Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our distinguished guest and other visitors. It is important that they know we are discussing Housing for All, a plan that was introduced just over a year ago following the change of Government. This is not one more in a series of other plans; it is dramatically different. It is unprecedented in terms of its scope, ambition and comprehensive approach to providing adequate housing in our country. It is backed by €20 billion of State funding; taxpayers' money is underpinning this plan. It is further underpinned by legislation passed in this House and in the Dáil that gives power to local authorities, for the first time in well over a decade, to use State-owned lands to build not just social homes but affordable homes. It will deliver for generations to come. It is determined to not just eliminate homelessness, but put back into reach the possibility for every citizen in our country to have their own secure, affordable, fit-for-purpose home in a place they want to live.

While the plan is ambitious, it certainly faces challenges. As Senator Cummins mentioned, if we look back to the numbers in 2015, only 5,000 homes were built in our country. We have come out of a decade of undersupply of housing. We had two years of a pandemic. The war in Ukraine has led to very significant supply chain shortages. There has been significant cost inflation and energy inflation and yet, one year on from the introduction of the passing of Housing for All, the indicators are strong and positive. The number of planning applications for houses has increased, as has the rate of construction and completion.In the first three quarters of this year some 20,807 new homes were completed. That is more than in any year since the Central Statistics Office, CSO, statistics started in 2011. In 2022 we are likely to exceed the target of 24,600 but that is not enough. The plan states that we need to deliver somewhere between 30,000 and 35,000 new homes per year but this is one year and we must consider the circumstances. In the long list of challenges I mentioned, I did not mention the delays caused by planning, planning objections, reviews in the courts and judicial reviews. The local authorities tell us that these delays do not add months of delays to their ability to deliver social and affordable homes; they add years. People still take these judicial reviews and object; people who own homes and land and who will never face homelessness.

The Housing for All plan is working and it is working because it is using every available resource at the State's disposal. It faces significant challenges but the local authorities and the AHBs have to be commended on the way they have adopted it. The local authorities have made explanations to us and Senator Keogan mentioned how, of the three developments mentioned in her county that opened this week alone, all of them were social housing. That is not a negative and our priority should be to provide housing to those who most need help first. The fact that the local authority was not delivering affordable housing is because until the introduction of Housing for All, the local authorities did not have the legislative basis and the framework to deliver affordable housing. We should not be apologising to anybody for that. The local authorities welcome the fact that they have been empowered to deliver affordable housing.

What this means in my area of Dublin Central is that for the first time in a decade on streets like Dominick Street, Dorset Street, North King Street and Connaught Street, new homes are being built, keys are being allocated and tenants will move in before Christmas. This is also happening in Cabra, on the Cabra Road, Bannow Road and Ratoath Road. Throughout the city and across the country, the local authorities are gearing up and using and availing of the support that has been provided by this Government. It is questionable whether that support will be provided by future Governments but it is being provided by this Government and there is a commitment, on a prolonged basis, to use the State's resources to deliver social and affordable homes.

For the first time ever, affordable cost rental homes have been introduced. This is a concept that had been talked about for decades but that is being delivered for the first time in this country and that is welcome. Renters have been at the coalface of this housing crisis. The additional protections for renters are welcome, the most recent being the ban on winter evictions, the cap on rents, the extended notice periods and the extended protections for renters. These are all welcome but the only way we can really protect renters and ensure that renting is a viable option for people into the future is by providing security of tenure. That is why the affordable cost rental model is incredibly important.

I want to take issue with something that was said and the way the right to housing has been alluded to because there is a commitment in Housing for All to a referendum on housing. It is a commitment that my party supports, along with others. It is a matter that has been debated in this House and I recall that there was almost unanimous support for it when we debated the right to housing in this House. This would involve an amendment to Bunreacht na hÉireann to ensure the right to housing. It is important that this issue is debated and the Housing Commission has commenced the work and engaged in public consultation. I hope the Minister of State will be able to update the House today on when the Government expects to receive its report from the Housing Commission on the proposition of amending Bunreacht na hÉireann to include a right to housing. It is important that the country and the State ensure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated and that the State is committed, on a long-term basis, to deliver on its obligation to ensure that each and every one of its citizens has access to a safe, secure and affordable home that meets the requirements of each of its citizens.

We all know the housing supply has been too low, that housing affordability is too high and that there are far too many people homeless. Everyone on this side of the House is committed to Housing for All, not for Housing for All's sake but for the sake of the possibility and potential it has to fix our housing problems. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House, for debating this issue and for updating us on it. I look forward to his reply on my referendum on housing question.