As the Deputy stated, the Housing for All strategy delivers on a programme for Government commitment to step up housing supply and put affordability back at the heart of the housing system with an ambitious target of 300,000 homes over the next decade for social, affordable, cost rental, private rental and private ownership housing. Measures to deliver this housing are supported by over €4 billion in funding annually, representing the highest ever level of Government investment in building social or affordable home…

This is kind of a different question but it is related. I agree with the Deputy on that. We have discussed this, and the review of the social housing limits is under way. We intend to publish that shortly. On affordable homes in Monaghan in particular, early delivery of affordable housing will arise from previously approved serviced sites funding of local authority schemes where construction has commenced. In the new year the first homes scheme, which will also be in place and which will apply to Monaghan, will beg…

I do not disagree with the Deputy on that. If we go back to social housing, our Housing for All plan will ensure that we have an average of over 10,000 new homes built across the country each year, including in Monaghan. It is important that we are tackling our social housing waiting list there. On the provision of affordable homes, we passed the Affordable Housing Act 2021 before the summer recess. It was supported by Sinn Féin, and we are grateful for that. The Act is the most comprehensive affordable housing leg…

I thank Deputy Bacik for introducing the Private Members' Bill. It is her first Bill since she was elected in the by-election and I congratulate her on it. I thank her for bringing it forward. It gives me an opportunity to reflect on a number of the issues that have been touched on during this morning's debate. Everyone can agree there is a need to ensure the residential sector is an attractive option for tenants and landlords. We need a sustainable and adequate supply of homes to rent to meet current and future de…

There are different approaches in other jurisdictions. All these elements serve to improve the sector but all of us know that increased supply is crucial because the market is constrained. We must also continue to push the cost rental model, which I know the Labour Party supports and supported when it was last in government. I thank the Deputies for the legislation. I have tried to address as many points from the Members opposite as I could.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." If the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will indulge me for 20 seconds, I have been made aware of comments made during today's Order of Business, and I would like to clarify that the remarks I made about the first home shared equity scheme relate to an aspect of the scheme that was informed by engagement with the Central Bank of Ireland. The scheme is being designed as an equity product rather than being a debt on the purchaser, which is important. I have consistently made th…

That will be on Committee Stage. It is comprehensive legislation and has gone through pre-legislative scrutiny.

I would be more than happy to read through each of the sections.

To be fair-----

Deputy Boyd Barrett sits on the committee so he is more than welcome to come forward on Committee Stage.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Chathaoirleach. I thank all or most Senators for their contributions this afternoon. I thank Senator Boyhan for his amendment. It is well-researched and he has put forward an argument. He has gone through it and it is based on fact unlike a couple of the other contributions that supported his amendment. I know from the Senator and from the work he has done and continues to do in the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage that he feels very strongly about housing deli…

I must leave the debate to attend a Cabinet sub-committee meeting.

My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is coming in.

I thank the Senators. As the Chair has outlined, I am just reporting on amendments made in the Dáil. Amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 3 relate to section 6 of the Bill, which allows local authorities to enter arrangements with specific bodies for the provision of affordable homes. I previously accepted a Seanad amendment to subsection 6(4) to refer to the long-term sustainability of diverse communities, including the intergenerational sustainability of urban communities. The Government amendment — No. 3 — to section 6(4), …

No, we have a fair bit to get through. I appreciate that everyone is working on this co-operatively throughout. I might just come back in my closing remarks.

Amendments Nos. 4 and 5 relate to consequential amendments. Amendment No. 4 deletes the previous section 26. Section 26 contained three amendments to Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000. My amendments Nos. 8 to 12, inclusive, insert a new Part 6 into the Bill containing a number of amendments to Part V of the 2000 Act. As such, the three amendments that were in section 26 have been moved to the new Part 6. On amendment No. 5, section 10 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 is the general p…

I thank colleagues for their comments. Cost rental is incredibly important. Like Senator Fitzpatrick, I also want to see it scaled up massively. This is a start. We wanted proof of concept and that is why the first 25 units were so important. We will have eight schemes across the country in the coming months. I would always encourage all Members to use their influence with the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform because the more resources I get, the more of this we can do.

The amendments concern cost-rental provisions. Amendment No. 6 will insert language to illustrate matters that, under section 33, the Minister may prescribe as mandatory terms in every cost-rental tenancy agreement. As with social housing, it will not be the Minister who is the landlord for cost rental. However, the power to prescribe mandatory terms in tenancy agreements will allow the Minister to ensure there are common standards throughout the sector. It is our intention that there will be only one cost-rental s…

I intend to have the regulations for cost rental published in three to four weeks. As we explained in the Dáil, the reason for having regulations for cost rental and affordable purchase is they will be easier to change as opposed to primary legislation. I envisage there will be changes as we roll out the scheme and as we see how it works. We will go on a net-income basis, which will be sufficiently high to take in low- and medium-income families and individuals, the cohorts we are targeting. That is why there is no…

These amendments relate to Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000. During the Second Stage debate, I flagged that these amendments, whose purpose is to expand the use of Part V in accordance with the programme for Government commitment, would be added to the Bill, to include the provision of affordable housing on top of the protection of the 10% social housing, during its passage through the Dáil. The changes we are making to Part V entail a number of amendments to sections 93 to 97, inclusive, of the 2000…