Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein)
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I move:

That Seanad Éireann notes that: - the private rental sector is dysfunctional with ever-increasing rents and decreasing standards;

- the average State-wide rent now stands at €1,823 per month; and the average new rent in Dublin city is €2,349, €1,999 in Galway city, €1,907 in Cork city, €1,907 in Limerick city and €1,537 in Waterford city – an annual increase of 6.8 percent State–wide;

- 21 counties have experienced double-digit rent inflation, with Donegal at 20 percent, experiencing the biggest hike in the State;

- renters do not have the same protections as those who can afford their own home;

- too many people cannot access secure or affordable accommodation and are forced to live in overcrowded, inadequate, or otherwise unsuitable accommodation; notes with deep concern that: - according to Eurostat, 68 percent of adults aged between 25 and 29 still reside in their childhood bedroom;

- a report by the National Youth Council of Ireland in 2022, shows 7 in 10 young people are ‘considering emigrating for a better quality of life than in Ireland’;

- between 1st July, 2022 and 30th June, 2023, 21,525 Australian Working Holiday Visas were issued to Irish citizens aged between 18 and 35; further notes that: - Government policy favours subsidy to big developers and institutional landlords, over local authorities and approved housing bodies;

- investment funds pay virtually no tax but charge sky-high rents;

- the increased activity of investment funds, such as bulk-purchasing of properties, rented back to people at extortionate rents;

- local authorities do not have the capacity or resources to fully assess and inspect private rental properties and therefore cannot be effective in ensuring compliance with the standards; calls on the Government to urgently: - ban rent increases for three years;

- reintroduce the temporary ban on no-fault evictions until there is a meaningful reduction in the numbers of people in emergency accommodation;

- legislate for tenancies of indefinite duration, as promised in the Programme for Government, to provide tenants with more security;

- increase targets and accelerate the delivery of social and affordable housing;

- publish a plan to deal with the disorderly exit of accidental and semi-professional landlords from the rental market;

- update the minimum standards as set out in section 65 of the Housing Act 1966, and provide for robust penalties for breaches relating to overcrowding;

- adequately fund local authorities to ensure that 25 percent of all private rental properties are inspected once a year, so that renters can be sure that their accommodation is safe;

- bring forward measures to effectively ban investment funds from bulk purchasing homes that otherwise would be available to home buyers and local authorities or approved housing bodies which must include increased stamp duty on such bulk purchases.

By every measure and with every report, the housing crisis is worsening. Across the State thousands of young people, workers and families are stuck paying sky-high rents with little or no security of tenure. The average rent per month in Dublin city centre is now €2,349 while in south Dublin it is €2,628. The situation is no better outside Dublin. In County Donegal, there has been a 20% increase in rent since this time last year. It does not take a financial adviser to know that rents like this are simply not manageable or sustainable for the majority of people whose voices the motion represents. The housing crisis has gone on too long and it has gone from bad to worse. Too many people are paying too high a price for decades of failed Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing policy. It has to stop and it has to stop now. Families, workers and young people need and deserve secure housing and affordable rent. Our motion would do three things to stand up for renters. First, it would ban rent increases for three years and reintroduce the temporary ban on no-fault evictions. This will provide much-needed security for workers and families under financial pressure. Second, it would introduce measures that prevent investment funds from pushing up house prices and snapping up houses from under the noses of families, workers and housing authorities. Third, it would call on the Government to dramatically increase targets and accelerate the delivery of social and affordable cost-rental homes and social housing, as this is the only real solution to the crisis in the private rental sector. Social and affordable housing is the answer.

Perhaps the most glaring and galling consequence of this housing crisis has been the rise in homeless. However, as my colleague Deputy Ó Broin has often said, the question that looms behind these figures is, "Why?" Homelessness is not a force of nature. It is not an act of god. It is the entirely foreseeable consequence of policies that fail to address the increase in the number of families becoming homeless, or to accelerate the exit of those people from emergency accommodation. The policies needed to address this are not complex. The solutions are there and Sinn Féin for its part has continually proposed solutions in our alternative budget. They are also sitting here in today's motion. The first is to put a month's rent back in the pocket of every renter across the State. The second is to reintroduce the no-fault eviction ban. These measures would give breathing space to those adults and children who are currently at imminent risk of homelessness or presenting into emergency accommodation. The Government should use that time to engage with the opposition and Sinn Féin and with the NGO sector to develop broader policies to address the housing crisis. However, people should not be forced to fall from the brink into homelessness while we are developing these broader policies.

In 2021, the current Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, said the Government wanted to stop the practice of institutional investors and vulture funds buying up homes that could be bought by families, or, in some instances, by local authorities and approved housing bodies for social and affordable housing. However, just a matter of weeks ago we learned that an investment fund snapped up 85% of an entire housing development in Balgriffin, Dublin 17. These 46 homes could and should have been available for workers and families to buy, to live in and to call their own. They are instead now bring rented out at €3,100 per month. This is not the first time this has happened. Funds are bulk buying in counties Cork, Carlow, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Roscommon, Galway, Limerick and Westmeath. The most worrying thing is this was entirely predictable because the Government chose to ignore our warning in 2021 that the 10% stamp duty it was introducing at the time was insufficient to deter investment funds from snapping up these homes. Government Members stood in the Dáil and assured us these measures would work, yet a few weeks ago the Department of Finance told Deputy Doherty that investment funds had snapped up 1,200 homes and paid the 10% stamp duty. How many more homes have to be snapped up before the Government will listen and take action?

I will speak briefly about enshrining a right to housing in our Constitution, which the Seanad has supported by way of a motion. As we prepare to go to the polls this week for a referendum, and mindful that the Housing Commission has completed its work on a referendum on housing, I understand that the majority report of the commission was delivered to the Minister in September 2023.A minority report representing the dissenting views of two members of the commission was delivered in November. In his response, will the Minister of State please outline why there has been such a delay in publishing the reports? Furthermore, can he indicate a timeline for their publication?

In reality, while the measures I have spoken about will address the immediate, short-term crisis in housing, the only long-term solution is for the Government to stop relying on the private rental sector to meet its social and affordable housing needs at a time that sector is itself in deep crisis. To address the housing crisis, the Government must increase and accelerate the delivery of much-needed social homes. Sinn Féin has set out a very clear roadmap to achieve this. We are not possessive of that; it is not a State secret. The plans are there for all to see and for all to follow. The problem is not that it cannot be done, but that the Government refuses to do it.

In conclusion, only the change of housing plan a Sinn Féin Government will bring can start to undo the damage of decades of bad Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael policy, but that does not mean the Government can throw in the towel on all the people who cannot afford to wait another day. These are sensible and achievable measures the Government can introduce now to help young people, workers and families who are struggling today. I ask Senators from all parties and none to listen to the people we are supposed to be here to represent, people who are worried about how they will pay the next month's rent, people who have no idea what they will do if they get a letter from their landlord saying they are going to sell. They deserve to have their voices heard and their real fears listened to. I am asking Members to listen to us in Sinn Féin, to put party politics aside and to work with us to give renters a break, which they so desperately need.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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As my colleague said, the dire state of the private rental sector remains a crisis and the Government has failed to grasp it. Speaking to people when out on the doors, those in the private rental sector are fed up, frustrated and they do not have security of tenure. I also end up talking to the adult children living in their parents homes about how desperate that situation is. We cannot ignore this. The facts are all there. You do not need to talk to people to know the truth. Rents across the country are ever-increasing, including across Dublin. In 2023, rents were up 4.1% in north County Dublin, according to the latest Daft report. The average rent ranges from €2,195 on the northside to €2,628 on the southside. Is there any wonder then that 68% of young adults aged between 25 and 29 are still residing in their childhood bedrooms?

