Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2025-06-10
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

Deputy Ó Broin will have a chance later. The fundamental objective is twofold: policy certainty and protection for renters and increased supply. I respect Deputy O'Callaghan's commitment and interest in this, but he and his party have been very weak on the supply side. All of its proposals over the past three years, cumulatively, would reduce supply and do nothing to increase it. We have a fundamental challenge as a society. We need 50,000 new houses per annum. We are at approximately 30,000. It might be higher this year; we do not know. It is 30,000 plus. Back in 2019, it was 20,000. State investment has largely brought it up to approximately 30,000 houses plus. We need significant private sector investment. The overall investment required is approximately €20 billion to get to 50,000. That will not be provided by the State alone. Institutional and pension funds have a role. The Deputy's party may say they do not. I do not see how else to get to 50,000 new units. He might call them vultures. That is part of the problem in the political narrative. It has undermined the entire debate on housing. Pension funds invest and the State invests and will invest more. We are investing at an unprecedented level, from a State point of view. If we look at the table, the majority of landlords or people who rent out are not institutional investors. In fact, over the past three or four years, there has been precious little institutional investment of the scale required. The vast majority are tenancies of four, three, two or one in the rental market. We need a more dynamic and sustainable rental market for the future. This package facilitates that and gives certainty to enable more investment in addition to keeping all those in the market at the moment. It cannot all be replaced by 100% State-constructed or State-rented housing. We do a lot on rent through the housing assistance payment, HAP, local authority rents and so on.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-06-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:00:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-06-10