Fine Gael has welcomed figures which revealed an increase in housing supply in Ireland.

TD Maria Bailey said the CSO report shows the figures are "going in the right direction".

The number of new dwellings for Quarter 2 of 2018 is up 34% on the same period last year.

Ms Bailey said: "This is a significant proportional increase and it is good to see that housing supply is going in the right direction. While these figures are welcome, there should of course be no complacency.

"There is no doubting the severity of the problem we are working to fix since our economic crash. However if the figures keep going in the right direction like this we will see results.

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"While other parties throw around simplistic and populist headlines solely depending on increasing funding, Fine Gael in government is delivering real and substantial solutions through our Rebuilding Ireland plan.

"I know it has been frustrating for people, and it feels slow, but in 2016 we were still feeling the effects of the collapse of the residential construction industry by 90%. Rebuilding Ireland has allowed us to put solid foundations in place upon which we build our future.

"We have a range of supply side measures to facilitate the delivery of homes at more affordable price points, to buy or to rent.

"Funding of €200 million to open up housing lands has been provided by government through the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF).

"We have also established Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI,) to provide competitive loans for builders and approved housing bodies, keeping their costs low – with up to €750m, it is estimated that HBFI could have capacity to fund about 6,000 homes in the coming years."

(CD/CM)