Pat Casey (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join others in welcoming the Minister of State. I thank the senior Minister, Deputy O'Brien, for his presentation earlier.

We are seeing sustainable progress in the delivery of housing.We must acknowledge that progress and we must acknowledge that is a reality. The facts are there to back up that progress, despite what other people might like to put into the media. Sometimes, when you bring it back down to your own local level, it can relate a lot more to you, so I will speak specifically about Wicklow. I will speak first about social housing and the delivery of social housing. Wicklow had the largest number of social houses in its history delivered in 2022. This was second only to Dublin City Council. It delivered 690 social homes in one calendar year.

In relation to local authority-led affordable housing, Wicklow County Council had its first local authority-led affordable housing scheme in 14 years, with the development of an affordable housing scheme in the Greenhill Road in Wicklow, which delivered 36 houses. Only last month, the Minister was down in Baltinglass, where he turned the sod on a site. Affordable sites for Greystones, Kilcoole and other areas across Wicklow are currently going through the Department. Again, this is delivery. In relation to cost-rental housing, which had never been heard of in Wicklow until this year, there has been the delivery of more than 2,000 cost-rental homes in Greystones, and phase five of Archers Wood was closed only two weeks ago. Again, this is delivery.

At the heart of our delivery has also been ensuring that rural housing is treated in the same way as market housing. With that, we have ensured that the help-to-buy scheme applied to rural housing, that the first home scheme applied to rural housing and that the development levy waiver scheme applied to rural housing. This is because we believe in rural housing. At the heart of all this is home ownership. What this Government has done in relation to home ownership with the introduction of the first home scheme has been a game-changer. That, in conjunction with what the help-to-buy scheme did previous to that in providing people with the option of getting a deposit, has been an incredible change in the dynamics. We are seeing those dynamics and this is a reality because, once again, the facts are there. The help-to-buy scheme has delivered for more than 42,000 people who aspire to own their own home. The first home scheme in its first year has approved more than 2,700 families who aspire to owning their own home, with 7,000 applicants currently going through the process.

We have restored the aspiration of owning one’s own home. We are making that dream a reality. In Sinn Féin’s case, they would make that a nightmare, because they would eliminate any and every scheme that will assist and help young people and young families here today who are aspiring to own their own home. I can give example after example that has come through my office. I have gone out and done seven public meetings on these schemes. I know how they are working and I see how they are now affecting families every day. I can speak about Miles and Hannah, who bought a house in Ashford for €400,000, because of the first home scheme. There is Michelle, who is a single mum, who bought a two-bed duplex in Wicklow Town for €255,000 because of the first home scheme and the help-to-buy scheme. People who thought they had lost the opportunity to buy their own homes can once again think of that reality because of the help of the first home scheme. While they may not be in a position to get a full mortgage, they may be able to get a mortgage three times their salary and, with the first home scheme, they can once again aspire to owning their own home. More than 450,000 mortgages for first-time buyers are being approved on a weekly basis. These are game changers. These are not fantasy figures; these are a reality.

However, if the Minister were here I would ask for a number of things to be looked at, because I believe that both schemes could be improved. One of these is in relation to the help-to-buy scheme and the loan-to-value ratio. Taking the 70% loan-to-value ratio on its own and not including the first home scheme is putting lower income and lower market value houses at a disadvantage when compared with the higher prices. I would like that to be looked at. In relation to the first home scheme, its market value needs to be looked at in some areas, specifically in Dublin. In my own constituency of north Wicklow, Bray and Greystones, the prices of the houses already exceed the ceiling and therefore the first home scheme is not really practical.I will conclude on this point. I was not going to mention it, but the Minister brought up the article in the Irish Independent from this morning. He spoke about private profiteering at the expense of people. The development mentioned in the newspaper is in my community. It is only 10 minutes away from where I live. Not alone is this greed in the context of what is happening here; at the heart of it there is a community playground that has been shut down for one year and two months. The community, the children and the families have been disadvantaged as a result of what is happening. This type of carry-on has to stop. This was a community-led playground, funded through the Leader programme and by families who went out and raised funds. It was a remarkable playground in the centre of Ashford village, in one of the most natural environments one could put playground. Now it has been padlocked and the entrance welded shut by the owner as a result of this dispute. This has to stop.