Meanwhile, the Department of housing’s homelessness report from January reveals homelessness has once again reached a record high of 13,531 people, including 4,027 children, in emergency accommodation funded by the Department. That is only the tip of the iceberg because of the hidden homelessness does not factor into those figures. This crisis is also forcing too many into overcrowded, inadequate, or otherwise unsuitable accommodation. It is a crisis that drives our youth to consider emigration in search of a better quality of life. This is a heartbreaking reality reflected in the exodus of thousands of young citizens to countries like Australia.

Renters are facing a crisis in the quality of the properties they are renting. Ads are posted all the time with flagrant breaches of regulations visible in the photos attached to the listing. Not only that, but the decreasing standards are contributing to a health crisis. Too many rental properties are plagued by mould and fungus. The recent study showed people in the Oliver Bond complex are almost twice as likely to have asthma. An earlier report showed that more than one in three residents had experienced sewage problems, more than 30% had water coming into their homes, 83% are living with mould and damp and more than 55% have been told by a medical practitioner that damp, mould or sewage is contributing to ill health in their families. This is not solely in council housing but across the board in the private sector as well. I could go citing more statistics, but I must commend the cover of the Dublin Inquirer, which has a cartoon by the Cuban artist Brady Izquierdo Rodriguez that captures the impact these conditions have on residents living in them. There is the fear, the worry, the abject resignation and the perseverance is all captured poignantly by the artist. Unfortunately, local authorities do not have the capacity or resources to fully assess and inspect private rental properties and therefore cannot be effective in ensuring compliance with the standards. They need to be adequately funded to ensure 25% of all private rental properties are inspected at least once a year so renters can be sure their accommodation is safe. An NCT-type system for private accommodation is long overdue.

In addition to ever-increasing rents and decreasing standards, renters are also faced with properties that are extremely cold and expensive to heat. Renters are more likely to be in energy poverty and are more likely to be in a property with a low BER. They are caught in a bind because the landlords will not retrofit the properties without encouragement. Housing for All recommitted the Government to "Implement Minimum BER standards, where feasible, for private rental properties, commencing in 2025", but we have not seen any movement on that yet. We have heard about the so-called split incentive now for years with regard to addressing the issue of how to get private rental accommodation retrofitted. The way the current Government energy efficiency schemes are set up, they favour people who own their own home and can afford to improve the efficiency of it. We are going to see an ever-widening gap between renters and non-renters if we do not address the issue of how we fix that so-called split incentive.

What lies at the heart of this rental crisis? It is a Government policy that favours subsidies to big developers and institutional landlords over the needs of our communities; it is the unchecked greed of investment funds that pay little to no tax while charging sky-high rents; and it is the bulk purchasing of properties that leaves ordinary citizens at the mercy of faceless entities more concerned with profit margins than human dignity. We cannot allow profit to take precedence over the right to secure and affordable accommodation. Fine Gael has been in Government for 12 years and every single metric has gone in the wrong direction. The party has been propped up by Fianna Fáil for the past four years and the crisis has only worsened.

This is why we need a change in government. This is why Sinn Féin is demanding this change. Our motion sets out what a Sinn Féin Government would do. It would ban rent increases for three years to give renters a break. It would reintroduce the temporary ban on no-fault evictions and legislate for tenancies of indefinite duration to provide tenants with the security they deserve. We must accelerate the delivery of social and affordable housing to ensure every individual has a place to call home. When we introduce measures such as cost rental, they have to actually be cost rental. The current models, again, are outside the reach of most workers. Our efforts cannot stop there. We must update minimum standards for rental properties and adequately fund local authorities to ensure compliance. We must put an end to the predatory practices of investment funds by imposing increased stamp duty on bulk purchases that deprive ordinary citizens of the chance to own a home.

Maybe if we stopped treating housing as a commodity available to the highest bidder, we would see a future where people would not be forced to book one-way tickets to Australia and where those who do not have the option of leaving the country would not be despondent, not knowing if they are going to get the eviction notice through the door afraid to ask their landlords to repair anything because they are afraid of receiving a rent increase or a notice to quit. We can fix this, but it is all about political priorities, political will and who Government politicians represent. Is it the people or is it the large institutional investors?

Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "That Seanad Éireann:" and substitute the following:

“notes that: - Housing for All is providing record levels of funding to support the delivery of social and affordable homes by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and the Land Development Agency;

- over €5 billion in capital investment is available in 2024 through exchequer funding, Land Development Agency investment and Housing for All lending to support the delivery of Housing Programmes;

- Housing for All includes a target to deliver 90,000 new build social homes and 54,000 homes for affordable purchase or rental by 2030;

- the Government is fully committed to tackling high rents and ensuring an increase in the supply of affordable high-quality rental accommodation through continued significant capital investment, including cost rental and other means, and in a manner that respects the security of tenure for renters by ensuring equity and fairness for landlords and tenants;

- according to the RTB / ESRI Rent Index, the standardised average rent for new tenancies for Q3 2023 is €1,598 nationally (an increase of €25 on the previous quarter), €2,113 for Dublin, and €1,296 per month outside Dublin (non-Dublin);

- the standardised average rent for existing tenancies for Q3 2023 is €1,357 nationally (€240 per month lower than for new tenancies), €1,788 in Dublin, and €1,047 per month outside Dublin (non-Dublin);

- the extension of rent pressure zones, where rent increases are capped at 2 percent per annum, the increase in the rent tax credit to €750 in Budget 2024, and the introduction of other legislative requirements to support renters;

- this Government is committed to supporting the continued participation of landlords and growing their investment in the rental market;

- Budget 2023 provided for a doubling of the cap on deductibility for a landlords pre-letting expenditure for previously vacant properties to €10,000 per property;

- Budget 2024 will see landlords benefit from a tax break worth between €600 and €1,000, rising if they stay in the market up to 2027;

- Housing for All sets an annual target of 25 percent for the inspection of all private residential tenancies from 2021 and a total of €9 million in Exchequer funding is being made available to local authorities this year to help them meet their private rental inspection targets;

- the Government has approved the General Scheme of the Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill for priority drafting and publication during this Oireachtas session, to legislate for a ‘first refusal’ where their landlord intends to sell the dwelling; further notes that: - in 2021, the Government introduced a series of measures designed to prohibit the bulk buying of houses and duplexes, including section 28 guidelines which aim to provide an ‘owner-occupier’ guarantee by ensuring that new ‘own-door’ houses and duplex units in housing developments can no longer be bulk-purchased by institutional investors;

- a 10 percent stamp duty levy was introduced for the cumulative purchase of 10 or more residential houses in a 12-month period, aimed at ensuring a level playing field for traditional family home buyers, including but not limited to first-time buyers, while facilitating vital investment in high density apartments;

- since the introduction of these measures, the increased level of stamp duty has applied to less than 2 percent of total new dwelling completions;

- at the end of Q4 2023, planning permissions which had the ‘owner-occupier’ guarantee attached amounted to 39,900 homes with an owner-occupier guarantee since the guidelines were introduced in 2021;

- the relatively modest number of homes purchased by institutional investors; acknowledges that increased supply is key to meeting demand and moderating the pent-up pressures in the private rental sector and welcomes that: - Housing for All is successfully supporting a significantly increased supply of new homes, with a record 32,695 new homes completed in 2023, a 10 percent increase on 2022 and the highest number of new homes delivered in 15 years, exceeding the 2023 target of 29,000 by almost 13 percent;

- the latest annual data on the number of Commencements Notices (residential construction starts) published on 18 January, 2024 show that almost 33,000 (32,801) new homes were commenced in 2023, the highest number of annual commencements on record, an increase of over 21.5 percent compared to 2022 (26,957), and is the highest number of annual residential commencements since records began in 2014;

- the increase in the thresholds for access to cost rental homes was increased from €53k net to €66k net in Dublin and €59k outside Dublin, in July 2023;

- interventions such as the tenant in situ scheme are making a real impact in providing secure, long-term homes and preventing homelessness, and to date in 2023 over 1,300 social housing acquisitions have been completed, with a further 1,260 at various stages of the assessment and conveyance process;

- the cost rental tenant in situ scheme was introduced on 1st April, 2023, for tenants in private rental homes who are not eligible for social housing supports but who are at risk of homelessness, and the Housing Agency is engaging with more than 130 landlords with a view to the purchase of those homes; recognises that considerable progress has been made since the publication of Housing for All in September 2021, including: - increased social and affordable housing supply in the first nine months of 2023, with 4,815 new social homes being delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, including 2,642 new-build homes, 1,033 acquisitions and 1,140 homes delivered through leasing programmes; and agrees that continued implementation of Housing for All represents the most appropriate response to deal with the housing challenges which Ireland is now facing.”

