Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I congratulate him on his successes so far, his ambition for the future and his willingness to adapt the plan regarding public lands and the nursing home provisions.We should be completely flexible and anything that can be done to deal with things on a day-to-day basis should be done.

Obviously, supply is key to getting people into houses, having competitive and affordable rents and homeownership. In 2022, 29,851 houses were completed, an increase of 45.2% on 2021 when the figure was 20,560. It is an increase of 41.3% on 2019, when the figure was 21,134. In 2022, we exceeded the 24,600 target by 5,251. That is a considerable increase. The figure of 2,108 to January 2023 is the highest outcome.

Having said all of that, we must work for more supply on every level. Statistics on social housing are being compiled at the moment and already indicate that they are at the highest level since the 1970s. Senator McDowell had some very interesting remarks to make about that.

The LDA, councils and the Department must increase social housing supply. Councils should be encouraged to build more, recruit tradespeople and bring them back home, and bring more of the Ukrainian refugees and people who are in direct provision centres into employment. Work permits should be speeded up. Everything should be done. Anyone who can be harnessed into the workforce should be brought in. People want to work; they do not want to be in hotel bedrooms or centres.

Student accommodation is important and has many things to recommend it. Colleges must be supported in this regard. My son is in student accommodation in Dublin and it is wonderful from every perspective, in terms of getting to know friends and having a whole university experience. It is very important. I am pleased by what my colleague the Minister, Deputy Harris is doing. The State is investing in the delivery of student accommodation for the first time ever. Since November, the Minister has given the go-ahead to 1,100 beds across a number of universities including Limerick, Dublin, Galway and Maynooth. The Minister is determined to deliver further on this, including beds in Trinity, UCC and UCD. We are also working with technological universities across the country to deliver student accommodation projects. This will be key to delivering more housing and better regional balance. The Minister will support that initiative and work with the Minister, Deputy Harris. That is a critical facet, among other things, of solving the problem.

In 2023, there have been 1,243 first-time buyer purchases, the highest number since data collection in this area began in 2010. The planning reform that is proposed is welcome and necessary. Vacant houses are a major issue. I am glad the Croí Cónaithe scheme will be amended and be more inclusive of people who want to rent properties. I am also happy that €150 million is going to local authorities to tackle vacancy and provide development.

Further stringent measures are required. The previous measures were inadequate and we need more in the next budget to stop people sitting on sites and squatting on potential building land. That needs more action.

An action plan on apprenticeships is in place and is yielding results, but we have to work very hard on this. There is a difficulty in getting enough people and having the capacity to do the job. We are losing out there.

The eviction ban was never intended to be a permanent arrangement. No party ever suggested it be permanent. The fear was that lifting the ban would speed up the loss and were it to be extended we would lose more private property owners in the market. The ban could not be extended forever. There was a problem there.

People are leaving the market for a number of reasons. Accidental landlords are leaving due to retirement age, mortgages are difficult to repay and there are, of course, attractive prices for houses. There are a number of reasons people are pulling out of the market. Keeping the ban in place would have accelerated that.

The Minister and Minister for Finance have to consider further tax reform to encourage landlords into the market. One of the great successes in recent years has been the room-to-let scheme. Tax reform must include tax allowances for landlords linked to competitive rents and long-term rental arrangements. A bit of imagination is required. Given the current level of taxation, maintenance and so on, landlords are being driven out of the market. Regardless of whether we want to face that fact, we need to do so. The room-to-rent scheme has been an enormous success that merits further consideration.

The huge issue of vacant houses relates not only to vacant council houses but also to the vacant houses dotted around the country. Today I am speaking on behalf of someone who has a major interest in this, my colleague Senator John Cummins, who is temporarily indisposed. The Senator is making a remarkable contribution on the Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. He has a sharp intellect which he is constantly applying to this question. He has great analytical skills and is performing in this area. I am proud to represent him here, which is what I am doing due to the fact he is temporarily indisposed.

We need to deal with vacancies and voids at local authority level and through the Croí Cónaithe scheme. We need to make it attractive. We need to deal with land that is locked in and is not being used. We are now tackling State lands. That is the Government's approach, but every imaginable strategy that can be pulled in at a given time to deal with this is required. It has to be treated as an emergency.

There are a number of dimensions to this. Homelessness is one great horror. I am proud to have a son who works in this area, whom the Minister knows and has met. He works in the Peter McVerry Trust as a recently qualified professional social worker. He is interested in this question. We have to deal with homelessness. It is a great scourge and wrong. We also have to deal with the price of accommodation. That is why we need supply.

We could discuss this for ages. I will be deferential to the wish of the Chair to run the operation efficiently. The Minister is welcome. I look forward to his proposals. We need massive ingenuity and determination. Please God, we can keep things going.