Eoin Ó Broin
Ceist:1. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to explain why he missed all of his affordable housing targets in 2023. [15880/24]
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Housing Provision
For the fourth year since the Minister has taken office, he has missed all his affordable housing targets - every single one - and missed them very significantly. Of course, these targets were not sufficient in the first place. Will he explain to the House and, more importantly, to those people desperate to rent or buy homes affordably why he has missed those targets and what he will do this year to ensure not only that the targets he has set will be met but that they will be increased?
I welcome and congratulate the Minister of State, Alan Dillon, on his appointment to the Department. Alan has a specific and detailed interest in housing, and I look forward to working with him, as I am sure colleagues across the House do.
I thank Deputy Ó Broin for the question. As he knows, under Housing for All, which is the plan that we have actually published, that is fully funded and that is working and taking hold right across the country, we have targeted 54,000 affordable homes to be delivered by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the LDA and through the first home scheme, a number of measures that he and his party oppose. We will get to that later. The plan sets ambitious targets, coming from a base of zero. We had no affordable homes delivered in any way for a ten-year period. Now we see first-time buyers buying homes and drawing down mortgages at a rate of about 500 a week, the highest since 2006. In 2023, more than 4,000 affordable housing supports were delivered for people, up from 1,757 in the previous year. While that did not meet the target, it is a very significant jump in activity, a 128% increase.
I will give the Deputy one example. We have had in excess of 9,000 registrations for the first home scheme, which he rails against. Thousands of households now are able to buy their homes and have done so because of the scheme, which Sinn Féin, the Deputy's party, opposes. It might also be useful to point out during the course of these discussions that a number of Sinn Féin's own Deputies have been putting parliamentary questions to me asking me to raise price ceilings and to amend the first home scheme, a scheme they oppose. It has been a real and effective support. I have met many of those homeowners, and we will do more on affordable housing again this year. Taking the first home scheme as an example of the delivery, we have seen activity in that space double in the first quarter of this year, which is very significant. That is coupled with the help-to-buy grant, which puts €30,000 of your tax back in your pocket. Some 44,000 households have availed of that, again a measure the Deputy's party opposes.
On affordable housing, and the Deputy is right to ask questions, I have seen nothing from Sinn Féin on alternatives. Our plan is taking hold and working.
To say the Minister's response is Orwellian would be an understatement. Let us look at the facts. As regards his affordable purchase scheme, the only Government scheme that delivers anything close to genuinely affordable homes, he missed his target last year by 63%. As regards the cost-rental scheme, he missed his target by 59%. As regards the first home scheme, which he has lauded, he missed the target by 44%. He promised 2,000 home purchases with that highly controversial, high-risk scheme last year; there were only 1,000. His claim that 4,000 households received supports is just not true because, in fact, the way he has presented the figures to the public is deeply dishonest and does not reflect actual purchases, only approvals. Even as regards his vacant property refurbishment grant, which he says will tackle vacancy, he was short his target by 83%, and the target was only 600 homes.
My question, then, if the Minister is brave enough and honest enough to answer it, is as follows. The schemes for which he is directly responsible have all missed their targets. As a consequence, rents and house prices are rising and young people are locked out and emigrating. I ask the Minister to answer the question. Why has he missed his targets, and what will he do to meet them this year?
I am very happy to stand over our plan, its delivery and its record. That stands in sharp contrast to Sinn Féin's lack of a plan and its lack of alternatives in this space. It has never produced or costed a housing plan. Take the vacant property grant. The Deputy says he is not opposed to it, but he allocated no moneys to it whatsoever in the Sinn Féin alternative budget. To use an example of that, the figures are 7,362 applications to that scheme, 4,253 applications approved and up to €70,000 in grants. If you meet the homeowners who have been able to avail of that grant, you will see that it is making a real difference, and they cannot understand why the Deputy and his party would remove such a measure that works so well. In his response to me, therefore, he might explain to me what Sinn Féin's new vacant property grant looks like. All I can discern from it is that Sinn Féin would get the local authorities to buy the properties and it would sell them back into the market with some criteria and conditions attached à la the buy-and-renew scheme, not this scheme at all.
Of course, the Minister is deliberately misrepresenting not only his failure to meet his own targets but also our party's policy. If people want to know Sinn Féin's policy, they can read it on the website. This is questions to the Minister. He can laugh, but the only affordable housing in my local authority last year was homes to purchase for €400,000-plus. As regards affordable rental in my constituency, it is €1,400 for a one-bed and €1,800 for a three-bed. The Minister might think this is funny, but for hardworking people desperate to buy or rent an affordable home, he made a promise and, year on year, he has broken that promise and missed his targets.