I will speak to the amendment and the motion. This is an important motion. It is incredibly important for the hundreds of thousands of people who live in rented accommodation. That in itself highlights the deep dishonesty, cynicism and recklessness of Sinn Féin's approach to this issue.It is similar to their approach to housing policy in general. It is really upsetting for anyone who does live in rented accommodation to hear the destructive voices, the double-speak and the double-talk, and the contradictory, dishonest and cynical approach that Sinn Féin takes to housing. They say that housing is a human right. They say they believe that yet they treat it in this way. It is appalling. It is such a betrayal of the people that you pretend to represent.

This motion is dishonest. It distorts the facts. It pretends to care when all the time if what it proposes were to be enacted and taken seriously then it would be like taking a wrecking ball to people's homes.

The motion talks about Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's housing policies driving up the cost of rents. Sinn Féin knows this and is not stupid. They have the information that the cost of housing is increasing directly proportionate to construction inflation. They know that construction inflation is being driven by supply-side shortages. They know this yet they continue to pretend. They pretend that this Government, somehow, is incentivising private investors to bulk purchase homes when they know that this Government has changed the laws so that local authorities can reserve homes for owner-occupiers. They know that this Government has introduced a tenfold stamp duty to prevent the bulk purchasing of homes. They know that since this Government changed those laws less than 1% of all of the homes purchased were bulk purchased. They know all of this yet they will pretend otherwise.

Renters represent hundreds of thousands of people. Some of them are renting social housing and some of them are renting privately. For all of those renters, we have taken action to protect them and their homes. We have increased the social housing income limit, the rent allowance and the housing assistance payment. We have introduced homeless housing assistance payment. We have rent pressure zones in place which cap rents. They talk about getting landlords to invest and upgrade properties yet at the same time they want to prevent landlords being able to cover the cost of those improvements.

We have invested. We have seen the single biggest capital investment in increasing the supply of social and affordable homes. Sinn Féin voted against the Affordable Housing Act. They voted against legislation that allows local authorities to build affordable homes, not just to purchase but to rent. They voted against increasing Part V that requires every private development to have 10% reserved for social homes and 10% reserved for affordable homes. They will scrap the schemes that help tens of thousands of renters to buy their own homes. More than 40,000 renters have claimed their tax credit to use as a deposit to buy their own home. They will scrap the first home scheme that is helping thousands of renters buy their own home.

The tenant in situscheme was introduced. Sinn Féin talks about tenant security. Thanks to this Government, if a tenant gets a notice to quit then the Government will step in. The State steps in and purchases the home thus prevents homelessness. Sinn Féin knows that more individuals and families are exiting homelessness, are being prevented from entering homelessness every day and the number of homes being built in this country is unprecedented in decades. They know all of this.

Sinn Féin talks about the 21,000 Australian holiday visas. They know that in the year they chose the Australian Government increased the number of visas by 30%. They also know that in the same year 29,000 Irish people returned to live in this country. Stop talking down our country. Stop talking down our young people. Stop treating them like idiots. They are not idiots. They are intelligent and capable people.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Yes.

Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail)
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The cynicism and dishonesty of Sinn Féin on this subject is corrosive. It undermines our social fabric and the progress that is being made. If Sinn Féin really believed there was a housing crisis then it would act like there was a crisis. You would stop objecting to the building of homes. You would support our local authorities, the Land Development Agency and the State to increase supply, increase affordability and increase security of tenure. For those reasons I ask the House to reject the Sinn Féin motion and accept the Government's amendment.

John Cummins (Fine Gael)
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I have listened intently to the speeches on a very important topic made by my two colleagues on the other side of the House. In case there is any uncertainty, I can assure them that there is absolutely nobody on the Government side that is throwing in the towel on housing. Far from it. That is why we introduced a €5 billion budget for housing this year. That is why we have seen supply ramp up to 32,700 homes last year. That is why we have seen the rolling three-month commencement data, over the last three months, reach 3,200. If that run rate continues for a 12-month period then that is over 38,000 homes. The trajectory is positive. That is why we have introduced schemes like the help-to-buy scheme assisting over 45,000 individuals and families to get their deposit together to purchase or build their first home. That is why we have introduced the first home scheme. There have been over 3,500 approvals and 1,500 drawdowns thus far under the scheme. That is why we brought in activation measures such as those for development levies and Uisce Éireann's refund of connection charges.

Of course there is a common denominator. Every single one of these measures was opposed by Sinn Féin. The very activation measures that we have introduced, they want to strip away from the young people that they claim to represent. That is what is so dishonest about this motion, that they can stand in this Chamber and claim, and proclaim, to represent people while at the same time their colleagues actively propose to abolish the exact supports that are supporting people to buy and purchase their first home. They know that under the Housing for All plan and the Affordable Housing Act that we have introduced a new tenure-type of cost rental that has rents of at least 25% below market rent. Let us explain cost rental in case there is any misunderstanding of what it is. Cost rental is the cost of building, maintaining and financing a development over a 50-year period.

Let us consider some of the other dishonest things that have been mentioned in the Opposition's motion. First, they want to freeze rents for three years. That sounds great in theory but for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The left-wing Berlin Government introduced a similar scheme to much fanfare saying that it would freeze rent for five years. What happened after 12 months? The German Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional and supply dropped by 50%. That is a fact and it happened in Berlin. What makes Sinn Féin think that Ireland is any different from Berlin?

The last thing we need in an already constrained rental market is to reduce supply even further. Sinn Féin knows that an owner-occupier guarantee has been introduced that has ensured that more than 33,000 units since 2021 have been protected from the bulk purchase of homes. They know that a 10% stamp duty has been brought in to dissuade that but, more than that, they know that less than 1% of schemes that previously had planning permission, before those measures were introduced in 2021, have been purchased in bulk.They know that issue does not arise for properties for which planning permission has been granted from that date. They also know that a tenant in situscheme has been introduced with more than 1,500 purchases and another 1,300 in process at the moment. They also know that people cannot speak out of both sides of their mouths when talking about landlords and the provision of rental supply. They cannot vilify a sector that provides rental accommodation for the very individuals and families that need it most while on the other hand asking what the Government is doing to try to stem the tide of landlords leaving the market. They cannot have it both ways. However, we cannot expect anything less from a party that objects wholesale to housing throughout the country. The Opposition knows this is a dishonest motion and that the measures we have introduced as a Government are starting to work but of course it takes time to ramp up housing supply. Nobody in Government will throw in the towel on housing because we are as passionate as the next person in ensuring that people have homes to rent, buy and live in with security of tenure. I assure Members of that.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank Sinn Féin Senators for tabling this timely motion. It is right this issue should be debated, in a respectful way. It highlights many issues. Many of us will remember a document called Rebuilding Ireland. That promised that within six or eight months we would have no homeless people. Nobody would be living in a hotel or sleeping in a hotel. None of that happened. There was no delivery and no proper accountability relating to Rebuilding Ireland. That was an Administration led by Fine Gael through the confidence and supply arrangement with Fianna Fáil. Nobody shouted or kicked up about the lack of delivery. Time moved on, we had another election and we now have a tripartite coalition that includes the Minister of State's party, and we have a glossed-up a new aspirational document called Housing for All. I acknowledge, because I am a fair person, that a lot has been achieved under Housing for All, but not fast enough. One has to ask why. Only yesterday we discussed homelessness at the joint Oireachtas committee on housing. We know the crisis that is in homelessness and why people are homeless. We know the issues around it are complex and multifaceted. However, we have far too many people in homeless situations and that is unacceptable.

