Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-05-19 ============================================================ Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central No, I am sorry; the Deputy cannot have it both ways. We need to have a settled landscape out to the next decade or so in terms of the investment side of the equation to get more in. The bottom line is 36,000 homes were delivered last year, which is the highest since records began and up 20% on 2024. A total of 38,000 new dwellings were completed in the 12 months ending quarter 1 of 2026, which is an increase of 26 year on year. Since 2020, about 177,000 units have been built. Planning momentum is very strong, with 8,000 permission in quarter 4 of 2025, which is up by close to 20%. Some 20,000 houses were granted permission in 2025, which is the highest number since 2009, and there were 8,400 commencement notices in quarter 1 of 2026, which is up 184% year on year. Real dwelling investment is up 19.4% in the first three quarters of 2025. Construction employment was at 191,900 at the end of 2025. That is up 30% since 2019 and 12% year on year. The HBFI loan book grew 25% in 2025. We allocated €1 billion to the housing infrastructure investment fund. Residential planning permissions in Dublin exceed 78,000 units. Some 24,246 apartments are under construction or on active sites across Dublin. There were 50 new schemes active during quarter 1 of this year alone. In total, 31,936 homes were either built or under construction across 202 active sites in quarter 1 of 2026. That is evidence of very significant momentum within the housing area and supply is the key. On social, affordable----- --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-19/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-19