Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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699. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government whether he will now formally declare a national housing emergency, and commit to convening a cross-party housing emergency taskforce with executive powers to fast-track public housing delivery. [23354/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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701. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he acknowledges that the current model of rent subsidies, market competition, public land disposal, and over-reliance on institutional developers has failed, and whether he will now support a shift toward State-led construction as the central driver of national housing recovery. [23356/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 699 and 701 together.

Housing delivery has increased significantly since the publication in September 2021 of Housing for All.

During this period, we have seen a significant increase in the supply and quantum of housing across all tenures, social, affordable, private purchase and private rental housing, through public and private delivery streams. New home delivery has increased from around 20,500 in 2020 and 2021 respectively to reach an average of almost 31,000 per year over the last three years. Indeed, some 92,400 new homes have delivered between 2022 and 2024, some 5,400 ahead of target and an increase of 49% on the previous three-year period. This progress is set to continue with almost 6,000 homes delivered in Q1 2025, representing nine successive quarters with rolling 12-month completions exceeding 30,000 and an almost four-fold increase in delivery in the last decade, up from an annual total of 7,788 at the end of Quarter 1 2016.

This is an excellent platform from which to ramp up delivery further and, in this regard, the Programme for Government commits to delivering 300,000 or so new homes between 2025 and 2030.

We have commenced work on priority actions in the Programme for Government with the potential to make the most immediate impact and deliver the uplift in supply needed. The recently agreed revised National Planning Framework is a major step forward in this regard, and will help increase capacity and accelerate home building across the country. Additionally, An Coimisiún Pleanála is being established to replace An Bord Pleanála and will help accelerate planning decisions and supply. A new Housing Activation Office is also being established to secure the enabling infrastructure needed for public and private housing development and unblock infrastructure delays on the ground.

Such measures will support medium to longer-term delivery, while also helping maximise the potential already in the delivery pipeline and the impact of measures already introduced to accelerate housing supply, including the Development Levy Waiver and Water Connection Rebate.

In the meantime, Government is developing a new national housing plan to build on the successes of Housing for All. Any new or revised proposals that will support ramping-up supply to 300,000 new homes over the next six years will be considered in the context of the new plan, which Government aims to publish in the summer.