I thank the Deputy. We are all encountering many constituents in Dublin and across the country who are facing difficulties with rent rises and accessing affordable homes. That is why housing policy is the single biggest issue for the Government and why we want to take further action in the area of housing. I assure the House that the Government is absolutely committed to delivering more homes for people, either to rent or own, quickly. We are advancing further policy options on how we can do just that. I want to be clear that the Taoiseach stated he is open to the possibility of developing an alternative system to RPZs, which will protect renters but which will also allow people to have a clear, stable environment in which to invest. This is not about increasing rents for tenants; it is about increasing supply, which will ultimately reduce rents. It is incumbent on all of us in this House to be willing to examine all policy options and look at different approaches and models, because it is clear that we need to build more homes and increase the pace at which we build them. We fully recognise the need to protect and support renters. That is why we advanced further progress for renters with the renter's tax credit in the most recent budget. It is also why we legislated for tenancies of unlimited duration and restricted the level of upfront payments required from tenants. The Deputy will be aware that RPZs were introduced in 2016. They will be in place until the end of this year. That is why the Department of housing reviewed RPZs last year. The Department of housing has also asked the Housing Agency to undertake a review of the operation of RPZs. It is expected that this analysis will conclude in quarter 1 of this year in advance of the legislative timeframe I have set out. Any potential future policy options or amendments that arise from the review will be brought to the Government and considered carefully under the co-ordination of the Minister for housing. Let me be clear. There is no predetermined outcome to this review. A well-functioning private rental market is a necessity and must work for tenants and landlords. As the Housing Commission noted in its report last year, the available evidence indicates that the impact of RPZs has been mixed. Eight years on, we need to ensure that the system is fit for purpose and protects tenants but that it does not deter landlords. Without landlords and investors, there is no private rental market. Changes to any aspect of housing policy must be looked at in the round. We need a system that increases and encourages development activity and supply, reduces costs for homeowners and renters and provides for stability and certainty for all concerned. That is why we have a record level of capital investment in housing. As Minister for public expenditure, I will undertake a review of the national development plan. In the context of the latter, the role of the State will be strengthened under this Government when it comes to provision of social and affordable homes across our economy. We also have to be honest. Analysis carried out by the Department of Finance shows that in order to build 50,000 homes per year, €20 billion in investment capital will be required each year. I expect the State's role in that to grow, but we have to secure the investment environment in order to ensure that we have more homes for people to rent, that we can strengthen affordability for future homeowners and that both of these will be part of the overall picture when it comes to housing policy. We have to undertake a review in advance of the legislative timeframe relating to the end of this year. The Minister for housing will co-ordinate matters. The central focus of what we are doing is to protect renters but also to increase the number of rental properties across our country, particularly as we know there is a real shortage of supply.
Sentiment score: 0.19
Let me absolutely clear. We want to protect renters across our country. We also want to increase the number of rental homes that are available for people who want to rent. Central to that proposition is increasing the number of homes built across our country. The unfortunate reality is that the Deputy's housing policy would result in a complete failure of housing supply if it was progressed.
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The people have had their say on that. The Deputy's party's approach is not credible. It would abolish all the supports for first-time buyers, put back the work of the Land Development Agency for years and devise a new pseudo-form of home ownership, where someone would own their house-----
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-----but not the land it was built on. Let me absolutely clear to the Deputy.
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It is important that a new Government with a new mandate assesses housing policy in order that we can increase the supply of both homes that are available to rent and to buy across our country. It is in this way that the Government will take action over the coming months.
Sentiment score: 0.24
I thank the Deputy for her question. To set out the context on housing supply, it has significantly increased since 2020, with 130,000 new homes delivered in that period. Everyone on the Government benches and across the House was disappointed with the final numbers for 2024, which were less than what we expected. However, it is not true to say that we missed our Housing for All targets. The overall net position over a period of three years shows 29,000, 32,000 and 30,300 units delivered, a combined total that exceeded the overall target over three years. We need to look to the future to drive significant supply of homes across our economy. The volume of homes built in the past five years represents the highest delivery for many years. Notwithstanding the short-term fluctuation in delivery, the current delivery pipeline is very strong. Work commenced on 60,000 new homes in 2024, an increase of 84% compared to 2023. It equates to work starting on an average of 239 new homes every working day of the year. We are determined that the uplift in supply of recent years must be sustained, with a longer term upward trend maintained. That is why the outgoing Government set new housing targets of over 300,000 new homes over a series of years. I want to be clear in my role as Minister for public expenditure. We agreed to a review of the national development plan to accelerate infrastructure delivery in our economy in water, energy and transport to unlock future supply and intensify the level of housing delivery in our economy. When we see the capital outworking of that, I expect we will see increased allocations for housing and an increased focus in the State's role in housing supply. If we are to deliver 50,000 new homes per year, we are going to need more private investment to do that work and complement the State's role in housing. We all need to be honest about that. The State has a central role, but we need to ensure that we unlock future private investment to drive increased supply across our economy. That means examining all of the policy options that are available to Government to ensure that we drive housing supply and increase affordability for young people in order to give them an opportunity to buy and own their own home. There is a severe shortage of supply for renters in our economy. As I said in response to Deputy Ó Broin, we have said we will conduct a review with the housing agency. There is no predetermined outcome to that review. It will be evidence-based and examine how we protect renters and increase the supply and development of rental accommodation in our economy. That is a necessity to ensure that people who want to rent a home today and future renters in our economy have the opportunity to go on to rent. If you go on to daft.ie or any other sites, it is very difficult in terms of the supply of rental accommodation. We need more homes for the rental supply in our economy.
