also why we legislated for tenancies of unlimited duration and restricted the level of upfront payments required from tenants. The Deputy will be aware that RPZs were introduced in 2016. They will be in place until the end of this year. That is why the Department of housing reviewed RPZs last year. The Department of housing has also asked the Housing Agency to undertake a review of the operation of RPZs. It is expected that this analysis will conclude in quarter 1 of this year in advance of the legislative timeframe I have set out. Any potential future policy options or amendments that arise from the review will be brought to the Government and considered carefully under the co-ordination of the Minister for housing.

Let me be clear. There is no predetermined outcome to this review. A well-functioning private rental market is a necessity and must work for tenants and landlords. As the Housing Commission's noted in its report last year, the available evidence indicates that the impact of RPZs has been mixed. Eight years on, we need to ensure that the system is fit for purpose and protects tenants but that it does not deter landlords. Without landlords and investors, there is no private rental market.

Changes to any aspect of housing policy must be looked at in the round. We need a system that increases and encourages development activity and supply, reduces costs for homeowners and renters and provides for stability and certainty for all concerned. That is why we have a record level of capital investment in housing. As Minister for public expenditure, I will undertake a review of the national development plan. In the context of the latter, the role of the State will be strengthened under this Government when it comes to provision of social and affordable homes across our economy.

We also have to be honest. Analysis carried out by the Department of Finance analysis shows that in order to build 50,000 homes per year, €20 billion in investment capital will be required each year. I expect the State's role in that to grow, but we have to secure the investment environment in order to ensure that we have more homes for people to rent, that we can strengthen affordability for future homeowners and that both of these will be part of the overall picture when it comes to housing policy.

We have to undertake a review in advance of the legislative timeframe relating to the end of this year. The Minister for housing will co-ordinate matters. The central focus of what we are doing is to protect renters but also to increase the number of rental properties across our country, particularly as we know there is a real shortage of supply.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister is living in cloud-cuckoo-land. For the past number of weeks, there has been intensive lobbying on behalf of Irish Institutional Property, Property Industry Ireland and the Irish Property Owners Association all claiming, wrongly, in my view, that RPZs - as inadequate a protection as they are, they still provide form of protection - are the reason Government did not meet its targets last year. That is not true. The reason the Government did not meet its target of 33,000 new homes last year is because for the fifth year in a row it missed its social and affordable housing targets. The failure to meet housing need is on the Government, not on renters and the rent they pay.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The Government could scrap RPZs tomorrow and allow landlords to reset rents between tenancies and market rent, but not a single new home would be built. How do we know? We know because that was the case a number of years ago. Institutional investors were investing in the market when RPZs were first introduced. It is ECB interest rate rises that have caused the problem.

Given that renters are paying higher rents than ever before and have more insecure tenancies, the idea that this Government has their back is nonsense.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy. The Minister to respond.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister please confirm that the Government will not do anything that will increase the pressure on hard-pressed renters?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Let me absolutely clear. We want to protect renters across our country. We also want to increase the number of rental homes that are available for people who want to rent. Central to that proposition is increasing the number of homes built across our country. The unfortunate reality is that the Deputy's housing policy would result in a complete failure of housing supply if it was progressed.

A Deputy:

No way.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The people have had their say on that. The Deputy's party's approach is not credible. It would abolish all the supports for first-time buyers, put back the work of the Land Development Agency for years and devise a new pseudo-form of home ownership, where someone would own their house-----

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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Is 40,000 houses the line the Minister is sticking to?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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-----but not the land it was built on. Let me absolutely clear to the Deputy.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister to be clear to renters, not to me.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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It is important that a new Government with a new mandate assesses housing policy in order that we can increase the supply both homes that are available to rent and to buy across our country. It is in this way that the Government will take action over the coming months.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I return to the biggest immediate challenge facing the Government, namely housing. Despite the bluster from Government, it has admitted that last year it built nearly 10,000 fewer homes than it previously stated. We all hear from our constituents in communities around the country that housing is the single biggest issue facing families and individuals. We hear this from people who are homeless, from families who are living in housing insecurity and from people who cannot move out of their childhood bedrooms because they cannot find affordable homes anywhere in their neighbourhoods.