I want to speak to both the motion and the amendment. There is some merit in both. I thought it interesting that according to Eurostat, 68% of adults between the ages of 25 to 29 are still living in their childhood bedroom. Does that not paint a picture? That is not by choice, in many cases. That is an important point to state. What are the Sinn Féin Members calling for in their motion? They are seeking the introduction of a temporary ban on no-fault evictions until there is a meaningful reduction in the number of people in emergency accommodation. I see no difficulty with that. I do not see why anyone on either side of this House would object to that. They are seeking to increase targets and accelerate the delivery of social and affordable housing. I see no difficulty with that. The Government should not oppose that. It is fair and reasonable. They want to fund local authorities adequately to ensure 25% of all private rental properties are inspected once a year. Surely that should happen. I would look for more than 25% quite frankly. The local authorities have a remit to inspect properties. They should be doing it. That is clearly a reasonable ask, so I see no problem with that.

There are 31 local authorities in this country that want to deliver houses. Let us call it public housing, because that is what it should be about. I do not buy into this concept of social housing. It is public housing funded by the taxpayer for people who need housing. We can have an array of housing in terms of affordable purchase or affordable rent. I have no ideological hang-up about who builds the houses. We need homes. I do not buy into this thing where we should oppose anyone. We want a synergy of private investment, public investment or any form of investment, we want housing associations, bodies and co-operatives and developers building houses. I support anyone with the capacity to build houses who operates in a fair and transparent manner. We have a housing crisis in this country. The problem with it is the delivery of these houses is not coming on fast enough.

On the Government's countermotion, I acknowledge a lot work has been done by the Land Development Agency, LDA. It is not happening fast enough. We all agree on that but I am conscious of some huge sites like Cherrywood, Carrickmines and Shanganagh that have major potential. Development is simply not happening fast enough. There has to be a greater emphasis on the provision of social and affordable housing both for rental and purchase because that is the answer. The provision of housing is a complex issue but we can all accept, and the Government acknowledges in its amendment, that it wants more houses. We just cannot get them fast enough. Sinn Féin is right to raise the issue because there are valid concerns and there is great disappointment.

Politically speaking, we are entering into a year where we will have a general election. Fine Gael will reach the end of three terms in government. It has been really disappointing. There are added demands, including the take-up by Ukrainians and other groups of the private rental sector. However, I want to be fair to everyone in this room. It is timely, important and right that we discuss what is a real crisis in housing. We have to work and collaborate together to get ourselves over the line.

The issue is how to accelerate the delivery of much-needed housing. At the end of day, it is about homes. This very night people will be sleeping four in a room and people sofa-sharing. There is a crisis in housing. We all accept it. How we approach it is somewhat different. Let us not get hung up on who is building the houses or their motives for building them. We want it open, transparent and fair. We have to plough ahead. We are on this trajectory with Housing for All but it needs to happen more quickly because people cannot wait any longer.

Rebecca Moynihan (Labour)
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I thank the Sinn Féin Senators for tabling the motion because renters are often overlooked in the debate on housing. They have come to the forefront now because they are paying sky-high rent while knowing every day that they are living in insecurity. Landlords can evict them if they sell up. Renters must wonder whether that eviction will then make them part of the 13,531 people who sleep rough on our streets. Living in such insecurity is financially, physically and emotionally exhausting. All kinds of people rent now and a growing number of people are older and retired and will no longer be able to afford private sector rent. It is no longer the case, like back in the 1980s, of renters who are students and young professionals living in bedsits; it is now families, single people and older people. Children are growing up in rental accommodation where they do not necessarily know whether they will have a stable home in years to come.

As far as I can see there are four big issues for renters, namely, affordability, availability, security and standards. Affordability is paramount. I welcome the introduction of cost rental but there is a mismatch in the cost-rental system at the moment. There are people who do not qualify for social housing because our social housing limits are too low in spite of being raised. People who meet the affordability criteria get access to housing assistance payment, HAP. We need to look at that because banks will stress test people's wages and they do not necessarily apply the rule that people have to meet one third affordability. That is causing an issue in the scheme and the Government should be willing to look at it because costs are going up.I acknowledge that construction costs are going up and that delivering housing is not a question of simply saying, "We will make it €300,000." There are other issues around that, and we really need to get to grips with the rising cost of construction.

Over the course of my time as a Member of this House, I have spoken about increasing the delivery of not only cost-rental but also social housing as the best way to reduce the pressure on private market rents. This is where Fine Gael, in particular, fundamentally has it wrong. It talks about landlords as servicing and solving a housing crisis, but the reality is that thousands of people in the private rental sector should not be in that sector. They should be in the social rented sector or the cost-rental sector. If you qualify for HAP, you should be in a social home. Maybe we have to look at a bit more flexibility around people at different stages of life being able to move through the social housing system. At the moment, it takes so long to get a social house that people tend to grab and hold on to what they have. The Government is failing to deliver social housing, and local authorities are at scale. We are not resourcing local authorities to CPO vacant land for public housing. We need to meaningfully expand the tenant in situscheme because that is something that has been working very well under this Government and under Housing for All.

I also worry about landlords leaving the market because it can be an issue. I was struck recently by the question of how to regulate the private rented sector in such a way that gives people security of tenure and longevity but does not undermine the flexibility that some elements in the private rented sector have. Mick Byrne in UCD has come up with a really interesting proposal. He proposes that there be two different types of landlords that are registered and that a casual landlord, so to speak, be allowed to register such that, over a period of five to ten years, they are able to rent out their house for two years - for example, if they are travelling abroad or want to rent out their house for any other reason. That is one sector that allows people to have some flexibility in the short-term rental sector. Then that allows us to make sure that the rest of the private rental sector has more longevity, people sign longer leases, and no-fault evictions are removed for people who are longer term in the private rental sector.

We are relying on the private rental sector to house people, and it has been a catastrophic failure of public policy over decades because the private sector is insecure. It is a one-size-fits-all, and tenants who need a home can be evicted on the whim of a landlord who wants to sell their second home. It is not how the rental sector works in other European countries, where no-fault evictions are banned and people have security of tenure. I commend the drafters of this motion for including the restoration of the no-fault eviction ban. What we want to see is a permanent reform of the long-term private rental sector to ban no-fault evictions and provide long-term security to renters, not just financial incentives, and bring our rental market into line with European standards. We need action on renters' rights.

This motion as well as Government commitments are a good step forward, but we need to engage with this and we need proposals that provide an affordable, secure housing model for renters in addition to cost-rental and social housing. We need to engage with other legislative proposals brought forward by Opposition parties over recent years, for example, the Labour Party's renters' rights Bill, which we introduced in 2021. It is probably not perfect at this stage, but if it goes through pre-legislative scrutiny, all political parties could rally around it as reflecting the basic principles. We are in agreement on the basic principles of what is in that Bill. I urge the Government to consider these motions that have been put down as well as Bills on student accommodation, short-term lets, vacancy and dereliction, but primarily security of tenure for renters to ensure we have a stable private rental system for the many families and older people now living in the private rental sector.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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Before I move to the next speaker, I welcome the mná beoga group from Monasterevin, County Kildare, to both sides of the Gallery. I hope you enjoyed your tour and the deliberations here in the Houses today. Our next speaker is Senator Frances Black.