With respect to the vacant property refurbishment grant, approvals are no use; it is about drawdowns. When we in the Opposition talk to the people who are approved, what they tell all of us is that the scheme is badly designed. They cannot access the money and it is not doing what the Minister says it is doing.
I ask him the questions again. Will he explain why he missed his affordable purchase targets by 62%, his cost-rental target by 59% and his controversial, high-risk first home scheme target by 44%? He should answer the questions and stop misrepresenting his failures and our alternatives.
I am not misrepresenting anything. What I am doing is presenting real progress. We had no affordable homes here. First-time buyers are buying at a rate we have not seen since 2006. I and this Government believe in homeownership; you do not.
It is falling under your watch.
But you actually do not, Eoin.
Homeownership is falling under your watch.
A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I did not interrupt once.
You might speak through the Chair. It might be easier.
It might be easier. Take the local authority affordable purchase scheme. More than 4,000 affordable homes have been approved under that scheme already.
Sixteen hundred-----
How many have been delivered, Minister? Delivery.
Please let the Minister respond.
People cannot live on an approval.
Deputy, please.
Sixteen hundred. To give you an example, Eoin, just in the past few weeks, 1,243 affordable purchase homes were advertised in Carlow, Cork city and county, Fingal, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Louth, Meath, Limerick, South Dublin - your own area, Waterford, Westmeath and Wicklow. It is taking hold and it does take time to build capacity.
Why are you missing your targets? That is the question.
People can clearly see-----
You are missing your targets. That is what they can see, Minister.
-----delivery on cost rental, for which we legislated and tenants are in place now.
Year on year, you are breaking your promises and missing your targets, Minister.
Deputy, please.
If that is the best you can do, it really is quite shocking.
Through the Chair, please.
The Minister does provoke.
If I could say, a Leas Cheann Comhairle, this is a tactic that Deputy Ó Broin regularly uses to try to talk me down. He will not.
Thank you, Minister.
He can try-----
No, Minister, we are way over time.
He can try to deny progress-----
No, Minister, we are way over time.
If you just answered the question, Minister, we would not have this problem.
Not only does he deny progress, he blocks progress.
Answer the question.
There are no measures whatsoever from Sinn Féin, no plan and no money.
I am now standing up, which I rarely do. Please. I rarely do it. Tá mé ag bogadh ar aghaidh go dtí an chéad cheist eile ar sonraíodh uain dó in ainm an Teachta Ivana Bacik.
Housing Policy
Ivana Bacik
Ceist:2. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on the adequacy of Housing for All building targets; when revised targets will be published; his plans to speed up delivery of housing in line with established need; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15950/24]
Will the Minister for housing make a statement on the adequacy of Housing for All building targets, when revised targets will be published and his plans to speed up delivery of housing in line with established need? The question relates again to targets, but this time to the need for greater ambition and urgency on targets for delivery of homes.
Housing for All commits to delivering an average of 33,000 homes annually, rising to more than 40,000 by 2030. These targets are based on independent, peer-reviewed research and modelling by the ESRI. They are the only housing targets underpinned by such a robust evidence base. That said, it was always intended to review these targets, particularly in light of census 2022. The review has commenced, work is well advanced and refreshed targets will be agreed by Government and published this autumn. The revised targets will also be underpinned by research and modelling by the ESRI. They will take into account population growth, including migration; updated assumptions regarding housing obsolescence rates and household sizes, with smaller household sizes meaning more housing is required; and, as with the current targets, unmet or existing demand.
The Government has introduced a range of measures to support increased delivery, including Project Tosaigh and the secure tenancy affordable rental scheme, scrapping development levies and extending the value and coverage of the vacant property refurbishment grant. While significant uplift in supply this year and last shows we are clearly on the right track, we will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these and other supply-oriented measures to ensure they can deliver the quantum of supply needed, including in relation to any increased targets agreed by Government later this year.
Before I respond, I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, on his appointment. I note that this is, I think, the third Minister of State with responsibility for planning in the lifetime of this Government. It is perhaps not such a positive sign with such a big planning Bill going through Committee Stage currently to see this changeover, but I wish the Minister of State well personally.
