Housing Policy: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]

The following motion was moved by Deputy Conor Sheehan on Wednesday, 12 Feburary 2025:

That Dáil Éireann:

recalls that:

— under Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland, the failed housing plan of the last Government, a target of 33,450 new homes were projected for 2024 but only 30,030 homes were built, a decrease of 6.7 per cent on 2023, while the construction of new apartments fell by almost a quarter;

— the former Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage told the Dáil in October 2024 "I have consistently said we will exceed that target. I still confidently predict … that it will be the high 30,000s to low 40,000s this year. There will be record completions in the last quarter of this year"; and

— the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both repeatedly claimed in advance of, and throughout, the general election campaign that up to 40,000 homes would be built in 2024;

recognises that:

— there is broad agreement that at least 50,000 new homes a year must be built, but there is fundamental disagreement on the policies necessary to achieve that; and

— unless there is radical change to the existing housing plan and the commitments in the Programme for Government, nowhere near 41,000 new homes will be delivered in 2025, or higher figures in the years to follow;

notes that:

— the Housing Commission report stated a "radical strategic reset" of housing policy is required to solve the current crisis;

— Ireland currently has a shortfall of at least 250,000 homes and the Housing Commission research has outlined how Ireland may require up to 62,000 new homes per year up to 2050, while recent estimates suggest we will require more than 90,000 per year to address the housing shortfall;

— in the past year alone, house prices have risen by almost 10 per cent, while rent prices have risen by 8 per cent, and since the introduction of Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland in September 2021, both have risen by more than a quarter;

— nearly 70 per cent of 25-year-olds in Ireland are stuck living at home with their parents;

— the number of people accessing emergency accommodation exceeded 15,000 people for the first time in November 2024, including more than 4,600 children, after rising persistently over the course of the implementation of the Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland plan, and official homelessness figures do not account for the many more people sleeping rough or the hidden homeless, such as those forced to couch surf, live in hostels or adults unable to move out of their family home due to prohibitive rent and house prices; and

— the vast majority of people and families accessing emergency accommodation come from the private rental sector, and Ireland's homelessness crisis is exacerbated by weak tenancy rights;

acknowledges that:

— Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland has manifestly failed to deliver enough new housing to meet demand and tackle the housing crisis;

— the previous Government ignored warnings and advice from the Housing Commission and other industry experts with regards to both housing targets and the appropriate model of delivery;

— the private sector developer-led model of construction cannot deliver the quantity of homes necessary to meet demand; and

— demand side measures like the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme and the Affordable Purchase Shared Equity Scheme have inflated house prices and will continue to do so, disproportionately benefiting those on higher incomes;

agrees that:

— the new Government must change course and ensure a State-led approach to solving the housing crisis; and

— public housing should be defined as high-quality sustainable housing for all citizens regardless of income that is rented from one's local authority or its nominees Approved Housing Bodies to affordably and securely provide for one's particular housing needs; and

calls on Government to:

— take a more active role in the delivery of housing by properly resourcing the Land Development Agency (LDA), expand its power to Compulsory Purchase Order private land and assemble sites, and transform it over time into a State construction company to provide a permanent State capacity to deliver direct build homes and rebalance the housing system;

— reverse the increasing centralisation of housing responsibilities by devolving more power to local authorities, introduce a single stage approval process and a single set of standardised design guidelines for low-cost energy efficient social homes, and resource the upfront delivery of community infrastructure where new homes are built;

— introduce a land price register and bring down house prices by giving effect to the recommendations of the 1973 Report of the Committee on the Price of Building Land (the "Kenny Report"), implement land value sharing, and establish a land management and acquisition section within each local authority to ensure land availability to meet future public housing demands;

— grow the construction workforce, starting with a minimum wage for craft apprentices;

— develop new financing mechanisms for private home construction and AHBs by deploying the billions invested in the Future Ireland Fund, unlock private savings through a housing solidarity bond, and provide further opportunities for Credit Unions to underwrite mortgages and invest in housing;

— phase out inflationary measures like the HTB scheme that disproportionately benefit those on higher incomes and replace them with more income-targeted supports;

— ban no fault evictions and significantly restrict the ability of landlords to evict tenants on the basis of moving a family member into the house;

— expand the Tenant-in-Situ Scheme and the Housing First scheme, with wraparound supports for those exiting homelessness; and

— move quickly to deploy the Apple windfall to build more homes through the LDA, and expand the capacity of the water and electricity networks.

Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

acknowledges that:

- Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland, sets out an ambitious multi-annual programme that seeks to deliver more than 300,000 new homes between 2022 and 2030;

- while the policy aim is to reach, if not exceed, the target in each successive year, the primary goal is to maintain an upward trajectory in supply and in line with or ahead of the overall target over the longer term;

- since Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland was published in September, 2021, almost 99,500 new homes have been built, with delivery of 92,500 new homes in the three years from 2022 to 2024, representing a considerable 49 percent increase on the quantum delivered in the previous three-year period;

- delivery of affordable housing supports will significantly exceed 2023 outturn, while the supply of new build social homes continues to be at a level higher than it has been for many years; and

- Government measures such as the development levy waiver and water connection refund have been a catalyst for increased construction activity in the last 12 months, establishing a robust medium-term pipeline and supporting significantly accelerated supply of new housing in the coming years;

recognises that:

- the measures introduced under Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland, have helped establish a solid platform to 'scale-up' delivery further in the short-term and secure a sustainable level of supply that will help us meet fully unmet and emerging demand over the next decade;

- the Government's revised housing targets, informed by expert, peer-reviewed research by the Economic and Social Research Institute and targeting a minimum of 300,000 or so new homes over the next six years, are an ambitious and credible pathway to achieving these objectives;

- the measures committed to in the Programme for Government, including a new housing plan building on the successes of Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland, will help us meet the enormous challenge of delivering 60,000 or more new homes per year by 2030; and

- the target of 300,000 new homes is not a ceiling, and the Government will revisit the targets again in 2027 if, reflecting demand and growing industry capacity, different targets are required for 2028 and subsequent years; and

affirms the efforts to:

- adequately resource the Land Development Agency (LDA) to deliver increased quantum of new homes required, noting the recently increased resourcing to the LDA and will look to capitalise it further as required;

- prioritise infrastructure development as a critical means for increasing housing supply, noting the commitments including, for example, investing additional capital in Uisce Éireann and establishing a new office of strategic housing and infrastructure delivery to coordinate homebuilding and investment in the servicing of zoned lands;

- expand the capacity of the construction sector as another key measure to scale up delivery to the levels necessary by 2030, and thereafter building upon ongoing measures to tackle barriers in construction careers, promote career opportunities, and make construction more attractive to women;

- establish a land price register, which work is committed to in the Programme for Government, and already underway;

- boost homeownership and help support younger people seeking autonomy in the housing market through measures like First Home Scheme, Help-to-Buy scheme, the Local Authority Home Loan, revised social housing income eligibility limits, and the introduction and expansion of the renters credit, as well as the delivery of 130,000 or so new homes over the last five years;

- diversify sources of investment, noting the level of investment required in the long term cannot be solely the responsibility of the State, it will also require a very significant level of private investment, including appropriate institutional capital investment which is essential for the delivery of critically needed private rented stock - engage with domestic lenders to ensure that the banking sector is appropriately using its lending capacity to support the development of new housing nationwide;

- develop new financing sources, especially for brownfield sites and small builders, with support from Home Building Finance Ireland, the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) and domestic banks as well as State support of equity investment;

- enhance protections for tenants, while appropriately vindicating landlords' constitutionally protected property rights, through measures introduced by successive recent Government's via the Residential Tenancies Acts;

- tackle homelessness through a suite of Cross-Government responses, acknowledging that homelessness is a complex issue requiring multifaceted responses to deal with considerably varying causal factors and family circumstances;

- build on the significant number of social and affordable homes provided in 2024, expanding State investment with almost €5 billion available for the delivery of social, affordable and cost rental homes in 2025, supplemented by LDA investment and HFA lending which will bring the overall capital provision to over €6 billion; and

- deliver on the far-ranging commitments in the Programme for Government and informed by the Housing Commission's proposals for the long-term reform of the housing system, accepting this is an appropriate response to the current housing challenges which Ireland is now facing.

- (Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan)

An Ceann Comhairle

I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion regarding housing policy. On Wednesday, 12 February 2025, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 85(2), that division must be taken now.

Amendment put:

The Dáil divided: Tá, 91; Níl, 73; Staon, 0.

