Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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252. To ask the Minister for Finance whether he is considering reviewing raising the local authority borrowing cap to facilitate the delivery of more cost rental in cities, including Dublin. [5994/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Budget 2025 included a record €6 billion in capital spending for housing, including direct Exchequer spending, investment by the Land Development Agency and borrowing by the Housing Finance Agency.

This level of public spending supports the State’s involvement in every aspect of housing — land purchase, construction, purchasing and funding. The State also heavily subsidises both the rental and owner-occupier market.

The Government believes that the State has a role to play in the housing market. However, the State cannot do everything and given the significant level of sustained investment needed can only ever play a partial role.

Moreover, it is very clear that increased spending alone will not solve the challenges we face in the housing system. There are a number of well-known structural and real-economy barriers that are preventing more homes being built. These include, inter alia, planning delays, labour shortages and structurally high costs. Increased public spending will not solve these problems. Instead, the Government is addressing these issues in a sustained and coordinated way, most notably with implementation of the Planning and Development Act. The Act will provide greater clarity and certainty, improve the investment environment and boost output.

Housing policy is a matter for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and any request for changes to local authority borrowing policy should be considered in the context of housing policy overall.