I express my disappointment at the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan's announcement - I think I heard it right - that it will be this autumn before we see those revised targets published. That is extraordinary. The Government has accepted for some time now that the existing targets are simply too low. To tell us now that the revised targets will not be published until this autumn shows the lack of ambition and urgency in the Government. We know that the target of 33,000, first of all, is unlikely to be reached, with housing output likely to fall this year and the existing target being at risk, according to BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland, but we also know the target itself is way too low. The Housing Commission says Ireland may need up to 62,000 homes per year, and the incoming Taoiseach announced that 50,000 homes per year would be needed for the next five years.
We are over time. The Minister of State to respond, please.
I join the Deputy in welcoming, Deputy Dillon, our new colleague as Minister of State. The planning Bill is progressing well. The Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, will join us in progressing that important legislation through the Dáil.
The targets for 2024 will be met. By all accounts, they will be exceeded. Commencements are at a record high. If you look at the trajectory of Housing for All over the past four years, as the Minister said, it has taken time to build up capacity, which is now delivering. That is why the Government is committed to this review, underpinned by evidence with support and research by the ESRI, to ensure we are building the right kind of housing in the right place, the right quantum and the right type of housing mix and tenure types. We anticipate that the final agreed targets, with tenure-specific targets for social, affordable, private rented and owner occupation, will be published thereafter this autumn. It is important to underpin this work with evidence-based research. That is what we are doing, in partnership with the ESRI.
People are crying out for speeded-up delivery of new homes. Every time any of us go out and meet people at any point, that is all we hear. It is across communities and multi-generational. It is the civil rights issue of our times. The Government is not going to publish revised targets until the autumn, when the incoming Taoiseach announced at the Ard-Fheis on Saturday that 250,000 homes would need to be built over the next five years, an absolutely clear acceptance of the need for increased targets. It simply does not sound as if this Government is approaching the need for increased delivery with the necessary urgency when it says it will not publish the revised targets until the autumn. Six months ago, the then Taoiseach conceded to me in the House that the targets were too low and that revisions would be needed. We understood they would be published earlier this year. We hear from different private sector and State entities that the Government will struggle to hit existing targets, yet it is not willing to increase targets with any sense of urgency. We in the Labour Party put forward sensible, constructive proposals as recently as 6 March when we tabled a motion, which the Government did not even oppose, on how delivery can be increased. It is so badly needed.
The Deputy will appreciate that we have to use an evidence-based approach, including looking at population growth, net inward migration, assumptions regarding housing obsolescence rates and household sizes, as informed by census data. Housing output went from 20,000 in 2021 to 34,000 this year. The Deputy will have to agree that is a significant trajectory upwards. That trajectory will continue. We cannot put a figure on it until we understand and delve into the research carried out by the ESRI. Targets are being bandied about of 50,000, 60,000 or 100,000 per annum, but it also requires capacity to be built into the system. We are looking at modern methods of construction and all of these elements combined. It is appropriate that we would be able to use this research to inform our decision-making and to inform and revise those targets in the autumn.
Homeless Accommodation
Eoin Ó Broin
Ceist:3. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage what he intends to do to address rising levels of homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15881/24]
The next question is from Deputy Ó Broin. Tríd an Chathaoir; through the Chair, please.
It is now a year since the Government took the disastrous decision to end the ban on no-fault evictions. At the time, we told the Government that if it did that without the appropriate supports and prevention measures being in place, homelessness would rise month on month, as it has done. There has been a 13% increase in homelessness among people and a shocking 16% increase in homelessness among children. Almost 14,000 people, 4,000 of them children, under the Minister's watch, are in Department of housing-funded emergency accommodation. What is the Minister going to do to tackle this deteriorating homelessness crisis?
It remains the single most important challenge we face, no less so for those families and individuals who find themselves in emergency accommodation. Supporting those individuals and families is a priority. Critical to that support is enabling households to exit homelessness and increasing housing supply.
Almost 12,000 new social homes were delivered last year, a massive increase in social housing delivery. That was through Bills, acquisition and leasing, including 8,110 new-build social homes last year. By any fair assessment, that was a very good performance. That is the highest level of new-build social homes in about 50 years. If HAP and RAS are included, 21,733 social housing supports were provided last year. Record State investment of €5 billion has been made available this year to support the largest home building programme ever, including 9,300 new-build social homes.
The funding will also continue the support of the tenant in situ scheme. I remind the Deputy that last year we had a target of 200 acquisitions.