Tá

Aird, William.
Ardagh, Catherine.
Boland, Grace.
Brabazon, Tom.
Brennan, Brian.
Brennan, Shay.
Brophy, Colm.
Browne, James.
Burke, Colm.
Burke, Peter.
Butler, Mary.
Butterly, Paula.
Buttimer, Jerry.
Byrne, Malcolm.
Byrne, Thomas.
Cahill, Michael.
Callaghan, Catherine.
Calleary, Dara.
Canney, Seán.
Carrigy, Micheál.
Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
Chambers, Jack.
Cleere, Peter 'Chap'.
Clendennen, John.
Collins, Niall.
Connolly, John.
Cooney, Joe.
Crowe, Cathal.
Cummins, John.
Currie, Emer.
Daly, Martin.
Dempsey, Aisling.
Devlin, Cormac.
Dillon, Alan.
Donohoe, Paschal.
Dooley, Timmy.
Feighan, Frankie.
Fleming, Sean.
Foley, Norma.
Gallagher, Pat the Cope.
Geoghegan, James.
Grealish, Noel.
Harkin, Marian.
Harris, Simon.
Healy-Rae, Michael.
Heneghan, Barry.
Heydon, Martin.
Higgins, Emer.
Keogh, Keira.
Lahart, John.
Lawless, James.
Lowry, Michael.
Martin, Micheál.
Maxwell, David.
McAuliffe, Paul.
McCarthy, Noel.
McConalogue, Charlie.
McCormack, Tony.
McEntee, Helen.
McGrath, Mattie.
McGrath, Séamus.
McGreehan, Erin.
Moran, Kevin Boxer.
Moynihan, Aindrias.
Moynihan, Michael.
Moynihan, Shane.
Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
Murphy, Michael.
Naughton, Hildegarde.
Neville, Joe.
O'Brien, Darragh.
O'Callaghan, Jim.
O'Connell, Maeve.
O'Connor, James.
O'Dea, Willie.
O'Donnell, Kieran.
O'Donovan, Patrick.
O'Meara, Ryan.
O'Shea, John Paul.
O'Sullivan, Christopher.
O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
Ó Muirí, Naoise.
Richmond, Neale.
Roche, Peter.
Scanlon, Eamon.
Smyth, Niamh.
Timmins, Edward.
Toole, Gillian.
Troy, Robert.
Ward, Barry.

Níl

Ahern, Ciarán.
Bacik, Ivana.
Bennett, Cathy.
Boyd Barrett, Richard.
Brady, John.
Buckley, Pat.
Byrne, Joanna.
Carthy, Matt.
Clarke, Sorca.
Collins, Michael.
Connolly, Catherine.
Conway-Walsh, Rose.
Coppinger, Ruth.
Cronin, Réada.
Crowe, Seán.
Cullinane, David.
Cummins, Jen.
Daly, Pa.
Devine, Máire.
Doherty, Pearse.
Donnelly, Paul.
Ellis, Dessie.
Farrelly, Aidan.
Farrell, Mairéad.
Fitzmaurice, Michael.
Gannon, Gary.
Gibney, Sinéad.
Gogarty, Paul Nicholas.
Graves, Ann.
Guirke, Johnny.
Hayes, Eoin.
Healy, Seamus.
Hearne, Rory.
Kelly, Alan.
Kenny, Eoghan.
Kenny, Martin.
Kerrane, Claire.
Lawless, Paul.
Lawlor, George.
Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
McDonald, Mary Lou.
McGettigan, Donna.
Mitchell, Denise.
Murphy, Paul.
Mythen, Johnny.
Nash, Ged.
Newsome Drennan, Natasha.
Ní Raghallaigh, Shónagh.
Nolan, Carol.
O'Callaghan, Cian.
O'Donoghue, Richard.
O'Donoghue, Robert.
O'Flynn, Ken.
O'Gorman, Roderic.
O'Hara, Louis.
O'Reilly, Louise.
O'Rourke, Darren.
Ó Broin, Eoin.
Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
Ó Súilleabháin, Fionntán.
Quaide, Liam.
Quinlivan, Maurice.
Rice, Pádraig.
Sheehan, Conor.
Sherlock, Marie.
Stanley, Brian.
Tóibín, Peadar.
Wall, Mark.
Ward, Charles.
Ward, Mark.
Whitmore, Jennifer.

Staon

Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Ivana Bacik and Conor Sheehan.

Amendment declared carried.

Question put: "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to."

The Dáil divided: Tá, 91; Níl, 73; Staon, 0.

