Aubrey McCarthy (Independent)

Last week, we marked the new housing plan, which is the Government's long-awaited housing plan. The Taoiseach called it the most unprecedented investment in housing ever. It is the fourth such plan and I really hope it works. When the first plan was launched, we had 800 children who were homeless. This fourth plan is coming at a time when there are 5,286 children homeless. Updated housing targets have been given to local authorities. It is essential we keep the pipeline moving, with clear authority given to the local authorities to zone land that is fully serviced in order to develop these sites. Many of these ready-to-go sites were left out of the early draft variations, despite having confirmed capacity, certainly in my area of Kildare. It is now up to the county councils to amend their plans and include that serviced land - the tier 1 land - to activate the most deliverable sites because families in emergency accommodation are paying the price for the delays. While the Minister, Deputy Browne, has said we are going to have 300,000 houses over the next six years, including 90,000 starter homes, 15,000 affordable homes and 12,000 social homes, certain Opposition parties are already saying this will fall far short. I hope the Minister is successful in this.

I welcome the €2.5 billion given to the Land Development Agency, LDA. I am doing a project with the agency in Bluebell where we won an award last week. It has been wonderfully successful.

I want to ensure this plan empowers local authorities, provides finance, makes sure smaller builders can build and streamlines the planning process, so there will be no more disappointment and the next plan, the fifth, will not lead to higher homeless levels. I call on the Leader to schedule a full debate in the House to ensure the voices of those most affected, namely, families, renters and the homeless, can be heard in this Chamber.