Frances Black (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I too thank the Sinn Féin Senators for bringing forward this motion, and I am very happy to support it. There is no doubt about it: we all know what a disaster the housing market is and the catastrophic impact it is having on so many people's lives. I think every single person in this Chamber would personally know many young families who are at the end of their tether. I certainly know many families who are at the end of their tether and who really have nowhere to go. I am disappointed with the Government's countermotion, which lists the Government's modest housing achievements. This contrasts starkly with the ESRI's submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight this evening, as reported by The Irish Times. The submission states that housing investment in Ireland is among the lowest across Europe, outranking only Greece, Poland and Bosnia, and that the Government's housing targets are lower than those recommended by the IDA, the ESRI and the Housing Commission. Housing for All is a low bar which the Government is still struggling to clear.

The HAP scheme is one of the biggest disasters of the housing crisis. HAP is not a benefit for low-income renters. It is given in lieu of social housing support, which could provide real stability and comfort. People in receipt of HAP are being failed by the State, which cannot provide adequate public services or proper regulation of the housing market. HAP is also contributing to the inflation of rents as lower income HAP recipients, who should be supported through the provision of social housing, are made to compete with middle-income tenants in the private sector. We need to listen to the experts when they say that measures like HAP and the help-to-buy scheme are inflationary giveaways to landlords and developers.

I am glad the motion refers to the need for more inspections of private rental properties. People are so desperate to find a place to live and the existing regime of inspection is so lax that many landlords are charging extortionate rents for substandard housing. Places listed for rent often have poor insulation or broken appliances or are critically overcrowded. Students, migrant workers and people on low incomes are particularly vulnerable to this form of exploitation. There are people living in degrading, overcrowded conditions and paying through the nose to do so, and it must stop. The landlords letting these substandard units should be held accountable for their greed and opportunism.

Eurostat reported that 23% of renters in the private rental market experience material deprivation. That is the highest rate for any high-income EU country. Renting in Ireland is extremely stressful, uncertain and financially ruinous. The housing crisis is creating dysfunctions which impact everyone. In many parts of the country, particularly Dublin, essential workers are having a hard time affording the cost of living. Teachers, nurses, early childhood education providers and bus drivers, without whom Dublin city cannot function, are being pushed to the margins. As a member of the Oireachtas health committee, I hear about the catastrophic impact that the recruitment and retention crisis in the health system has on the provision of essential healthcare. The housing crisis is fundamentally impeding our ability to provide adequate public services. Irish universities are producing world-class graduates who want to build their careers caring for and educating others, but we are exporting them far and wide because they cannot see a future for themselves here. All the while, waiting lists get longer, class sizes bigger and accident and emergency departments more overcrowded and chaotic.

Housing is an essential public good but it is being used to enrich investors and hedge funds at the expense of ordinary people. The housing crisis is undermining social solidarity and the provision of public services. Radical change is needed to treat housing as a human right and not an investment class. Quality social housing can be an engine for creativity and social mobility and can help people build stable lives, start families and build communities. We all saw the ambitious local authority housing construction programmes of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, which transformed Ireland. It was Fianna Fáil that did that, and it did a phenomenal job. There is so much more wealth in Ireland now, and I do not understand why that ambition on the part of the Government is not being shown again. In January 2024, around 13,500 people were recorded as homeless. Some 4,000 of those people are children and they really deserve better than this.

This motion makes reasonable and humane demands. A freeze on rents and the reinstatement of the eviction ban would help protect people from a crushing cost-of-living crisis and a sense of precariousness that makes life so much more mentally and emotionally taxing. The motion has my total support.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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You would know that there was a poll at the weekend. Every time Sinn Féin slides, the only thing it seems to think it can talk about is housing. Yet, every time they talk about housing after a polling collapse, they make another blunder of some kind. What I hear most now in Tipperary is people saying how Sinn Féin does not have a clue what it is talking about. It does it week after week after week. It was just done here two minutes ago by the previous Senator, who spoke of how people are struggling, cannot afford to buy a house and cannot afford to get on the housing market. He is right; there are people who are struggling and cannot afford to get on the housing market, so why the hell would he take away the help-to-buy scheme?

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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It is pushing the prices up.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Senator Ahearn without interruption.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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Through the Chair, I actually welcome the interruption. The Senator said it would be because it would increase the price of housing. I do not agree with her but let us say she is right. Let us take an example of a house in Clonmel that costs €300,000 where someone wants to buy that house at the moment. Let us go with Senator Boylan’s argument. They are struggling, they cannot afford it and they cannot save for a deposit. Under the current Government,

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Without interruption.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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No, listen.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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It is Government policy.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Can Senator Ahearn stop engaging in debate? Speak through the Chair please.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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If the Senators listened they might actually understand why the public has now lost faith in them. Essentially, that person has to pay €300,000 and supposedly cannot afford to save. Let us say they cannot afford to save for a deposit. Under this Fine Gael Government, they do not need to because they have the help-to-buy scheme. They will be able to get €30,000 to buy that house. That can be used as their deposit. Let us take Sinn Féin's proposal, which is that that increases the cost of a house. I do not agree with it, but let us say they are right. In Sinn Féin's view, that house should cost €270,000, because our figure of €30,000 increases the price of the house. Yet, in that case, they would have no help-to-buy scheme. The Senators have just said that they cannot afford to save a mortgage. Where is that €27,000? We cannot change the rules of the Central Bank of Ireland in order that they can get a mortgage. Where, then, will they get their €27,000? I would love to be interrupted now. This is what we are dealing with-----

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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People do not have enough to save. The Senator is answering his own question.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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This is what we are dealing with.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Without interruption.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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He did invite the interruption.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I did not invite an interruption, so the Senator, without interruption.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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They actually make no sense.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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The people cannot save. You are answering your own question, Senator.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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It is embarrassing for people to listen to. That is even without them talking about how they will build a house for €300,000 in Dublin. There is not a person in the country, apart from the spokesperson for housing in Sinn Féin and the leader of Sinn Féin, who seems to believe that. I hardly think the rest of the party actually believes that it is possible to build a house for €300,000.

I welcome the debate on housing here, because we are hitting targets. In fact, we are beating Sinn Féin’s five-year target on social housing, which was put forward by their spokesperson on housing in 2016. We beat it by 40%.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Without interruption, Senator Gavan.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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Sinn Féin speaks of targets-----

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Without interruption.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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-----and we can talk about that all we want. We have built 100,000 houses in the last four years in this Government.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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How many social houses?

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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Thirty-two thousand. What are your targets on social housing?

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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Without interruption, Senator Cummins. Through the Chair.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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There is the desperation of interruption, the desperation of talking about housing and the collapse of support for Sinn Féin. They do not what to do. They do not know what to talk about. They think they know something about housing, but every time they talk about it, they now lose more support. We go on and on. People are looking at Sinn Féin now and are saying there is no alternative.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I call Senator McGahon, who has six minutes.I will address a couple of points that I raised in this House and that Sinn Féin mentioned both in this House and the Lower House, namely, that the people of my generation - I am 33 years of age - are leaving this country because of the housing crisis and moving to Australia because housing is so good there and Australia is a promised land.

Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein)
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The cost of living, the quality of life, the cost of-----

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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Without interruption, please, Senator Warfield.

John McGahon (Fine Gael)
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I-----

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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Without interruption, Senator Cummins.

Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein)
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He is going to say that house prices-----

John McGahon (Fine Gael)
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I think-----

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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Please allow Senator Cummins to continue without interruption.

John Cummins (Fine Gael)
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Sinn Féin does not want to hear it.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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Senator McGahon, without interruption.

John McGahon (Fine Gael)
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In my four years in this House, and I stand to be corrected, I do not think I have ever interrupted anybody while they were giving a speech. Whether I agree or disagree with others, they have a right to be heard. If I can continue my comments for the next few minutes without interruption, I would greatly appreciate it. Comments were made about Australia, however, and they were reiterated in the Dáil.

