Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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245. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his preferred options to meet ongoing social and economic requirements in the context of current and capital expenditure, in line with prudent management but placing sufficient emphasis on important structures such as social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18074/24]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government’s approach to public expenditure policy is set out in the Medium Term Expenditure Strategy (MTES). This framework must be responsive to the economic landscape and is reviewed annually as part of the whole of year budget process including the Summer Economic Statement and the Estimates process.

As part of the Government’s fiscal strategy REV 2024 allocated €96.7 billion to fund current and capital investment. This was alongside the establishment of two new reserve funds; the Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund. These reserves will help to future proof our economy and public finances by enabling us to maintain our investment plans and expectations over the longer term.

Investment in infrastructure is a critical component in supporting Ireland’s growth and in delivering better, fit-for-purpose public services. The Government’s public expenditure policy is committed to the continued delivery of capital investment under the National Development Plan. The NDP is a central plank in delivery of the vital infrastructure to support our future economic and social requirements, as well as our climate change commitments. I recently announced the allocation of an additional €2.25 billion of funding to the NDP to ensure we continue to keep pace with the demands on our infrastructure and our climate goals.

The Government must constantly strive to tackle the key challenges affecting our climate, housing and infrastructure objectives. The additional funding announced will be a key element of meeting those challenges head-on.

The overall housing market continues to demonstrate robust delivery performance, with 32,695 new homes completed. Commencement activity also continues to grow with 35,752 new unit commencements in the last 12 months to February, a 33% increase from the previous 12 month period. Based on these metrics, it is expected that overall housing delivery will exceed 33,000 units in 2024.

In 2023, 11,939 new social homes were delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, including 8,110 new-build social homes, 1,830 acquisitions and 1,999 homes through leasing programmes. This represents the highest level of delivery of new-build social housing in half a century. The delivery pipeline for the future also looks strong and we expect another year of strong social housing delivery to meet our targets.