I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion on housing. On Tuesday, 21 May 2024, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 80(2), that division must be taken now.
Housing Situation: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy Eoin Ó Broin on Tuesday, 21 May 2024:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
- the most recent Central Statistics Office report stated that in the past year house prices have continued to skyrocket, rising by more than 7 per cent Statewide;
- across the State, first-time buyers now face an average price of €400,000 to buy a new-build home;
- the rate of home ownership has fallen to its lowest level in 50 years under this Government, as house prices and rents continue surging out of control;
- the number of new homes coming onto the market for people to buy and own fell last year and has flatlined under this Government;
- investment companies and vulture funds are hoovering up properties to rent out at extortionate prices which is making the situation worse; and
- the Tánaiste made a personal promise and a commitment to the electorate that if they got into Government he would deliver 50,000 affordable houses at prices that would be less than €250,000;
further notes:
- warnings from trade unions that the housing and affordability crisis is threatening our public services, with teachers, nurses and Gardaí unable to find affordable accommodation in cities, towns and villages across the State; and
- similar warnings from employer representative groups that the housing crisis is undermining our economy and that many employers are finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain staff due to a lack of affordable housing;
condemns this Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government for delivering zero affordable homes to rent or buy in 2020 and 2021 and missing their inadequate affordable housing targets in 2022 and 2023;
agrees that people need a Government that will deliver homes that people can afford, and that will take on the vulture funds, the big landlords and the vested interests that are making the housing crisis worse; and
calls for:
- a radical reset of Government housing policy; and
- at least a doubling of output in the number of affordable homes to buy and rent.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"notes:
- that Housing for All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland, now in its third year of implementation, sets out a comprehensive suite of actions aimed at addressing affordability in the housing sector and that supply, which is critical to achieving this, has increased significantly since its publication in September 2021;
- that almost 33,000 new homes were built in 2023 alone, more than 109,000 new homes have been built between 2020 and the end of Q1 2024;
- that in the first quarter of 2024 11,956 new homes commenced, a 63 per cent increase on the same period in 2023 and the highest number of quarter 1 commencements since the data series began in 2015;
- with more than 18,000 new homes commenced in April, some 53,000 homes have started on site in the year to the end of April, with approximately 350 units starting on site every working day so far this year;
- a likelihood that the substantial uplift in delivery in 2022 and 2023 will be sustained this year and that a there is a robust new home supply pipeline for 2025 and 2026, underpinned by rebounding planning permissions in 2023 and an extraordinary surge in commencements between January and April this year on the back of the Government's development levy waiver; and
- that the Government is providing €5.1 billion capital investment in 2024, the highest level of funding for housing in the history of the State, to accelerate the delivery of new homes and increase the supply necessary to reduce homelessness and moderate house and rental prices;
further notes:
- that the number of market purchases of new homes by households has increased year-on-year, from 38,000 in 2020 to more than 53,000 in 2023, with the share of purchases also increasing from 76 per cent to 80 per cent in that period;
- that the number of homes purchased by first-time buyers has increased from 12,644 or 25 per cent of all market purchases in 2020, to 17,435 or 28 per cent in 2023;
- at the same time, the increase in the share of market purchases by households, and in particular first-time buyers, is mirrored by a decrease in the share of such purchases by non-households from 24 per cent to 20 per cent over that timeframe;
- strong first-time buyer activity reflected in mortgage approval and mortgage drawdown activity in 2023 and 2024 to date, with recent Banking and Payment Federation of Ireland data suggesting there were more than 30,400 first-time buyer approvals in 2023, this is an increase of 9 per cent on the previous year;
- more than 6,400 mortgage applications approved for first-time buyers in Q1 2024, with the number of approvals in the 12 months to end-March 2024 showing an 8 per cent increase on the previous year;
- record growth in mortgage drawdowns by first-time buyers in 2023, with some 25,600 mortgages drawdown in the period, the highest annual level since 2007, this represented some 500 first time buyer drawdowns every week in 2023;
- that mortgage drawdowns to year end-March 2024 exceeded 25,000, remaining broadly on a par with drawdowns by first-time buyers in the previous 12-month period;
- the introduction of measures in 2021 to disincentivise the inappropriate bulk purchasing of new homes by investment funds, including a higher 10 per cent stamp rate for certain bulk purchases of residential properties and planning guidelines to restrict the bulk purchase of houses for planning applications lodged following their introduction in May 2021; and
- that between May 2021 and December 2023 planning permissions for some 40,827 new homes had the new 'owner-occupier' guarantee attached, restricting bulk buying by, or multiple sales to, a single purchaser;
recognises that an increased delivery of affordable homes is at the heart of Housing for All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland and welcomes that:
- over 4,000 affordable housing supports were delivered in 2023 via Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), local authorities, the Land Development Agency (LDA), through the First Home Scheme, the Cost Rental Tenant-in-Situ Scheme and the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant;
- this represents an increase of 128 per cent on 2022 activity, which saw the first affordable homes delivered in a generation;
- over 1,600 cost rental homes have already been delivered by AHBs, local authorities and the LDA;
- funding is approved to support the delivery of more than 4,000 affordable homes (affordable purchase and cost rental) by 21 local authorities with the support of over €332 million in grant assistance from the Affordable Housing Fund;
- over 4,000 approvals have been issued under the First Home Scheme since launch, assisting first time buyers to purchase a new home in the private market more affordably; and
- over 7,800 Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant applications have been made, with over 4,667 already approved and over 320 grants issued to date; and based on current grant approvals and timelines to complete approved works, the set target of 4,000 by 2025 will be achieved in 2025;
condemns:
- Sinn Féin's opposition to home ownership schemes that have helped over 150,000 people into their first homes to date namely: Help to Buy scheme, First Home Scheme and the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant; and
- the continued failure by Sinn Féin to publish a detailed, fully costed alternative housing plan; and
agrees that the continued implementation of Housing for All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland represents the most appropriate response to deal with the housing challenges which Ireland is now facing."
- (Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Alan Dillon)
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 61; Níl, 49; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burke, Colm.
- Burke, Peter.
- Cahill, Jackie.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Cannon, Ciarán.
- Costello, Patrick.
- Coveney, Simon.
- Creed, Michael.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Duffy, Francis Noel.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- English, Damien.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Flaherty, Joe.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Griffin, Brendan.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Humphreys, Heather.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Leddin, Brian.
- Madigan, Josepha.
- Martin, Catherine.
- Matthews, Steven.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McHugh, Joe.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Brien, Joe.
- O'Connor, James.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Donovan, Patrick.
- O'Dowd, Fergus.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Phelan, John Paul.
- Rabbitte, Anne.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Ring, Michael.
- Ryan, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Stanton, David.
- Troy, Robert.
- Varadkar, Leo.
Níl
- Andrews, Chris.
- Berry, Cathal.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Brady, John.
- Browne, Martin.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Cairns, Holly.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Daly, Pa.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Fitzpatrick, Peter.
- Funchion, Kathleen.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kenny, Gino.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Munster, Imelda.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Naughten, Denis.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Ryan, Patricia.
- Shanahan, Matt.
- Sherlock, Sean.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Smith, Duncan.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Tully, Pauline.
- Ward, Mark.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Hildegarde Naughton and Cormac Devlin; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Amendment declared carried.
Question put: "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 61; Níl, 50; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burke, Colm.
- Burke, Peter.
- Cahill, Jackie.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Cannon, Ciarán.
- Costello, Patrick.
- Coveney, Simon.
- Creed, Michael.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Duffy, Francis Noel.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- English, Damien.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Flaherty, Joe.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Griffin, Brendan.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Humphreys, Heather.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Leddin, Brian.
- Madigan, Josepha.
- Martin, Catherine.
- Matthews, Steven.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McHugh, Joe.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Brien, Joe.
- O'Connor, James.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Donovan, Patrick.
- O'Dowd, Fergus.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- Ó Cathasaigh, Marc.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Phelan, John Paul.
- Rabbitte, Anne.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Ring, Michael.
- Ryan, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Stanton, David.
- Troy, Robert.
- Varadkar, Leo.
Níl
- Andrews, Chris.
- Barry, Mick.
- Berry, Cathal.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Brady, John.
- Browne, Martin.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Cairns, Holly.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Daly, Pa.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Fitzpatrick, Peter.
- Funchion, Kathleen.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Kenny, Gino.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Munster, Imelda.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Naughten, Denis.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Ryan, Patricia.
- Shanahan, Matt.
- Sherlock, Sean.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Smith, Duncan.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Tully, Pauline.
- Ward, Mark.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Hildegarde Naughton and Cormac Devlin; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Question declared carried.