Victor Boyhan (Independent)

Last night, we had a very robust but good debate on the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025. Of course, the Government guillotined that debate so we did not have a full and frank debate. The legislation is going back to the Dáil today. Deputies were asking me what went on last night so I told them the debate had been guillotined. That is on the record and it is important that we make that very clear.

The headlines in much of the media this morning tell us that the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, has said the housing outlook is bleak. It expects no significant increase in housing delivery from 2025 to 2026. Officials from the ESRI told the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight that it expects no significant increase in housing delivery in 2025 or 2026. It expects the Government to miss its housing targets in both years. It said the Government is currently forecast to deliver 33,000 units this year and 37,000 units in 2026, which is well below the Government targets of 41,000 and 46,000, respectively. The ESRI has also flagged issues regarding the labour force and so on. We have a national problem. What occurred to me as I drove home last night, having listened to our debate and engaged with the Minister of State and Members of this House, was how piecemeal the Government's approach to dealing with housing is. This Government is now well established and there is continuity because it has been in government for so long in some shape or form. We need the Government to publish its new national housing policy. We cannot keep putting it off. I am calling for the Government to print and publish its national co-ordinated housing policy to deliver the much-needed homes people in this country are simply crying out for.