Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be back in the Seanad. I was a Member previously and I value its contribution hugely. I have a relatively short time, so I want to address the points Members have raised, as distinct from the contribution from the Minister. I will provide a lot of information about what we have rolled out in our plans. We built 30,000 units last year. We propose to exceed that figure this year. We built more than 9,000 social housing units in 2021. We will shortly have final figures for the number of social housing units built last year. They will be the highest since 1975. We also have various other schemes, which I will deal with in my responses. Senator McDowell is no longer present, but he may come back in the interim.

Senator O'Reilly spoke about the Croí Cónaithe scheme and the vacant homes. We have expanded the Croí Cónaithe scheme from refurbishments to rentals as well. We have done this because we see it as a scheme that could be successful and we want to people to take it up. That will come into operation from 1 May. I will dovetail that with Senator Maria Byrne's point. She spoke about the living over-the-shop scheme. That is a very good scheme and a very good initiative. As we are now getting into the rental space, she is probably aware that if one is converting from commercial to residential, no formal planning permission is required. It is exempt, which makes a huge difference. It is something we are looking at in designing the scheme and we will take it on board. Senator Gavan made reference to the number of targets set down by each local authority. They are minimum targets. We have 1,500 and that is an additional 1,300. That is an initial target. We want the local authority to exceed that. It is in that space that we want local authorities to come back with much higher figures. As the Senator will be aware, local authorities have to respond to the Department by 31 March with an indication of the numbers they have to date, and their projected numbers. Obviously, we want to see local authorities as the first port of call for anybody if they are served with an eviction notice. I am conscious that the Senator has mentioned the figure of 2,500 people. I hope that not all of those become homeless. One is too many. If they go to local authorities as HAP or RAS tenants we want the local authorities to purchase their homes so they become tenants of the local authority. Senator Dolan made reference to the limits going up, which is a positive and something I would have pushed for before I became a Minister of State. It is something I feel strongly about. If someone is above the social housing income limit, he or she should also go to the local authority for two schemes. First, a tenant wishing to purchase his or her home should be given first opportunity to purchase it. We are looking to put that scheme in place. However, if people wish to rent we want the local authorities or the approved housing body to purchase that home and rent it back so those people become tenants of the local authority or approved housing body. We are looking to introduce that on an administrative basis from 1 April. The Minister wrote to all local authorities last Friday about these schemes. Today there was a workshop, which was a detailed meeting, with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and all of the directors of housing in the local authorities about the specific schemes and how they will operate in practice.