Tomorrow morning, the House will debate a Labour Party motion which sets out both a clear pathway for the radical actions necessary to address this housing catastrophe and our proposals for active State intervention to address this matter and ramp up delivery. We are offering a radical reset of housing policy, as the Housing Commission has called for. However, the Minister and his Cabinet colleagues have agreed a countermotion which will reject our ambitious proposals for change and which instead, it seems, will offer only more of the same - more of what has not worked to deliver homes for people.

The only suggestion of change is from the Taoiseach, namely to weaken protections for renters and provide more money to developers, with no active role for the State. Can the Minister explain why the Government is so set on repeating the mistakes of the past? Why is it intent on repeating the same mistakes which led to missed targets and lack of delivery under for Housing for All and which created the conditions that led to the last property crash under the watch of the Minister's party?

We are all clear that the Minister's party and Fine Gael misled the public on housing delivery in the general election. It is only 12 weeks since we were in the thick of that campaign. In the pitches to the public from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, there were claims that construction would exceed targets and that 40,000 homes would be built. There was nothing about ending RPZs or about prioritising tax breaks for developers. Fine Gael even committed to retaining RPZs. In its manifesto, the Minister's party committed only to continuing to review them.

On the same page Fianna Fáil boasted about capping rents using RPZ legislation. There is no indication that it will be pulling the rug from underneath renters and removing the safety net that is there.

The Taoiseach has warned Government TDs to brace themselves for a raft of unpopular decisions on housing, but renters, who we have all heard from every day since the Taoiseach's pronouncement on Sunday, are bracing themselves and facing the fear that their monthly bills will further skyrocket. In his new role in public expenditure, the Minister must be concerned about the Taoiseach's threatened transfer of public money from investment in necessary State infrastructure and beefing up the Land Development Agency to instead delivering off-the-cuff handouts to developers. Handouts to developers did not work in the past; they made matters worse.

Can the Minister confirm that the RPZ laws will be renewed this year? What evidence does he have that tax breaks will lead to any increase in housing supply?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for her question. To set out the context on housing supply, it has significantly increased since 2020, with 130,000 new homes delivered in that period. Everyone on the Government benches and across the House was disappointed with the final numbers for 2024, which were less than what we expected. However, it is not true to say that we missed our Housing for All targets. The overall net position over a period of three years shows 29,000, 32,000 and 30,300 units delivered, a combined total that exceeded the overall target over three years.

We need to look to the future to drive significant supply of homes across our economy. The volume of homes built in the past five years represents the highest delivery for many years. Notwithstanding the short-term fluctuation in delivery, the current delivery pipeline is very strong. Work commenced on 60,000 new homes in 2024, an increase of 84% compared to 2023. It equates to work starting on an average of 239 new homes every working day of the year. We are determined that the uplift in supply of recent years must be sustained, with a longer term upward trend maintained. That is why the outgoing Government set new housing targets of over 300,000 new homes over a series of years.

I want to be clear in my role as Minister for public expenditure. We agreed to a review of the national development plan to accelerate infrastructure delivery in our economy in water, energy and transport to unlock future supply and intensify the level of housing delivery in our economy. When we see the capital outworking of that, I expect we will see increased allocations for housing and an increased focus in the State's role in housing supply. If we are to deliver 50,000 new homes per year, we are going to need more private investment to do that work and complement the State's role in housing. We all need to be honest about that.

The State has a central role, but we need to ensure that we unlock future private investment to drive increased supply across our economy. That means examining all of the policy options that are available to Government to ensure that we drive housing supply and increase affordability for young people in order to give them an opportunity to buy and own their own home.