Tá

Aird, William.
Ardagh, Catherine.
Boland, Grace.
Brabazon, Tom.
Brennan, Brian.
Brennan, Shay.
Brophy, Colm.
Browne, James.
Burke, Colm.
Burke, Peter.
Butler, Mary.
Butterly, Paula.
Buttimer, Jerry.
Byrne, Malcolm.
Byrne, Thomas.
Cahill, Michael.
Callaghan, Catherine.
Calleary, Dara.
Canney, Seán.
Carrigy, Micheál.
Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
Chambers, Jack.
Cleere, Peter 'Chap'.
Clendennen, John.
Collins, Niall.
Connolly, John.
Cooney, Joe.
Crowe, Cathal.
Cummins, John.
Currie, Emer.
Daly, Martin.
Dempsey, Aisling.
Devlin, Cormac.
Dillon, Alan.
Donohoe, Paschal.
Dooley, Timmy.
Feighan, Frankie.
Fleming, Sean.
Foley, Norma.
Gallagher, Pat the Cope.
Geoghegan, James.
Grealish, Noel.
Harkin, Marian.
Harris, Simon.
Healy-Rae, Michael.
Heneghan, Barry.
Heydon, Martin.
Higgins, Emer.
Keogh, Keira.
Lahart, John.
Lawless, James.
Lowry, Michael.
Martin, Micheál.
Maxwell, David.
McAuliffe, Paul.
McCarthy, Noel.
McConalogue, Charlie.
McCormack, Tony.
McEntee, Helen.
McGrath, Mattie.
McGrath, Séamus.
McGreehan, Erin.
Moran, Kevin Boxer.
Moynihan, Aindrias.
Moynihan, Michael.
Moynihan, Shane.
Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
Murphy, Michael.
Naughton, Hildegarde.
Neville, Joe.
O'Brien, Darragh.
O'Callaghan, Jim.
O'Connell, Maeve.
O'Connor, James.
O'Dea, Willie.
O'Donnell, Kieran.
O'Donovan, Patrick.
O'Meara, Ryan.
O'Shea, John Paul.
O'Sullivan, Christopher.
O'Sullivan, Pádraig.
Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
Ó Muirí, Naoise.
Richmond, Neale.
Roche, Peter.
Scanlon, Eamon.
Smyth, Niamh.
Timmins, Edward.
Toole, Gillian.
Troy, Robert.
Ward, Barry.

Níl

Ahern, Ciarán.
Bacik, Ivana.
Bennett, Cathy.
Boyd Barrett, Richard.
Brady, John.
Buckley, Pat.
Byrne, Joanna.
Carthy, Matt.
Clarke, Sorca.
Collins, Michael.
Connolly, Catherine.
Conway-Walsh, Rose.
Coppinger, Ruth.
Cronin, Réada.
Crowe, Seán.
Cullinane, David.
Cummins, Jen.
Daly, Pa.
Devine, Máire.
Doherty, Pearse.
Donnelly, Paul.
Ellis, Dessie.
Farrelly, Aidan.
Farrell, Mairéad.
Fitzmaurice, Michael.
Gannon, Gary.
Gibney, Sinéad.
Gogarty, Paul Nicholas.
Graves, Ann.
Guirke, Johnny.
Hayes, Eoin.
Healy, Seamus.
Hearne, Rory.
Kelly, Alan.
Kenny, Eoghan.
Kenny, Martin.
Kerrane, Claire.
Lawless, Paul.
Lawlor, George.
Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
McDonald, Mary Lou.
McGettigan, Donna.
Mitchell, Denise.
Murphy, Paul.
Mythen, Johnny.
Nash, Ged.
Newsome Drennan, Natasha.
Ní Raghallaigh, Shónagh.
Nolan, Carol.
O'Callaghan, Cian.
O'Donoghue, Richard.
O'Donoghue, Robert.
O'Flynn, Ken.
O'Gorman, Roderic.
O'Hara, Louis.
O'Reilly, Louise.
O'Rourke, Darren.
Ó Broin, Eoin.
Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
Ó Súilleabháin, Fionntán.
Quaide, Liam.
Quinlivan, Maurice.
Rice, Pádraig.
Sheehan, Conor.
Sherlock, Marie.
Stanley, Brian.
Tóibín, Peadar.
Wall, Mark.
Ward, Charles.
Ward, Mark.
Whitmore, Jennifer.

Staon

Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Ivana Bacik and Conor Sheehan.

Question declared carried.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar athló ar 7.53 p.m. go dtí 9 a.m., Déardaoin, an 13 Feabhra 2025.

The Dáil adjourned at 7.53 p.m. until 9 a.m. on Thursday, 13 February 2025.

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Wednesday, 12 Feb 2025