Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the gentlemen for coming in. On page one of his statement, Mr. Cummins describes how a new streamlined process has been developed for delivering social housing of up to €2 million or 15 units, so that the units can be delivered faster. Mr. Cummins should correct me if I am wrong - my understanding is that this is a devolved grant whereby the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government has to give just one approval and off we go and do the work.

I understand local authorities are being saddled with any risk involved in that. If they have budgets and then come across abnormal costs, they have to take them on. Is that, in a way, making this less attractive for local authorities?

If the threshold were raised to, for example, €5 million with four units as a base number, would it help matters? Do we know how many voids exist in each local authority in each county? What is the cost of refurbishing such units? In an emergency situation, that would be the first step to put houses in place. Do we know the potential number of infill sites in towns and cities that can be bought by local authorities and on which houses can be erected?

Mr. Brady referred to 22,000 sites that have planning in the greater Dublin area. Is that what he said?