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If the Deputy was really interested in effecting Labour Party policy, she would have stayed longer in the government formation talks.
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I knew from all the engagement we had, she was more interested in posturing over there than she was in playing a constructive role in government. We were open to their proposals.
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She wanted to set up a State construction company, which would take years. It would take years. Let me be clear: our central objective, in any review of housing policy, will be to increase supply and to unlock and address all of the levers of supply which are open to Government to ensure we can drive affordability for young people and to address the severe housing shortage that is there. We will not deliver on housing unless we have a significant uplift of supply across our economy. That means the role of the State will be strengthened. It will be strengthened when this Government reviews the national development plan. We also need to assess how we address other levers of supply - and that is what we will do - while protecting renters and protecting the vulnerable in our society.
Sentiment score: 0.18
I thank the Deputy for the question. What I said in reply to the other Deputies is that any incoming Government should examine all of the policy options that will achieve the central objective - where I think there is consensus on in this House - how do we increase the overall supply to meet the targets that have been set over a series of years. We are open to constructive feedback and engagement on that. What we have said, as a Government, is that the Minister for housing with others - the Minister for Finance, myself as the Minister for public expenditure, and others - will try to access all options to give that significant uplift in supply that is central to achieving affordability across our economy. I acknowledge the difficulties many aspiring homeowners face and, again, the many people and couples who were left waiting for bad news at Leixlip over the past number of days, a situation which is reflected across the country. It will not improve if we continue with policies that do not unlock supply. That is why it will be a two-pronged approach from this Government in the policy options we take when it comes to delivering supply. As I have said previously, we need to look at the NDP to accelerate infrastructure delivery in our economy. How do we unlock transport-oriented housing development where we have built transport networks in cities or in urban areas? How do progress current projects where we could unlock further supply? How do we address the shortages we have in water infrastructure in towns and regions across our country that will help unlock further housing supply? These are the policy options we are taking, which will involve a bigger role for the State and State agencies such as Irish Water, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the National Transport Authority, and the Land Development Agency. Central to our policy is the State's role in the provision of housing supply but we are being honest with people. If we want to reach between 50,000 and 60,000 new homes per year, we need to make sure Ireland is an attractive place for private investment as well. If we are all honest about that, we have seen that weaken in recent years, and that has had an impact on the overall housing supply environment. It will not improve with the Deputy attacking private investors like he did in his initial contribution. It will not happen if he continues the attack on private investors like he has done in recent years or his constant opposition to lots of constructive proposals that have come from Government such as the Land Development Agency. While the then Minister, Deputy O'Brien, was progressing the planning legislation, the Deputy and his party were central to slowing this down, trying to undermine it and trying to create further barriers to the bureaucracy of planning on which we needed to see progress in recent years. Let me be clear: it will be a bigger role for the State but if we are going to unlock further housing supply, we need to ensure we unlock private investment as well and that is the position of Government
Sentiment score: 0.19
As I said previously, my central point on commencement notices is that we have a strong pipeline in place for supply with commencement notices issuing of 60,000 new homes. Feedback suggests that there is unquestionably significantly more work on site than before, aided by the Government's development levy and water connection waivers, and it is not just a matter of if but a matter of when these commencement notices will translate to real supply. There will be some supply this year and next year but I am talking about the next five years or indeed the years after that. How we develop a housing policy that gets us to between 50,000 and 60,000 homes per year? In response to the Deputy's question on renters, I was being clear to all of the others. Any policy action we take here is to protect renters but also to make sure we develop more rental accommodation in our country with an increased population. We need to have private investment to accelerate that as well. He is not being honest about that point. Let me be clear.
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We will be strengthening the role of the State to increase housing supply and trying to complement that-----
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-----by having housing policies that accelerate private investment as well.
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