I will read into the record what I saw a few weeks ago when I glanced at some Australian headlines from the past six months. In November 2023, ABC News reported that no one can escape the housing crisis in Australia. In December 2023, Bloomberg reported on how the Australian property crisis had deepened with soaring house prices and people being forced into poverty. In July 2023, The Guardian reported that the housing crisis was pushing more and more Australians into deep poverty. Within those articles, we find that 90% of first-time buyers are unable to buy a home in Australia. We might compare that to the 400 first-time buyers who are getting houses each month in this country.

I know this is anecdotal but last week, I was in my home town of Dundalk where I overheard a conversation between three fellas of my age. One was from Dundalk and two had moved to the town. They and their partners had all availed of the help-to-buy scheme to buy their first homes. They were talking to each other about the scheme the Government brought in, saying that while they did not always agree with what the Government does, the scheme had really helped them to get their first home. I could not believe I was overhearing this conversation. I look around my town of Dundalk and see houses being built left, right and centre. I see construction everywhere I look. That did not exist for the first five or six years my party was in Government - that is for sure - because of the financial situation this country was facing. I have one of the busiest clinics in County Louth. A large number of the people who come into my office are getting houses and coming off the social housing list or getting housing transfers. I see that every day of the week in the job I do in my town. People are doing that because we are building houses to beat the band and they are moving into them.

I recall one of my first contributions in this House four years ago. I hate the ideology around housing that says we want to build houses here but we want them on public or private land, or that the cost of housing is not good because we are giving money to developers. I will tell you what; most people my age do not care who a house is built by, whether it is built by the Government or a developer or whether it is on public or private land. They want to be able to work hard and have a good income, buy a home and start a family with whoever their partner is and get going. I sometime bring some of my mates into this Chamber. I would love if they were sitting in the Gallery. They do not have a huge interest in politics but they would laugh at some of the stuff they hear. They would ask what bubble some of the people up here are living in when they talk about housing because that is not what they are seeing in reality. We want to have a good economy where people can have good jobs and buy affordable homes. I saw that a very good affordable home scheme in Blackrock, County Louth, is oversubscribed.

I get that politics comes into this debate and there is a bit of Punch and Judy and one-upmanship on both sides. What I am talking about is what I see every day of the week where I come from. I am talking about the reality. The housing issue has definitely turned a corner. I am telling you now that it has turned a corner. We will see that in the next six or seven months when an election comes. People are starting to see through Opposition parties. There is no magic wand or secret fix. This Government is doing a bloody good job and working very hard, particularly with housing. If any other political party came into power, it would find the same challenges and issues and would pursue the same policies to increase house building because that is the way forward.

I look around and see people of my generation buying homes. I see older people downsizing and freeing up homes. People I know are using the €70,000 and €80,000 vacant home grants to breathe life into vacant or derelict homes and live in them again. This Government has introduced so many housing schemes in the last three or four years. We have made it so much easier for people to buy and build homes, and it is going bloody well. The public are sick of the spin and negativity from Opposition parties telling them they have all the answers. They do not. The slide in the polls over the last six months has shown us that. That slide is going one way, and it is down.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
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I am renting, and I have had to rent pretty much all my life. I have rented in Dublin and Galway. As a tenant, I have had the challenges, particularly in difficult times, of having to move many times and find accommodation. I am renting in Ballinasloe now. People have a choice. They obviously want to have a home and invest long term and, please God, that will happen for me too. Availability - demand and supply - is key here. The availability of homes, houses and places people can rent to manage the demand is crucial. In Ballinasloe, more than 137 local authority houses have been built this year alone. That means 137 families are moving into new homes in Ballinasloe and the surrounding area.

It is crucial that we see affordable housing now. We need to see affordable housing. The issues I have are with the development of county development plans and local area plans for our towns to ensure there is allocation of county council land for affordable housing. The challenges I see are where we cannot access affordable R1 and R2 lands but where affordable housing is being brought forward by our local authorities. We need to see supports for local authorities to bring through options for affordable housing. We have the housing assistance payment. In Galway County Council and Roscommon County Council, we have seen an increase of nearly 20% - from €25,000 to €35,000 - in the income threshold for applying for housing and the housing assistance payment. Many people on incomes of €35,000 or less who are working in my town cannot find housing or afford rental prices. That housing assistance payment is crucial. The Government's decision to increase the income threshold to allow people to become eligible to apply for local authority housing and the housing assistance payment made a massive difference to people working in my town.

I want to see more landlords being encouraged to take on the HAP, working with tenants to ensure we have availability. The challenge we have is that people who were on the housing assistance payment are moving into the new homes I spoke about in Ballinasloe and their landlords may be looking to sell their properties. That is the issue I have. I do not want to see the stock of available rental houses and properties being reduced. We need to support small landlords. We need to ensure those properties remain available for rental. If we make it too difficult for a small landlord to rent out a house, in what way would that support any of us in terms of getting availability for housing? We need different types of housing available for everyone at all ages of life. We have students from a school in the Chamber with us today. I am sure that after school, whether they go to college or decide to go travelling, they will rent. At some point in their lives, they will rent before they have the opportunity to move into their own homes. We need to make sure there are landlords available to facilitate that.

When we met representatives from the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, earlier today they spoke about digs and access to digs. I have lived in digs as well. If we did not have the rent-a-room scheme, which was brought in by this Government, people would not be able to rent a room in their house and receive that rental income without any impact on many of their social benefits.The Government has done that. These are the supports we are putting in place. If people have a spare room in their house and there is a college or university down the road, or a hospital with nearly 1,000 people working in it, and they decide to offer that room for rent, they will not lose any benefits to which they are entitled. It is crucial to acknowledge the steps the Government has been putting in place to achieve the supply we need for people at all stages of life and in different types of accommodation. We are working to ensure there is supply and not this issue we have with demand.

On the education side, I am my party's Seanad spokesperson on education and further and higher education. The apprenticeship programmes in construction are crucial. The motion deals with the rental sector and I take the opportunity to highlight the need to ensure we have enough tradespeople available to do all the work needed to build homes. We need people who are excellent at woodwork and carpentry. We need electricians and plumbers. Young people will have lots of choices in deciding what to do when they finish school. Some of them might decide to spend three years studying in college, while others will want to learn and earn. They will have income coming into them while working in a job and they will find out very quickly whether it is the job for them. In a lot of these trades, people will be their own boss. They will decide to start their own business at the age of 25 or 26 and run the show. They will be able to do that because they decided to take on an apprenticeship. It might be a trade in construction or it could be bioengineering, accountancy or auctioneering. There are so many choices. I would like to hear from the Minister of State what actions we are taking to drive the take-up of apprenticeships. We need an apprenticeships centre in Roscommon town.

Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome to the Gallery the students from Meánscoil Gharman and Gaelcholáiste an Chláir. I hope they enjoy their visit to the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the motion from Sinn Féin and the opportunity for debate it provides. I welcome the Minister of State. As I have said previously in the House, I recollect that in 2011, when I was in the other House, we had a debate on housing in which we talked about developers and banks that had gone bust, ghost estates, people in negative equity and the IMF being in charge of the country. Those were the challenges in 2011 and for a number of years thereafter before we reformed the economy, balanced the books and built up our ability to reinvest through Rebuilding Ireland and, more recently, the further investment under Housing for All.

There is no doubt there are still challenges within the housing sector. Nobody here is trying to pretend otherwise. Housing for All recognises those challenges. There is a recognition in the decisions the Government has made and the investment we have put in place under Housing for All of the need to ramp up supply of all types of housing, including social housing, private homes, houses for rent, approved housing body homes and student accommodation. Each and every type of housing is needed. We need new houses, brownfield sites and targeted measures in regard to derelict and vacant properties. The schemes the Government has introduced in recent years have ramped up supply.

