Residential Property Market: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2021-05-11
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Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal

I move amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:
“notes that the highest ever budget for housing in the history of the State was made available in 2021, with €3.3 billion in funding;
accepts that there is an overall need to protect pathways to home ownership;
further notes that the Government is bringing forward significant amounts of new social housing supply, with an intention to provide 50,000 new social housing dwellings over the next five years, with substantial levels of Exchequer funding required to meet that commitment;
welcomes the significant progress in tackling homelessness with a 38.6 per cent drop in family homelessness and an 18.6 per cent drop in overall homeless numbers;
notes the positive impact of the 2020 Voids Stimulus Programme in bringing 3,600 units back into use and further plans for 3,000 units this year to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on social housing construction;
acknowledges that the Government is committed to improving the supply of housing and affordability for first-time buyers and has brought forward significant measures already in the Affordable Housing Bill 2020 and the Land Development Agency Bill 2021;
recognises that the Housing Need Demand Assessment completed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and informed by the Economic and Social Research Institute research, demonstrates a need to ramp up housing supply to at least 33,000 new units per year over the next ten years, across social, affordable/Cost Rental, private rental and private ownership areas funded by subvention by the State and private sector;
estimates the total cost of meeting housing requirements of some 350,000 units over the next decade at over €120 billion over the next ten years;
notes that the Government is:
— bringing forward three new schemes under the Affordable Housing Bill 2020, to meet the requirements of those who require more affordable housing, including a new Cost Rental tenure type;
— bringing forward measures to increase the contribution under Part V of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 from 10 per cent to 20 per cent for social housing, to include affordable and Cost Rental housing, which will be tabled at Committee Stage of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020;
— enabling the use of public land for the provision of housing through the Land Development Agency, with funding available of €1.25 billion and a similar level of borrowing allowed; and
— enabling small and medium housing developers through the Home Building Finance Ireland agency, with funding of €730 million available, of which €395 million has already been committed;
believes that viability in urban cores is a concern and is an area where there is scope for investment funds to play an important role in terms of forward purchasing of developments for sale or for rent;
and furthermore, notes that:
— to date, investment funds are a very small part of the overall housing market, holding less than 1 per cent of overall housing stock and 5 per cent of all tenancies;
— any combination of planning and taxation measures to support home ownership in lower density type developments must be balanced and proportionate, while cognisant of ongoing viability issues in the housing sector; and
— the Government is committed to bringing forward, as a matter of urgency, appropriate solutions through a mix of planning and taxation or related measures to ensure that the pathway to home ownership is protected in low density suburban developments and enabled in high density apartment developments."
I am pleased to speak on behalf of the Government. At the heart of my approach to housing is a simple argument that owning a home is good for individuals, families, communities and our country. It rests on a fundamental belief that persons earning a decent wage should be able to buy their own home. What happened in Maynooth last week was unacceptable. It flies in the face of that core Government policy and belief. It offends our shared sense of fairness that if one works hard, one should have something to show for it.
Our democracy is founded on the idea that our children can do better that us, just as our parents hoped for. We need a housing system that reflects this. I assure renters, those saving now for deposits and adults living at home with their parents - whom I have spoken about on many occasions since taking over as Minister - that the Government is taking action to stop this from happening. In opposition I brought forward legislation in this regard and flagged the matter as recently as April. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and I are reviewing options right now to make a real, positive impact in this space and together we will bring forward measures on behalf of Government to address this issue.
Over the past ten months, the Government has brought forward the largest housing budget on record and the most ambitious targets in the history of the State. These included €3.3 billion for housing alone and 9,500 new build social homes as part of a programme to build 50,000 new social homes over the term of this Government. The Government is the largest builder and player in this State in relation to the provision of homes. By the summer, we will have passed two major Bills, the affordable housing Bill and Land Development Agency Bill, both of which will put home ownership at the centre of the solution to our housing crisis. These are specific measures to help generation rent become a generation of people who can afford their own home at an affordable rate. These are real measures and policies, not empty rhetoric.
In July, the new Housing for All plan will lay out a comprehensive new vision for affordable homes as part of our overall housing strategy. We are levelling the playing field for first-time buyers to give working people a real chance to realise their dream of home ownership.
In contrast, the Sinn Féin Party, which has brought forward this motion, is pretending to be a friend of first-time buyers when everything it does points to the contrary. Its cigarette box affordable housing scheme excludes a nurse and garda on average income and comes with a major catch, which is that people do not own their homes at the end. Today Sinn Féin even attempted further delay by filibustering the affordable housing Bill at committee, which is landmark legislation that will be a leap forward in tackling the housing crisis. It is the most comprehensive legislation for affordable housing and from day one, Sinn Féin has tried to delay its progress and stop it in its tracks.
I will not abandon first-time buyers or use them as a political pawn like the Sinn Féin Party does.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-05-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:16+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-05-11