James Browne

It is the clear focus of this Government to increase the supply of new build social and affordable homes. As such, the decision not to proceed with the contract award for bundle 3 was not taken lightly and was made after much careful consideration of the costs involved and is ultimately the correct decision. I cannot comment on or discuss the tendered costs for PPP bundle 3 as these numbers are p…

I understand people’s upset and frustration. My duty is to deliver the maximum number of homes we can but that means maximising the value so we can maximise the delivery of those homes. I will not blindly sign off at any price for social homes. These homes were frankly at an astronomical price. No doubt had I signed off on them, I would be before the Committee of Public Accounts answering question…

It is not the end of PPP but we will review the processes to see how we can ensure that when the PPP process is used, there is value for money for the delivery of homes. We will use every method available to maximise the delivery of social homes. We will do that and we will continue to review it. We will deliver these homes as quickly as we can. We are reviewing the entire situation. On value for…

Cost rental is a key element of the Housing For All strategy to improve affordability in the rental sector and to provide secure, long-term homes for moderate-income households. Though it was only introduced in 2021, cost-rental delivery is accelerating, with over 3,600 homes delivered by the end of 2024 and a substantial pipeline is now in place. My Department is providing significant funding to…

I thank the Deputy. As he is fully aware, the cost-rental scheme did not exist in 2020 and that is why no units were delivered. On cost rental, some people cannot afford those rents and that is why we are providing a number of different solutions for people in order for them to access the homes they need at an affordable price. That may be purchase or rent and may involve cost rental, affordable p…

Last week, we extended rent pressure zones across the entire country, effectively creating a national rent control, which the Deputy voted for. In terms of the 25% before market-----

The Deputy supported it.

Did the Deputy oppose it then?

We are in a housing crisis. Coming in here and being snide is not the solution. If the Deputy will let me give the answer-----

The Deputy supported it.

I clarified what the Deputy said. We did come in here. I will deal with the Deputy's question rather than shouting over him.

Cost rental is only one measure, as I have already outlined.

We are putting measures in place in order that everybody has the solution they need. Ultimately, we have to increase the supply of housing across the country. That is the only way we will address homelessness, high rents and ensure that people get the homes they need. We have gone from 20,000 to 30,000 homes. We will make the next step change. That is why we made rapid decisions over the past numb…

Cost rental is only one measure, as I have already outlined.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 36 together. The drafting of the apartment and duplex defects remediation Bill is progressing. Various issues requiring legal advice are under consideration. The Bill is included in the Government legislation summer programme and I intend to seek Government approval to publish it shortly. The general scheme will be made available to undergo pre-legislative …

The aim is to get the work done as quickly as possible. Regarding the interim scheme, four pathfinder projects covering almost 600 residential units have been identified. These projects are progressing and will allow the mapping of the application of the remediation process into simple steps to identify the pinch points and their solutions and to provide consistency across the submissions by compe…

I acknowledge that there has been some delay with the drafting. Some of that has arisen as a result of the Housing Agency receiving legal advice outlining the provision of the funding by the agency to oversee it is likely to trigger a requirement to comply with public procurement law. The Attorney General subsequently confirmed the need to align the application process in compliance with EU procur…

The programme for Government commits to the introduction of a new, all-of-government national housing plan to follow Housing for All, underpinned by multi-annual funding. This plan will take a whole-of-government approach, as Housing for All did. My Department is engaging across government to agree the high-level measures to be included in the plan. They must be supported by the required funding i…

The Deputy's proposal a number of weeks ago was simply to write blank cheques for local authorities. That is not a solution. We have to manage our finances and we have only a certain amount of funding. We want those voids brought back in but, as the Deputy will recall, one of the properties was a property that could not be let because it had not had a stairs for five years. There is no reason or r…

I am treating it as an emergency. The number seeking social housing is increasing, as it is for cost-rental and affordable and private housing, because the population of this country is exploding as a result of the successful economic steerage of this country. It is a good thing that our population is increasing as a result of our economy. It puts more pressure on me and the Government to deliver …

I thank Deputy Sheehan for asking when funding will be made available for a project. This is the shortfall of €5 million to cover infrastructure for the Mungret LDA development of 250 units in Limerick. The Deputy's question relates to the development of the lands at the former Mungret College, which is a key strategic priority for Limerick City and County Council. The site will see the delivery o…

Funding for the housing activation office will come under the national development plan, which is currently being agreed. Limerick City and County Council has received local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, funding for the delivery of the first two phases of a new distributor road at Mungret. LIHAF funding approval of €22.1 million was given, of which €6.6 million was funded by the D…

The Department has not received any formal submission on funding. We have been made aware that there is a funding issue and we are engaging with the local authority to see what is the best way forward to address it.

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this question about the encouragement of new technologies in the construction sector, including modular housing. I understand he has raised this issue on numerous occasions. The use of modern methods of construction, MMC, is a key policy measure to boost construction sector productivity and to support the scaling-up of delivery of new housing supply. MMC is a…

I fully agree with the Deputy that MMC is critical to housing delivery in this country. When modular units were first proposed for schools, for example, there was a little bit of pushback from school principals, who were concerned as many of them had grown up with very poor prefabs and perhaps they thought that was what was coming. I was chair of a school board of management at the time, and when …