Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. A lot has been said in the Chamber this afternoon, simultaneously in the Dáil Chamber and in the media about the Housing for All plan but, as the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, said here earlier, we have had the discussion; it is now about delivery. As Senator Malcolm Byrne said, the reaction from outside of the Houses from the main stakeholders has been very positive. Senator Boyhan was right when he commented earlier and talked about the Government owning this plan. He was 100% right because it is a big statement on the major issue of our day. The plan aims to address the issue in a range of different ways. The Minister, when speaking in the Chamber earlier, said that it was all about getting all hands on deck. That really is his mantra. That is the very essence of this. We need all hands on deck from the private sector to the public sector, including our local authorities that obviously will be a key component, as well as the small and medium-sized builders. I agree with Senator Malcolm Byrne on that point as well. We need to be encouraging small and medium-sized builders back into the development of housing in our communities. We need the large developers as well. At the boom time, we were seeing 80,000 units built per annum. This must all be done with the goal of increasing capacity. There are many different layers to that. The fact that so many people can now see a role for themselves in this process is very positive. We need to see the property market functioning properly again in order that we can address the issues before us.

The statistics the Minister laid out in his speech are very impressive. He talked about 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030, including 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost-rental units. However, statistics can sometimes go over people's heads. They see these huge numbers and they do not mean something tangible but this week, I saw on the ground in my own constituency what Housing for All really means. The Minister came down and met with me in the county town of Navan on Monday. We were examining a project that is benefiting from both urban regeneration funding and, it is to be hoped, funding through Housing for All. I am talking about a whole area of the town that was suffering from massive dereliction, going back to when properties were bought up by speculators that then went bust leaving properties standing idle for years. Through funding from the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, the council has now acquired these lands and has set out a draft master plan for the area. There is €8 million in URDF funding. The plan will see the total regeneration of a derelict area in the heart of Navan. That goes to the essence of what we are doing. We are regenerating a town centre and coupling that with good housing and good apartments in the middle of that town centre. That goes to the very essence of what is good about this plan.

On the flip side and on a smaller thing, the Minister announced €1 million at the weekend for just five age-friendly dwellings in Oldcastle, County Meath, again to be built on derelict land, so this is having an impact on the ground. People can be sceptical of big plans or when they hear the phrase "Housing for All" but it is important to put on the record that tangible things like this are happening. The URDF funding, in conjunction with Housing for All, is going to make a big difference.

Another thing that is going to make a big difference is the forward funding which will now be forthcoming from the Department. The essential element required for this process is land. I have said it for years in these debates. When people are talking about housing development, we must note that, if you do not have the basic essential element, land, you cannot build anything. The situation in respect of land banks in a number of councils across the country is not very good. It is very bleak. During the boom times, many councils got themselves into a hell of a lot of trouble. We had to create a bad bank just to bail out councils as a result of some of the deals they did under the land aggregation scheme. I am glad to see the forward funding being put in place for councils by the Department. It is a big advancement. In Meath, we have seen €6 million in forward funding to allow for the early payment of site costs and to get strategic housing projects through the design, planning and procurement stages. The council can get ahead and actually start to build what is required. That is also a key component. I really welcome that advancement.I wish the Minister and the team in the Custom House well. This is a very good plan. This is a game changer in terms of young people being able to look to the State and being able to see a plan that is going to deliver and make the attainable goal of owning their own home a reality.