We increased that to 1,500 and last year there were 1,830 concluded sales for insecure tenancies. Those homes were purchased and converted to social housing tenancies. It is a good scheme, which is working and we will continue it into this year as it is an important preventative measure.
In budget 2024 we allocated €242 million for the delivery of homeless services and the funding will continue to support the provision of emergency accommodation and the related support we need. Fundamentally, we need to continue to increase our supply of permanent solutions. Thankfully, I have met families and households who are now in their permanent, safe, secure social homes because of the increase in funding. Homelessness remains a challenge, unquestionably so, and we need to increase the supply.
There are challenges in the private rental sector, which I will return to in my reply to the supplementary question.
How is it possible at a time of rising social housing output that homelessness is also rising? The answer is simple. The targets the Government has set in its plan are too low and it is not meeting those targets. The Minister is correct that just over 8,000 new-build social homes were delivered last year, which is 1,000 short of the Government's target. When you look at the total number of new-build social homes the Minister promised to deliver since taking office, the number of homes he has not delivered is 9,527. How many families with children and single people who will be in emergency accommodation tonight would not be in emergency accommodation if he had kept his promise? He cannot do so. He breaks every promise he makes on social and affordable housing. Again, he did not answer the question. The clear question is this: given that homelessness is rising month on month, what will the Minister do for the people in emergency accommodation? Exits are still lower than the number of people going in. How will he ensure the Government not only meets its targets this year, for the first time since he became Minister with responsibility for social housing, but actually increases the targets, not in the autumn, but now to meet need?
I put it to the Deputy that many others would be in social homes right now if his party and colleagues had not continually objected to housing right across the country. The Deputy shares responsibility for that with Sinn Féin Deputies and councillors across the country.
To be specific on exits, since 2022, some 5,524 adults were assisted to exit local authority emergency accommodation and 6,802 adults were prevented from becoming homeless. There are many reasons that the numbers in homelessness have increased. It is a complex issue. The reasons include family break-up - it is true - the private rental sector, new arrivals and a growing population, but we will not be diverted from the measures we are taking to increase housing supply. We will continue the tenant in situ scheme this year which is working well and we will look at other supports, especially around exits for people and families who have been in emergency accommodation longer than we would like. There will be a focus in local authorities on exiting larger families in particular into permanent homes. We are working that through right now.
When the Minister's period of office comes to an end, he will be remembered for one thing and one thing only: presiding over the single largest increase in single, family and child homelessness in modern history. There is only one reason people become homeless: a failure of the State to ensure an adequate supply of social and affordable homes to meet the needs of households in crisis. In fact, one of the figures the Government released in its information dump on Holy Thursday demonstrated that he is the first Minister since 2016 to preside over an increase in the number of households on local authority housing waiting lists. What the Minister is doing is not working. It is quite shocking to suggest that there are many reasons for homelessness and somehow try to displace the blame for homelessness onto the people his policies are failing.
I will ask the question again, but the Minister will refuse to answer and will divert and deflect. What will he do to meet social housing targets this year? When will he increase them? What will he do to bring an end to month-on-month rises in the shocking level of adult, child, single and pensioner homelessness?
Right now, as I speak, approximately 26,000 social homes are at various different stages of construction in the pipeline. That is because the State, through Housing for All, has a multiannual, fully funded plan that will invest €5 billion in housing this year. Deputy Ó Broin likes to play ducks and drakes with facts. He knows that the reason social housing waiting lists have gone up slightly is that we broadened the eligibility criteria and increased the income bands to allow more people to apply for social homes, something the Deputy has been calling for. If we broaden the eligibility criteria, does he expect to see a decrease in the number of people applying for social homes? The Deputy likes to twist the facts on that. That is fine. This year, we will deliver more new social homes than we have ever done before. We have a very strong pipeline-----
And yet homelessness will rise.
-----focusing on exiting people from homelessness, for which I have already given figures. We are already doing that. We will continue to do so during the course of this year. We are now seeing thousands of social homes and, more important, thousands of people getting their permanent, secure, social homes because of the measures-----
The Minister for homelessness. That is what the Minister will be remembered as.
-----this Government is taking.
It is no smiling matter. Child homelessness is no smiling matter.
Deputy, please. You are making it impossible.
Do not try that again with me, Deputy.
We are over time, Minister. You are not going to-----
You are the Minister for homelessness.
