Joe Flaherty (Fianna Fail)

I commend the Minister of State on a very detailed overview of what we have this evening. The significance of the Bill speaks to the enormity of the challenge we have in housing at present. It remains the foremost challenge for us as a country and as a society. It also speaks volumes in terms of the Government's commitment to addressing the issue. I commend the Minister, Ministers of State, staff and officials in the Department on the efficiency and speed at which they have moved on this critical legislation.

The HFA is still very much in its infancy but it is already proving itself to be a very important arm in the delivery of housing throughout the country. While its full advantages and impact are only being felt in large cities and large urban areas, we cannot underestimate the huge role it has played in the delivery of social and cost-rental houses and student accommodation throughout the country. The latest reports show just over 25,000 social homes are at various stages of design and construction. This includes 11,500 social homes on site at the end of March 2025, with an additional 13,953 homes at design and tender stages. In quarter 1 of this year alone, 50 new construction schemes, or 875 houses, were added to the pipeline.

The quarter 2 report on social housing activity was published yesterday. The scale and extent of development across the country were very impressive. We have to pay tribute also to the people working in local authorities who are driving many of these projects and are the catalysts for the momentum and growth we need to see in the housing market. I also commend the many small developers in particular who have reached out to the agency, have been able to secure funding where this had been difficult, and have been able to get their projects up and running.

The Bill is very important and timely and it is critical we get it through the House. The numbers involved are surely eye-watering. We are increasing the HFA's statutory borrowing limit from €12 billion to €13.5 billion. The upshot is that if we did not take this initiative, it would simply run out of the opportunity to give any more funding after 6 November. As the Minister of State rightly said, this safeguards funding for the agency right through until the middle of next year. It is very important.

As eye-watering as the figures are, I will use the rest of my time to bug the ear of the Minister of State on an issue that arose today at the meeting of the housing committee where we were dealing with vacancy. The figures involved are not quite as significant as what we are looking at here but it was disappointing that while officials from the Department came to discuss vacancy, none of them were working in the area of vacancy. This is no disrespect to the officials who did come to the meeting. I wanted to highlight in particular the case of Longford County Council which, a number of years ago, was a laggard on vacancy. It was the worst performing local authority in terms of its vacancy rate, which was at 7%, primarily caused by a lot of socioeconomic issues in the county and there were a lot of cultural aspects. There were many estates that basically had been let go derelict in large parts, with five or six houses together.

The local authority got its act together and, between 2020 and 2024, it brought 250 houses back into stock. As Members of the House know, the going rate for a local authority bringing a house back into stock is €11,000, even though the Croí Cónaithe grant is €50,000 or up to €70,000 if the property is derelict. To make a long story short, Longford County Council has spent in the order of €11 million to bring 250 houses back into stock. This is an average of approximately €40,000 per house. Anybody who can deliver 250 B2 standard houses at €40,000 a pop is giving pretty good value in my book. Unfortunately, the upshot is the local authority is out of pocket to the tune of €8 million. It is a huge encumbrance on its balance sheet and is restricting further growth and development throughout the community and enterprise in Longford.

I was hopeful and enthused that somebody from the Department might have been at the committee meeting to address this particular issue. I hope the Minister of State can take my concerns and disappointment that the issue has not been addressed over the past four years. It is a critical issue for Longford. Everybody in the local authority and the Department of housing realises the single biggest challenge we face in this country is housing and the delivery of housing. It is on everybody's mind, whether you are a grandparent, a parent or someone finishing college. The first and immediate thought and concern for most people is housing. This is a big issue for us in Longford and I hope the Minister of State can take it up with the Minister, Deputy Browne, as I will do. I ask the Minister of State to relay my disappointment about the committee meeting today and my disappointment that this issue has been allowed to fester for so long. We need to get it addressed.