Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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7. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans for ramping up the delivery of affordable purchase homes and his targets for the coming years. [12532/25]

Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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This also relates to affordable housing. There will be full agreement across the House on the need to increase our delivery of affordable housing. I am pleased that in the city and county of Cork many developments have been brought forward by the city and county councils. My question relates to the ramping up of delivery of affordable housing. It is a critical vehicle for those seeking home ownership. We need to be very ambitious in our targets and I seek detail on that this morning.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I know from our time shared on Cork County Council the delivery of affordable housing was something on which the Deputy was insistent and I am glad that much of this is coming to fruition. The Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver affordable housing at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. The Government’s ambition is to build on progress to date under Housing for All and deliver more than 300,000 homes in the period from 2025 to 2030 with an annual average of more than 50,000 homes per year building up to 60,000 in 2030. These revised national housing targets will inform the revision to existing social and affordable housing targets at a local authority level and work is ongoing in this regard.

Since 2021, more than 10,000 affordable housing supports have now been delivered from a standing start via our delivery partners and schemes such as the affordable housing fund, the first home scheme and the vacant property refurbishment grant are making it affordable for many to purchase a home. To date, nearly 1,300 local authority affordable purchase homes have been delivered and a substantial pipeline is in place to deliver affordable purchase homes. This is being supported with resourcing for the local authorities, with more than 140 additional staff assigned to work on their affordable housing programmes, ensuring we will see delivery ramped up.

My Department publishes programme-level statistics on affordable and social housing delivery activity by local authorities and delivery partners in each local authority area. Data up to quarter 3 2024 is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website. Affordable housing schemes are operating at scale and this momentum will continue as the pipeline is developed by local authorities alongside AHBs and the Land Development Agency.

Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Government’s commitment. One particular group to whom I have committed to being a strong voice in the House is those prospective purchasers who find themselves falling between the supports.

They are those individuals, couples and families who are outside the social housing income limits. Their income is over those limits so they do not qualify for social housing. Affordable housing really should be the vehicle for them to gain home ownership. Unfortunately, we find in many cases that they are not able to avail of the affordable housing schemes simply because they are not affordable enough for them. This issue has been raised previously but we need to provide some assistance to those individuals and families. The affordable housing scheme needs to be reviewed. We need to make it more affordable as well as increasing overall targets and improving our delivery. It has to be accessible and affordable. We have to deal with the cohort who are not currently getting support from Government. I know the programme for Government addresses this but I would like to see it happen at the earliest possible time.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I am very familiar with his passion for affordable housing. He was always an advocate for social housing of all sorts and in Cork county in particular, he has been one of the key voices in ramping up the delivery of different affordable housing solutions. There is a project to deliver 60 cost-rental homes in Kilnagleary, Carrigaline, which is very close to the Deputy's home area and is something he advocated for. Our commitment today is that such projects will be ramped up at speed and we will deliver them as quickly as we can. Since the publication of Housing for All, 10,000 affordable housing solutions have been delivered. We need to do more; we need to accelerate that delivery. That is the commitment given by the Minister and the Department today. I agree with the Deputy about homeowners who are falling between the cracks. In my previous answer, I spoke about the need for flexibility and adaptability. The momentum is there.

Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State's words of commitment are welcome. Issues relating to additional staff for local authorities are very important. There is a fundamental issue in respect of affordable housing that very often when proposals come to local authorities, the default position seems to be to fall back on social housing delivery rather than affordable housing. That mindset needs to change. We have to build the systems so that affordable housing becomes a reality. The cost to the State of affordable housing is a lot less. It is providing a mechanism for the cohort I described to gain home ownership. We need to ramp it up. Affordable housing needs to be affordable and, at present, in many cases, it is not. The State is already subsidising the delivery of affordable housing to a large extent but we have to do more to give hope to those individuals and families who are trying to gain home ownership.

I thank the Minister of State for making specific reference to the schemes in south Cork. They are schemes I am very aware of and I am putting a strong focus on trying to ramp up delivery. It is good to hear the commitment this morning.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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Before Housing for All, there were no affordable housing schemes. Many of these schemes are in the process of being designed or built, or keys are being handed over for the first time. There is momentum and we expect acceleration in terms of scaling up and the number of affordable housing schemes that will be available. I have to give credit to Cork County Council officials in particular. Their social housing delivery has been among the best, top notch, and they deserve credit for that. I also see their embrace of affordable housing schemes in my own area, which the Deputy will be familiar with, in places such as Bantry, Clonakilty and Bandon where the first affordable homes schemes are coming online. That should be replicated throughout Ireland. The Minister has committed to these type of schemes being replicated throughout the country. I appreciate the Deputy's concern about the issue and his constant dedication to pushing these housing solutions across County Cork.