Anyway, I will not get involved in this childish back and forth with Deputy Ó Broin.
Why would he answer a question about rising homelessness under his watch? What would he do that?
Deputy.
Shame on you.
Deputy, please.
Apologies, Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
Stop it. He is being ridiculous.
We could go with the apology and have a change as well from both sides. I would appreciate that.
I do not think we can apportion blame for the conduct of questions this morning.
We are not going to do blame, please. Tá mé ag bogadh-----
Blame for homelessness is much more significant. I am expressing the anger of the people the Minister is failing.
You just apologised.
I apologised to you, Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
Housing Provision
Cian O'Callaghan
Ceist:4. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the introduction of a specific zoning for affordable housing will be considered by this Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15883/24]
First, I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, the best on his appointment. No doubt it is a proud moment for his family and community.
The new Taoiseach, Deputy Harris, has conceded that the Government's housing targets are completely insufficient and that at least 50,000 new homes are needed each year. The only possible way we will get 50,000 homes every year is to make housing more affordable. One of the ways we can do that is with a measure such as introducing affordable housing zoning to reduce the price of land and the cost of housing. Will the Government introduce affordable housing zoning?
Under section 10 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, planning authorities are required, when making a development plan for their area, to include objectives for the zoning of land for the use solely or primarily of particular areas for particular purposes, which can include residential purposes. Section 95 requires that sufficient and suitable land is zoned for residential use, or for a mixture of residential and other uses, to meet the requirements of the housing strategy. Section 96 provides that, where applicable, a condition of planning permission shall require an agreement to be entered into with the planning authority under Part V in relation to the provision of social and affordable housing.
This approach, which is also reflected in the Planning and Development Bill 2023, is the appropriate means to support the delivery of affordable housing through the statutory planning process. We have discussed this at length during the Committee Stage debate on the Bill. I appreciate the engagement of all Deputies on that extensive Bill, which is still being debated. It would not be appropriate to designate the housing type or tenure to be attached to residential zonings as it would restrict the delivery of the mix of tenures needed to meet the diverse housing needs of local communities and the ability of those developing affordable housing to respond to the range of supports available across the area covered by the plan. As we discussed previously, it is through the housing strategy that local authorities can determine the types and mixes of housing they require in their functional areas.
It is disappointing that the senior Minister, Deputy O'Brien, generally does not answer the smaller parties during these Oral Questions on housing. He only answers Sinn Féin and he has responsibility for these issues. It is not the responsibility of the Minister of State with responsibility for biodiversity, with respect.
Can I respond to that?
I will give time later.
I do answer questions regularly. Do not misrepresent it.
No, no.
It is regularly the junior Ministers who answer.
The Government has missed all its targets on affordable housing. In the last election campaign, Deputy Darragh O'Brien promised 10,000 affordable homes a year. Last year, only 499 affordable purchase homes were delivered. When Social Democrats councillors on Dublin City Council proposed affordable housing zoning, it was rejected on the basis that there is no national legislation to back it up. When I introduced an amendment to the Planning and Development Bill so that there would be national legislation to back it up, the Government voted it down. Affordable housing zoning could be used to designate, for example, agricultural land when it becomes available for housing in order that it would be predominantly for affordable housing. It would stop windfall profits for land speculators and make housing more affordable. How can the Minister possibly oppose such a measure in the middle of a housing crisis?
We are way over time.
First, the Minister and two Ministers of State share the duties for responding to questions in the House. That has always been the case and the way we manage these questions.
He always answers Sinn Féin and rarely us.
Deputy, please.
I do not think that is the case.
If he is feeling let down, I will make sure I answer the Deputy next time.
To reiterate, and this was debated extensively during Committee Stage of the planning Bill, it is the responsibility of local authorities and the planning authority, which is included in the development plan. Local authorities are required to develop a strategy for the provision of housing for the existing and future population of their area. Section 95 of the 2000 Act further requires:
... a planning authority shall ensure that sufficient and suitable land is zoned for residential use, or for a mixture of residential and other uses, to meet the requirements of the housing strategy and to ensure that a scarcity of such land does not occur at any time during the period of the development plan.
Obviously, under section 96, the development of housing under Part V of the Act is included as well. As I recall during the debate, the issue the Deputy is seeking to try to raise again through this question-----
I thank the Minister of State.
The purpose of land use zoning in the development plan is-----
The Minister of State will get a chance to come back in. We are way over time.
