Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

It ensures that people can actually benefit from cash through the help-to-buy scheme and from an equity share in relation to their first home. We are also conscious when we look at how we are doing compared with other European countries that we now live in a country that has one of the strongest rates of home completion in the entire European Union. For every 1,000 people in Ireland, we are seeing 5.9 homes being completed. In the EU, that averages at 3.3. Home completions were up last year, at 36,280. That is up 20% on the previous year, and indeed represents the highest number of homes completed since 2011. We saw very positive housing commencement figures in December, with 3,065 homes commenced, which was more than the previous month. We will continue to see positive commencement figures. When look at planning permission, we see that momentum has picked up as well.
I tell the very young people that the Deputy referenced that we are seeing more homes being built, we are seeing more homes being commenced, we are seeing more homes being completed and we are seeing more people every week being able to buy their first home. In the CSO figures yesterday, we are seeing more housing transactions last year than the year before and first-time buyers making up a greater proportion of that. I agree with the Deputy that this is a continuing housing emergency. That is why we are reforming the planning laws and why we are increasing zoned land. We really need all our councils to get on board here right across the country and zone more land. I appeal to all political parties to assist in that. It is why we are rolling out unprecedented levels of funding for infrastructure, such as water and energy. It is why we are strengthening the Land Development Agency's powers. It is why we have brought in some of the strongest tenancy protections in Europe. It is why we are cutting the VAT rate to activate apartment building, and we are seeing some positive signs in relation to that. We have a hell of a lot more to do. Objectively, the figures that we see show progress in relation to housing supply. We have got to drive that on throughout 2026.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19