Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That was in Laois. In Offaly, the figure was 35 and it was given 31. Laois beat Offaly in that sense. We will see how it gets on in another year's time.

I refer to the Deputy's comments on social housing. He referred to it before and it is a valid point. We are considering a new tenant purchase scheme and all of the issues around that. Maybe as part of that we could examine this issue. The Deputy referred to the policy in Laois. We do not know how many other local authorities have adopted a similar approach. It would not be a bad thing to find that out. We might send out a question on that. It is something which could be examined.

I did not say what I said earlier on demand and the heat map because three Deputies who are not a million miles from each other are sitting here. There is a demand for accommodation in Dublin and large commuter towns within a certain distance of it, which needs to be considered. I have visited or spoken to most local authorities. The Deputy met me at one. Some are fairly well advanced. We would reward those who are, because there is a need for that.

The Deputy asked for outputs for 2014. I have the figures. Local authority housing totalled 285, the capital assistance scheme totalled 357, voids and vacant units totalled 2,333, regeneration totalled 247, leasing totalled 1,062, RAS totalled 2,173 and HAP totalled 485. We exceeded our targets as a Department.

I will come to the question on AHBs. In terms of local authorities versus AHBs, we are probably touching just below 1,000. The Deputy raised many issues in respect of AHBs. That is a real issue. We have plans to introduce legislation to regulate AHBs, which is necessary and will be helpful. The way in which AHBs work in this country is a little bit different from others, which has positive and negative aspects. We have a large volume of AHBs, but many are small. The critical mass in terms of what can get out of them is not necessarily there.

A voluntary register is in place and a Bill is expected to be in place by quarter three of this year. It is currently being prepared and will regulate AHBs and all issues relating to them. It will also be helpful to them as regards structuring them into the future and how they can work with us and finance themselves to deliver more. We are also examining EIB investment and the HFA.

The Deputy raised social issues regarding AHBs and local authority houses, which were raised with me before. The regulatory process to which I referred will deal with all of those issues. He also asked about affordable housing. It is something that is under review. He raised a valid issue. The problem is that in many parts of the country the price of units is so low that it is not worth doing. As the market changes and recovers, it is something we will revisit. I raised the issue internally in the past couple of weeks, in terms of revisiting it in the near future. We would have to geographically zone in on where we target.

The Deputy asked about RAS, which has been quite successful. There are issues in certain areas which we are trying to address, but we see it as being part of the mix in the future while the HAP is being rolled out. HAP is being rolled out across the country. We have picked five more local authorities and as it is rolled out it will become more successful. That is why we have made certain provisions.

PPPs were another issue he raised. The issue is the value we can get. We feel we can get very good value from PPPs, in terms of what was thought of them in the past compared to now and the models in Britain and other countries. We have had a substantial amount of contact from various different people with various different models. Our analysis shows that there is good value. I expect it to be quite successful as we roll it out next year and into 2017. The Deputy should not think we are necessarily looking in any way, shape or form at the models of the past.

Nothing is defined in respect of PPPs, but how people will partake will be very different from the way things were done in the past. I expect there will be very good value for the State and there is quite a level of competition out there in terms of the groups which are coming to us to work with the Government in that regard.