-----to indicate the development plan objectives of the planning authority. Therefore, again, the function lies back with the local authority.
In the previous election, the Minister of State's party, the Green Party, talked about the Vienna model of housing.
It even got a reference to the Vienna model of housing into the programme for Government.
We did.
Vienna is ranked as the most liveable city in the world. A person can rent a new-build two-bed affordable apartment in Vienna for €627 per month. In Dublin, the equivalent is €1,400 per month. How do they achieve this in Vienna? One of the ways and one of the tools they use is affordable housing zoning, which ensures that a continuous supply of land is available at affordable prices for affordable homes. In the middle of a housing crisis and an affordability crisis, how can the Minister of State possibly stand with land speculators and against people who are trying to buy a home? Why are the Minister of State and the Government blocking a measure being brought forward by the Social Democrats for more affordable housing?
I remind the Deputy that his party voted against the Affordable Housing Act 2021 and Land Development Agency Bill 2021.
We did so because the Government did not have these measures in it.
As I recall, we did put the Vienna model into the programme for Government, and rightly so. It is being delivered through the cost-rental approach that has been developed by the Government. That is going to deliver over time. To reiterate, the issue the Deputy has sought to bring in through the planning Bill and again through this question relates to the function of the local authority around land use zoning in the development plan, to the housing strategy that local authorities deliver on and to the need to ensure they have the right mix of housing in their local authority functional area. That is where the responsibility lies, and we believe that is the correct measure and approach to it.
Defective Building Materials
Eoin Ó Broin
Ceist:5. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on the growing concerns among impacted homeowners with the defective concrete block grant scheme. [15882/24]
It is clear that the defective concrete block grant scheme is failing miserably, and 1,300 people turning up in Inishowen to tell their lived experiences is an example of that. There were 500 people at a similar event in County Mayo in the last month. There are many issues with it. It is not 100% redress. Those who are trying to muddle through with this failed scheme are finding it really difficult. They know they need to access finance before works commence. I will ask again a question I have asked the Minister previously: will he amend the scheme to provide upfront payments to allow commencement of remediation or is he simply going to stick his head in the sand as he has done for the last number of months?
I reject completely the charge that we have stuck our heads in the sand. Let us deal with the issue itself, however. Deputy Doherty is aware that in June of last year, I commenced the enhanced scheme through the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022. I remind him that he and his party voted against that enhanced scheme, which would have left residents with a cap of €247,000 on grants instead of €420,000, and would not have included an additional rental property because the previous scheme did not. Therefore, it is the principal private residence plus one additional property. I will come back on a number of other issues. We will be reviewing that. Obviously, as we said, the 12-month review is built into the legislation, which this Government brought forward supported by many Deputies, but not by the Deputy and his colleagues in Sinn Féin.
Really, what is important here is helping residents. I know Deputy Doherty knows that because he is a TD in one of the affected areas. If I look at the trajectory with regard to applications for the Deputy's own county for argument's sake, we have received 1,515 applications to the scheme in Donegal. We received 64 in County Clare, 24 in County Limerick and 367 in County Mayo. The scheme is taking hold. We also have people on the ground through the housing agency to assist people. That needs to ramp up and it is ramping up.
If I look at homes under remediation at the moment, we have approximately 272 homes right now being remediated across the counties. I will give the Deputy the up-to-date figure in his own county of Donegal where we are looking at 129 being remediated, 43 of which are completed. I absolutely want to see that ramp up and increase. We have staged payments through the scheme, as the Deputy will know as well. There are a number of different stages. We are looking to see how we can improve the efficiency within that. However, my job is to help these homeowners to get their homes fixed and, most importantly, to get their lives back together. I have also engaged with them regularly through the implementation group. I am committed to making sure this scheme continues to work for people.
If the Minister or his Cabinet colleague had turned up to the public meeting, which was in his colleague's own back yard in Inishowen, he would have heard very clearly that this scheme is not working. Maybe then the Minister would take his head out of the sand. This scheme is not working. We voted against it because we voted for the amendments the campaigners wanted to make sure it would work. The Minister spoke about how some people are rebuilding their homes, and that is right. Again, I heard the lived experience of a family who have demolished their house. Do you know how much they have to put their hand in their own pocket for to pay to rebuild a house on which they already have a mortgage? They have to pay €100,000. That drives a horse and carriage through the Minister's pretence and guff that this is 100% redress; it is not. If the Minister listened to the real lived experience, he would understand that.