There is a severe shortage of supply for renters in our economy. As I said in response to Deputy Ó Broin, we have said we will conduct a review with the housing agency. There is no predetermined outcome to that review. It will be evidence-based and examine how we protect renters and increase the supply and development of rental accommodation in our economy. That is a necessity to ensure that people who want to rent a home today and future renters in our economy have the opportunity to go on to rent. If you go on to daft.ie or any other sites, it is very difficult in terms of the supply of rental accommodation. We need more homes for the rental supply in our economy.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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The Minister spoke about an uplift in housing delivery, but the only uplift likely this year it seems is an uplift in the rents people are being forced to pay. People tell all of us that they can barely afford to meet their monthly rents. Can the Minister give certainty to renters that RPZ laws will be retained or that there will be an equivalent safety net? There is nothing coming from Government except uncertainty and, it seems, tax breaks for developers.

We know from the ESRI that tax breaks for developers do not increase delivery. Rather, they lead to a transfer of tax revenue from the State to developers without any significant effect on supply. That is from ESRI research. I again ask the Minister whether he will accept our Labour motion that sets out clear evidence-based policies to provide a radical reset in housing policy and ensure that we see an increased level of supply of homes and protections for renters who so badly need them.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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If the Deputy was really interested in effecting Labour Party policy, she would have stayed longer in the government formation talks.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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He would not accept our proposals.

Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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He had no interest.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I knew from all the engagement we had, she was more interested in posturing over there than she was in playing a constructive role in government. We were open to their proposals.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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They were not.

Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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No, they were not. They were not.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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She wanted to set up a State construction company, which would take years. It would take years.

Let me be clear: our central objective, in any review of housing policy, will be to increase supply and to unlock and address all of the levers of supply which are open to Government to ensure we can drive affordability for young people and to address the severe housing shortage that is there. We will not deliver on housing unless we have a significant uplift of supply across our economy. That means the role of the State will be strengthened. It will be strengthened when this Government reviews the national development plan. We also need to assess how we address other levers of supply - and that is what we will do - while protecting renters and protecting the vulnerable in our society.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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The Minister is at it again. The Government has just been caught out using dodgy housing data and talking about 40,000 homes completed last year and just now, he Minister told us work commenced on 60,000 homes in 2024, using the same dodgy data based on commencement notices filed and housing sites then lying idle, which has been happening all around the country. Do not take my word for that; Property Industry Ireland, the lobbyist for the investment funds that the Government listens to so much, said at the weekend that the 60,000 commencement notices in 2024 they will not, in fact, manifest in completed units. That is the lobbyist for the developers that the Minister listens to all the time saying those 60,000 homes will not, in fact, end up as completed homes. He might listen to them if he will not listen to us.

Last Thursday people started sleeping in their cars in Leixlip. Dozens of people, desperate to own their own home, queued for days for the chance to buy one of just 31 homes. These homes were not cheap. They ranged in price from €460,000 to €525,000 but when they went on sale on Saturday morning, they were gone within minutes and scores of people were left disappointed. What happened in Leixlip is a microcosm of the chaos in housing all across the country. Homes priced at €500,000 are not affordable for most people. Still, even when they go on sale, people must sleep in their cars for days to have any chance of buying them. People are increasingly desperate and this Government has nothing to say to reassure them. In fact, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael spent the election campaign misleading them, repeatedly telling people that 40,000 homes would be delivered. They did not even come close to that figure. Now people can see that they were conned.

The latest proposals to address this are tax breaks for developers and sweetheart deals for investment funds. This is not the policy reset that he and his Government claim it to be. It is, in fact, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael reverting to type. We are constantly told there are not alternatives to getting this type of finance but there are other options. A report by Housing Europe - commissioned by one of Fianna Fáil's MEPs, by the way - goes into great detail about the billions of euro in funding from European Union funding streams that could be used to build affordable housing. Why is the Government ignoring this? It does not have to double down on failure. Does the Minister think people voted for more tax breaks for investment funds? Why were the Government parties not upfront about these proposals during the election campaign? As an alternative, will the Government use the European Union funding streams to finance the construction of housing that is affordable?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for the question. What I said in reply to the other Deputies is that any incoming Government should examine all of the policy options that will achieve the central objective - where I think there is consensus on in this House - how do we increase the overall supply to meet the targets that have been set over a series of years. We are open to constructive feedback and engagement on that. What we have said, as a Government, is that the Minister for housing with others - the Minster for Finance, myself as the Minister for public expenditure, and others - will try to access all options to give that significant uplift in supply that is central to achieving affordability across our economy.

