Galway affordable housing prices
Deputy Farrell criticises soaring Galway house prices and says the Government’s affordable housing scheme has delivered too little at too high a cost. The Taoiseach defends first-time buyer supports and argues that the answer is increased housing supply.
When the Taoiseach entered politics, people were able to buy a family home for £50,000. Now house prices in Galway have exploded. They are up by almost 50% in the city and more than 60% in the county since 2020. Buying a home now costs over €140,000 more than it did a few years ago. In five years of the Taoiseach's so-called affordable housing scheme, not a single affordable home was delivered in Galway. Now, finally, the Government has announced 33 affordable homes. Does the Taoiseach know that the prices being charged for these houses are up to €450,000? Does the Taoiseach agree that his own political legacy from when he first entered politics to his role in a Government that crashed the economy to now is a housing crisis, unaffordable rents, the collapse in homeownership, and many young people who see no future here because of the housing crisis?
Comment on this
I do not accept the Deputy's proposition at all but the key point is that people who are looking for housing is the top priority of this Government and indeed the previous one. It is interesting that our supports for first-time buyers are having an impact. The percentage of first-time buyers has been steadily increasing from 26% of all household buyers in 2015 to 40% in 2026.
Comment on this
That is a huge increase. That is because of the help to buy scheme, the first home scheme, and the derelict and vacant housing grant schemes, which are helping first-time buyers. The costs are too high but the only answer is supply. We need more and more supply. We need fewer people and political parties objecting to housing to make sure that we have sufficient housing to provide for the younger people in the country. That is the target and objective of Government across social, affordable, and private housing.