There is a complete absence of any alternative from Sinn Féin, particularly in relation to first-time buyers. Deputy Ó Broin should go and tell the 42,500 households that have claimed the help-to-buy grant that they do not deserve it and that anyone applying for it does not deserve it. He should also tell it to the nearly 7,500 households who have registered and been approved for the first home scheme which will enable them to buy their own home. These are people who are stuck in a rental trap who are now able to o…

Yes, more restrained than they are usually.

The Deputy's party leader knows the developer.

I have met the residents and am happy to meet them again.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht na ceiste. Ar an gcéad dul síos, tá sé tábhachtach a rá go ndearna mé athrú ar dhlí pleanála i mí na Bealtaine 2021. Tá a fhios ag an Teachta faoi sin. Cosnaíonn an t-athrú sin tithe teaghlaigh do dhaoine aonair agus do theaghlaigh. Tá an t-athrú sin ag obair. Tá a fhios ag an Teachta faoi sin freisin. Tá coinníoll ar leith ag baint le 40,000 teach anois iad a dhíol ina n-aonar. Baineann an cheist seo le tithe a bhfuair cead sular athraigh mé an dlí. Tá a fhios ag an Teachta…

I am simply giving the facts-----

Relax, Thomas, for a second. I have given the facts. No one wants to see family homes being bulk purchased and that is why I made the planning changes. Whether the Deputy likes it or not those planning changes are working because 40,000 planning permissions are granted now with an owner-occupier guarantee on them, which means they cannot be sold on a bulk basis. That is working. Why are 600 first-time buyers a week able to buy properties and draw down their mortgages at the moment? The Deputy might answer that. The…

The State is investing €5 billion in housing this year. Every single measure we brought forward on housing Sinn Féin has opposed. It opposed the Land Development Agency. It opposed it right the way through.

We have actually. Whether Sinn Féin likes it or not commencements are up as are completions. We will exceed our target for 2023 as we did in 2022. There are still issues but this Government backs first-time buyers. All that Sinn Féin would do for first-time buyers is abolish every measure there to support them.

Then the Sinn Féin party leader comes up with this great plan of dropping every house price to €300,000. Deputy Louise O'Reilly was asked-----

-----on TV last week how would that be done. She huffed and puffed through that. No one has actually told me. The Deputy might use his time when he comes back in afterwards to explain to the House the Sinn Féin plan to drop house prices to €300,000, how it would work and how long it would take. The Deputy might explain that.

I must first reject the Deputy's assertion that in any way, shape or form we deal with housing in a flippant way. We certainly do not. We are very serious about it. This Government is investing more than any previous Government has in housing. We brought forward measures to help in housing. I would also say to the Deputy that while people do travel perhaps the Deputy has read about the housing situation in Australia and the cost of housing and rents in Australia. It is far worse than here. Some 30,000 Irish citizen…

-----and private homes as well.

Then the Social Democrats also say they want us to build on State land. We are building on State land.

When we brought forward the Land Development Agency Act what did the Social Democrats do? They voted against that as well. They voted against the Affordable Housing Act. They voted against the Land Development Agency Act. Consider the first-time buyers that the Social Democrats purport to want to represent. They opposed the help-to-buy grant, they opposed the first home scheme-----

We are bringing forward measures that are actually working and it takes time to turn housing around. Consider where we are with completions. Since we have taken over and since this coalition has come into government, by the end of 2023 we had built more than 100,000 new homes in this country. There are still stresses and demands there, unquestionably, and that is why we need to increase supply across all tenures. This is why last year we built more new social homes than Ireland has done in 50 years and affordable h…

The voting record speaks for itself. I still await the Social Democrats' housing policy or housing plan as to what they would do differently.

The reality is that we back first-time buyers and we back renters. We brought in the renters' tax credit as well to help defray the costs there. The rental market is far from perfect. I know that. On bulk purchase the Deputies will also know - as I have explained to Deputy Doherty earlier - that we have changed the planning law from May 2021. More than 40,000 homes now have the owner-occupier guarantee in place. That is there. It is a legacy issue that about 1% of properties have been purchased in that way and the …

The record shows.

Is Deputy Cairns saying 54,000 affordable homes in one year?