The figures are evident for anyone to see. Housing for All is successfully supporting a significantly increased supply of new homes. A record 32,695 homes were completed in 2023, which was a 10% increase on 2022 and the highest number of new homes delivered in 15 years. We exceeded the 2023 target of 29,000 by almost 13%. That is delivery. We wish the number was higher. We hope it will be higher next year, higher again the following year and so on. The latest annual data on the number of commencements published in January 2024 show that almost 33,000 new homes were commenced last year, which is the highest number of annual commencements on record and an increase of 21.5% compared with 2022. It is the highest number of annual residential commencements since records began in 2014. These are positive trends in the delivery of new homes, which is what we want to see. Everybody in these Houses wants to see the number of commencements and the delivery of new houses increasing. That is what is happening. With continued investment and a continuing stable environment and competent Government, we will see the figures continue to grow.

The flagship schemes such as the derelict and vacant house grants have been successful but we need to see continued investment. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I hear anecdotally that auctioneers are being slightly hesitant of advising people to go down the road of applying for the grants because of the paperwork involved. The Minister of State might comment on that. I hope it is not the case. Once approval is granted, it necessarily takes time to deliver the project and then there is the payment, draw-down and verification process. We need to ensure the timeline between completion of bringing a house back to a liveable standard and payment of the grant is as short as possible. There has been some discussion of whether we should go down the line of staged payments. I can see issues with that. It would ensure the owner of the property has the cash to complete the project but, at the same time, there would have to be verification processes. It might increase the level of administration to a degree. The Minister of State might indicate whether a change is being considered in this regard.

On student accommodation, the Minister, Deputy Harris, recently visited the University of Galway to open the Dunlin Village student accommodation. Goldcrest Village was opened a number of years ago. This amounts to real delivery of student accommodation on campus. There are more than 1,000 beds in those two developments. This investment needs to be replicated in other locations. Galway has done particularly well on student accommodation. Compliments to the University of Galway for its work in this regard. We need to see this investment rolled out to the technological universities. The Government has made decisions on making finance available for that purpose, which is important. The more student accommodation that is provided, the more private rental property is freed up in cities like Galway, Limerick and Dublin. It is hugely important that we continue to see investment both by the State where necessary, by providing loans, and also through direct investment by the universities and technological universities themselves.

We must continue to ensure all types of houses are built. Some people are negative about private developers. In fact, developers have a very important, but not exclusive, role. They have an important role to play in providing private homes both to buy and rent. As I said, there has been an amount of investment to increase delivery of all types of homes across all regions of the country. We must have stable government and good management of the economy to ensure that level of investment continues through Housing for All.

Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael)
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It is disappointing that this motion on the private rental sector includes no recognition of the introduction of the rent tax credit, which allows a couple to claim a credit of €1,000 for 2022 and 2023 and €1,500 for 2024 and 2025 in respect of rents paid. Indeed, I see no mention of the credit on the Sinn Féin website. It is disappointing that this scheme for people in the private rental market is not being promoted by that political party. We all know the reasons for that. A number of Members referred to the opinion polls. When that party's showing starts to go down in the polls, we see motions brought forward on housing, which is the top issue of concern to people. With Sinn Féin at a four-year low in the polls, we are again seeing motions on housing but, as I said, no acknowledgment of the significant number of schemes available to people in both the rental market and for those looking to purchase a home.

In my county, a significant number of grants have been delivered, particularly in rural areas, under the Croí Cónaithe scheme, with either €50,000 or €70,000 available for people to renovate second-hand derelict or vacant homes. In fact, the local authorities are having to find more staff to administer the significant number of applications coming into them from people looking to do up their homes.We have a party that is against the schemes put in place by Government to allow people to buy and own their homes, with our help-to-buy and first home schemes. They are even against the waiver of developing levies, which is there to stimulate the housing market. They want homes, but they are opposed to every scheme or policy that has been put in place and is delivering homes. The facts are there in every county. The facts were mentioned earlier about the proposal and delivery under Fine Gael. We get criticised, even by some of the parties in government with us, which that tend to exonerate themselves from blame for the lack of housing. However, in its manifesto for the 2016 election, for the period from 2016 to 2021, Sinn Féin proposed that approximately 36,500 homes would be developed during that period. During the four-year period up to the 2020 general election, we exceeded that target. We have heard anecdotally about building houses in Dublin for €300,000. People in Dublin were running scared when they heard this proposal put forward. Someone would not build a house in County Longford, which has the lowest market value and probably the lowest site costs in the country, for €300,000 at the moment. The policies being put forward by Sinn Féín are pure madness. The sooner that people, in particular the younger generation, get the facts the better. The spin machine is spinning. Once Sinn Féin goes down in the polls, its members crank it up again and come out with a manifesto and proposals that are not workable and will not deliver houses for the young people of this country.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank Senators Warfield, Boylan and Gavan for tabling the motion. I will respond to a few points raised by Senators during the debate. Senator Warfield asked a question about the housing referendum. We expect the Housing Commission report will be furnished to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, by the end of March and brought to Government soon after. Points were put by other Senators about numbers for inward migration and emigration. We certainly do not treat housing as a commodity, as was suggested. We treat it as a common good and of immense value, and a necessity to society.

Senator Boylan also raised the retrofit issue. The intention of the split incentive and other issues relating to BER costs and retrofits are being examined by the ESRI, which is due to report to Government in the coming months. Landlords can get grants for houses they rent out and budget 2023 also introduced tax measures for landlords for rental properties. Senator Moynihan raised the issue of landlords leaving the market. Senator Black referenced the Government's modest housing achievements. I do not think they are modest. There is no doubt we have much more to build on, but there has certainly been good output in the past number of years. Senator Gavan raised the heartbreak for families, which is acknowledged. There are also thousands of people receiving the keys to their new homes all over the country, and that is something that has ramped up significantly. The eviction ban was a short-term measure. It did not reduce homeless numbers and we have had that debate. It has been well put out. Senator Dolan mentioned affordable housing and development plans and raising HAP eligibility thresholds. That is absolutely welcome. They were the main points raised.

I thank all Senators for their contributions to the debate. I reassure them that every single decision Government makes is carefully considered and needs to be, in particular in the context of housing. Government recognises there is a need to accelerate delivery of affordable housing, cost-rental accommodation and social housing, including via acquisitions. The most effective way to reduce and stabilise rents in the medium to long term is to increase supply and accelerate delivery of housing for the private and social rental sectors. Ensuring the successful implementation of Housing for All is a key priority of the Government. This is underpinned by the unprecedented level of Exchequer investment for housing in budget 2024. This year will see more than €5 billion in capital investment in housing - a record figure. We will continue to increase the housing stock in the country while progressing major reforms in our housing system. No one in government underestimates the scale of the housing challenge. We must ensure we enhance supply as much as possible, especially in the rental sector, and supply is increasing. The Government's Housing for All plan is having a real impact. More homes are being built and bought than for a generation. The latest Housing for All progress report for quarter 4 2023 shows the number of new homes delivered last year was the highest for 15 years with 32,695 new homes completed in 2023. That was 10% higher than in 2022 and exceeding Housing for All's 2023 target of 29,000 by almost 13%. The pipeline is also strong. The latest data on the number of commencement notices and residential construction starts published on 18 January 2024 shows that almost 33,000 new homes were commenced in 2023 and permission granted for more than 37,600 homes. The latest CSO data on planning permissions shows that nationally 9,662 home dwelling units were granted planning permission in quarter 3 of 2023, which was an increase of 43.3% on quarter 3 of 2022. This is the highest number of annual commencements on record, an increase of more than 21.5% compared to 2022 and the highest number of annual residential commencements since records began in 2014.