Now, I asked the Minister a specific question. The banks have come to the Government and said they will provide 0% interest because they know that this scheme is not working, and that people need working capital to start to rebuild their homes. The Minister is blocking that. For six months, he has had that proposal and he has not moved on it. I have all the documents from a freedom of information request right here in front of me. The Department of Finance told the Minister that the policy option here is for the Department itself to provide upfront costs. We have said that from day one. The Minister needs to provide upfront costs. Will he do it?
Deputy Doherty knows very well that his constituency colleague - the Minister, Deputy McConalogue - was on European business that evening. The Minister engages with me on a daily basis and advocates in a positive and constructive way for changes to the scheme. He actually made an input into the new scheme, unlike what Deputy Doherty did. I will remind the Deputy that I wrote to him, his party and his housing spokesperson, who is coming into the Chamber, asking for their input into the enhanced scheme. I did not receive one response, even though publicly Deputy Ó Broin said that he would respond and they would make an input into it. He never responded. I know that at the meeting - I got reports from the meeting as well - what he committed to that evening on behalf of his party is the same scheme that we have-----
That is-----
Absolutely not. That is rubbish.
-----proposed, which is for one property and one additional property. I know there was also much discussion around holiday homes and otherwise that evening. I want to make sure that the Deputy did not commit to it that evening either. The reality of it is that it is our job to make this scheme work. It is working for households. It needs to improve-----
You-----
As I said-----
Let the Minister finish, Deputy.
You do not have a clue.
I am sorry-----
I am sorry; I thought the time was up. I apologise, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
Excuse me for a second. I have said every scheme evolves and this scheme-----
Review it.
-----will be reviewed after the 12 months.
I thank the Minister.
We have upped the cap from €247,000 to €420,000. Sinn Féin opposed that. Let us be straight about that.
The Minister does not have a clue what is happening on the ground. If he or his colleague had turned up, they would know that. There were 1,300 people present, some of whom who could not get into the room and were out on the streets. That is what happened. This scheme is not working. We tabled 80 amendments to the Government's legislation to make this scheme work. Ours is 100% redress end-to-end where people would not have to build their homes on their own. It should be the same way that the pyrite scheme worked.
I put a question to the Minister. A proposal was put forward by the banks. The banks are actually emailing the Minister's Department to talk about the misery and distress that is happening with families because they are in touch with them. They are their customers. They want the Minister to provide either through the banks by 0% financing or with upfront costs. We have said from day one that the Minister should provide upfront costs. The Department of Finance wrote to the Minister in November of last year to say that the policy solution is to provide upfront costs. The Minister is so out of touch with this scheme. He does not have a clue about what is happening on the ground. He does not understand the misery or pain. He stands there and tries to tell me that this scheme is working. I know these people. Some of them are relations and neighbours of mine.
I thank the Deputy.
It is not working. The Minister needs to get his head out of the sand. It is a simple question.
We are over time.
Will he provide upfront costs as an immediate measure, which he was asked to do more than six months ago?
Hear, hear.
I thank the Deputy. The Minister to respond.
We have a number of staged payments through this scheme. What I was saying was that every scheme evolves, and we have evolved this scheme as it moves through on implementation.
It is going backwards.
The figures show we have 1,970 applications to the new scheme. I have given the Deputy the figures with regard to homes under remediation. I want to see those figures increase.
The proposal from the banks about 0% interest finance is with the Department of Finance. By the way, what has also been sought by the banks is a State guarantee on those loans. There can be ways to expedite the initial payments and the staged payments and we will absolutely look at that.
The Department of Finance told the Minister six months ago-----
Sorry, we will absolutely-----
It was six months ago.
A Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----
Through the Chair, please.
We will absolutely continue to look at that.
The work being done through the Housing Agency is very important in helping homeowners, first, apply to the scheme and, second, make sure the scheme works for them. When I inherited the scheme, it was a 90-10 model, with a grant amount of €247,000. It has been changed completely and we are seeing homeowners engage with it. Are there still concerns? Absolutely. Am I committed to working through those concerns? Yes, I am. I work through the concerns on a daily basis with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, to provide the supports for people. The Deputy has hurled from the ditch on this issue. When he voted against the scheme, he did not even respond-----
We are over time.
The Minister is living in cloud-cuckoo-land.
You opposed it, Pearse.
Cloud-cuckoo-land.