I acknowledge the difficulties many aspiring homeowners face and, again, the many people and couples who were left waiting for bad news at Leixlip over the past number of days, a situation which is reflected across the country. It will not improve if we continue with policies that do not unlock supply. That is why it will be a two-pronged approach from this Government in the policy options we take when it comes to delivering supply. As I have said previously, we need to look at the NDP to accelerate infrastructure delivery in our economy. How do we unlock transport-oriented housing development where we have built transport networks in cities or in urban areas? How do progress current projects where we could unlock further supply? How do we address the shortages we have in water infrastructure in towns and regions across our country that will help unlock further housing supply? These are the policy options we are taking, which will involve a bigger role for the State and State agencies such as Irish Water, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the National Transport Authority, and the Land Development Agency. Central to our policy is the State's role in the provision of housing supply but we are being honest with people. If we want to reach between 50,000 and 60,000 new homes per year, we need to make sure Ireland is an attractive place for private investment as well. If we are all honest about that, we have seen that weaken in recent years, and that has had an impact on the overall housing supply environment. It will not improve with the Deputy attacking private investors like he did in his initial contribution. It will not happen if he continues the attack on private investors like he has done in recent years or his constant opposition to lots of constructive proposals that have come from Government such as the Land Development Agency. While the then Minister, Deputy O'Brien, was progressing the planning legislation, the Deputy and his party were central to slowing this down, trying to undermine it and trying to create further barriers to the bureaucracy of planning on which we needed to see progress in recent years. Let me be clear: it will be a bigger role for the State but if we are going to unlock further housing supply, we need to ensure we unlock private investment as well and that is the position of Government

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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Does the Minister know that the countries in Europe with the largest rental sectors, the most landlords and the most investors, are also the countries in Europe with the strongest forms of rent regulation? Does he know, as regards constructive proposals, about those in the Housing Europe report commissioned by one of Fianna Fáil's MEPs about how to get billions of euro of funding into affordable house? Does he know about those and why is he not taking on board those constructive proposals? I asked the Minister about the 60,000 homes commenced last year. That is not correct; 60,000 commencement notices were filed but 60,000 homes were not commenced last year. Many of those sites are lying idle. Will he withdraw what he said on that? We do not need more misinformation and misclaims from this Government. Will he answer my questions? Does he think people voted for tax breaks for investment funds? Why did he not mention those during the election and why was he not upfront about those proposals?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As I said previously, my central point on commencement notices is that we have a strong pipeline in place for supply with commencement notices issuing of 60,000 new homes. Feedback suggests that there is unquestionably significantly more work on site than before, aided by the Government's development levy and water connection waivers, and it is not just a matter of if but a matter of when these commencement notices will translate to real supply. There will be some supply this year and next year but I am talking about the next five years or indeed the years after that. How we develop a housing policy that gets us to between 50,000 and 60,000 homes per year?

In response to the Deputy's question on renters, I was being clear to all of the others. Any policy action we take is here to protect renters but also to make sure we develop more rental accommodation in our country with an increased population. We need to have private investment to accelerate that as well. He is not being honest about that point. Let me be clear.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Minister.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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We will be strengthening the role of the State to increase housing supply and trying to complement that-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you Minister, your time is up.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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-----by having housing policies that accelerate private investment as well.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Before I call the Chief Whip, I want everybody - as there are some new Deputies - to be aware that when we move to the Order of Business, if there is dissent, the clock starts ticking and it removes time from the discussion on promised legislation.

Any procrastinating by Members takes from the time for Questions on Policy or Legislation and I ask them to please be aware of that. I call the Chief Whip to move the proposal for this week's business, in accordance with Standing Order 35.