While the Government opposes Sinn Féin's wide-ranging motion, its countermotion seeks to address the important points raised and I will speak to them in the time available. The rent index report published by the RTB and ESRI is the most accurate and authoritative rent report of its kind on the private rental sector. Compared to other market monitoring reports produced for the rental sector, the RTB-ESRI rent index has the considerable benefit of being based on regulatory data covering all new tenancy registrations, regardless of how the property was advertised for rent. The rent index reveals two metrics - the new tenancies index, quarter 3 2007 to present, is a long-standing index of new tenancies, and the existing tenancies index, quarter 2 2022 to present, is for tenancies of at least one year in duration and which is annual registration. With the recent introduction of existing tenancy information, we now have the ability to monitor existing tenancy rent price developments and this is a major step forward for the rent index. However, while it is not the measure of compliance with rent pressure zones requirements, it significantly strengthens our ability to understand the private rental sector overall, which has gone through considerable changes in recent years. As can be seen in the Government's countermotion, the RTB-ESRI rent index figures to those of the quarterly report prepared by Daft. It is essential to note that daft.ie is a single platform measuring rent asking prices, which tend to be higher than the actual rents paid as recorded by the rent index.

An estimated €13.5 billion, comprised of a mix of both public and private financing, is required each year to meet Housing for All's annual average supply target of 33,000 homes. Institutional investment is a critical piece of this overall investment. It is a well established and normal facet of housing investment in our European neighbours and beyond. Notwithstanding the critical role played by institutional investment in financing increased supply of housing, the Government introduced measures in May 2021 to disincentivise and prohibit the inappropriate bulk purchasing of certain homes. These measures introduced a higher 10% stamp duty levy on the cumulative purchase of ten or more residential properties, excluding apartments, in a 12-month period. According to Revenue and CSO data, the higher stamp duty rate has applied to less than 1% of residential property. transactions in the period from May 2021 to October 2023 and has applied to less than 2% of total new dwellings completed from when the higher rate applied.

I turn to rent freeze and tax relief. A three-year rent freeze would have had a significant impact in deterring medium- and longer-term supply of rental accommodation with knock-on negative impacts on rent levels. It would have acted as a disincentive to landlords considering entering the rental market and is a spur for existing landlords to leave. We need a supply of homes of all types and tenures in every place, and a wide-reaching plan to reform practically every aspect of our housing system. Housing for All is that plan and despite the challenges we face, we can see that plan is bearing fruit. Budget 2024 increased the rent tax credit from €500 to €750 per renter. A potential €1,500 is available to a couple renting their home.The Government agreed on 7 March that the "winter emergency period" under the Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Act 2022 would come to an end on 31 March 2023, with deferred tenancy terminations taking effect over a staggered period from 1 April to 18 June 2023, as planned and legislated for under the Act. The Government considered that extending the emergency period would be detrimental to medium- and long-term supply of private rental accommodation. That position has not changed. The Department and local authorities are instead focusing on implementing the additional measures the Minister announced last March to increase the supply of social homes.

On 24 October, the Government approved the general scheme of the Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill for priority drafting and publication. Detailed and complex work has been ongoing in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General, including consideration of the recommendations from the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage's pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme.

The Government is at all times conscious in bringing forward such legislation of the need to avoid unintended consequences insofar as possible. For example, it is not intended to unnecessarily impede or complicate the sales process for rental accommodation, nor to cause delays to the conveyancing process. The Government is also required to ensure, when formulating legislation, that it can withstand legal challenge.

The Government relies on the private rental sector to provide much-needed housing generally, as well as housing through which social housing needs can be met. Any actions that directly or inadvertently undermine the economic viability of rental accommodation provision could negatively impact the existing and future supply of such accommodation and the wider economy, and could damage the market's capacity and attractiveness for landlords and tenants.

Progress is being made under Housing for All. The number of new dwelling completions, commencements, promotions, home purchases, first-time buyers and mortgage drawdowns are all increasing.

In accordance with the programme for Government and Housing for All commitments, the Government has provided for tenancies of unlimited duration through the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2021. All new tenancies created on or after 11 June 2022 will become tenancies of unlimited duration once the tenancy has lasted more than six months and no notice of termination has been validly served on the tenant. The aim of this is to enhance security of tenure for tenants and simplify the operation of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2022.

The programme for Government recognises the important role the private rental sector plays and will continue to play. The Government will address challenges in the sector, including supply, standards, security and affordability for renters. There has been clear progress under Housing for All and we have an extremely solid foundation on which to build. The reforms we have introduced have taken time because they are comprehensive and far-reaching. Housing delivery envisaged under Housing for All is focused through short-, medium- and long-term actions. Government is working to deliver on its comprehensive and detailed plan of action. Delivering for people is our goal on the housing front and all fronts. We will continue to listen to feedback and seek ways to improve the review of the private rental sector and give voice to all interested parties. In delivering housing, affordability and quality will remain core to everything we do.

Improving supply standards, affordability and security for renters is a priority for me and the Government. We are making significant changes in recognition of the fact tenants face persistent pressures in the rental and housing markets. Our approach to change must continue to be carefully balanced. We must recognise we need landlords to provide a steady supply of rented accommodation and for the sector to be on a sound footing for tenants and landlords within the overall housing system.

Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein)
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The tension in this debate is not there because Sinn Féin has created that energy but because housing consumes everyone's life. In smoking areas, clubs, queues for clubs, cafes, among sports teams and on trips, housing and renting consumes the life of everyone. Senator McGahon said people do not care who builds the home, where it is built or about all these regulatory and legislative matters, but we find ourselves in this place because we have had 30 years of bad housing policy and of incentivising the private sector. Since 1990, social housing has not kept pace with need. As a consequence, an ever greater number of people waiting on social housing have ended up living in the private rental market.

Senator Black said the ESRI said today that rents and house prices will keep rising for the foreseeable future, yet the Government parties tell us thngs have turned a corner. In what world have they turned a corner? Wages are not increasing at the pace of rent inflation. Senator Gavan spoke of the 15% increase in rents in Limerick. Who is getting a 15% pay increase?

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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Everyone on the minimum wage.

Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein)
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Since 2012, house prices have risen more dramatically than wages and that has left a significant number of people, young people in particular, locked out of home ownership and living in the private rental market. People are paying more than 40% of their salary on rent. What are they getting in return? No protection if the home is sold; no protection if the landlord decides to move in; no protection from eviction; no protection if the landlord's family member decides to move in; no protection for your deposit; and certainly no protection if your name is not on the lease in the first place. The CSO has said 33% of adults between the ages of 25 and 29 live at home with their parents. Eurostat has that figure at 68% and it is increasing all the time. More people every year are not moving out of their family home. We know couples and single people who are moving back in with their parents to save for a deposit. A number of generations can now only dream of home ownership.

We need to ramp up the delivery of non-market homes. We need 21,000 affordable homes to rent and buy for middle-income people every year, resourcing of the planning system, greater use of vacant and derelict properties, low-carbon and modern building techniques, purchase of turnkey developments for social and affordable targets and billions of euro in additional housing budget. We need a completely new approach involving public housing on public land on a scale we have never seen before and a much greater level of State investment in using public lands, master-planned by councils and financed by the State, to deliver affordable homes that working people can rent or buy.

Fine Gael has been in government for 13 years. In those 13 years, homelessness has increased every year. There has been a 250% increase in homelessness since Fine Gael took office. That is the record of John Cummins's, Garret Ahearn's and John McGahon's party. That is its legacy and that is why Fine Gael and this Government have to go.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Before we put the amendment, I welcome to the Visitors Gallery a very good Corkman, Adam McCarthy, who is an economist by profession. He is a good Corkman from the wonderful part of Cork called Ballinora. He is joined by our friend, Barry Cassidy. They are very welcome to Leinster House and I thank them for being here.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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When is it proposed to sit again?

John Cummins (Fine Gael)
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Tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.