Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. First, in reply to Deputy Catherine Byrne's questions, NAMA identified by the end of March 2016 some 6,637 houses that it could transfer to local authorities. The local authorities confirmed that they had demand for 2,540 of these houses and 2,042 were delivered by the end of March. There are approximately 500 that are not yet delivered but they are agreed by both sides as suitable and wanted by the local authorities.

I am not sure why the local authorities did not take up all 6,000 of them. Among the reasons is local authority housing policy regarding the proportions of local authority houses and private houses in the one estate. If NAMA has a whole estate of 60 or 70 houses, the local authority will not take the full amount; it will take a proportion of them. I refer to what they describe as concentration issues where there are too many social housing units too close together. Then there are houses in some areas where there is not a demand for them.

However, NAMA continues to do its best. It will work with the local authorities. I was talking to the chairman of NAMA yesterday and he committed to doing another search and providing extra houses to the local authorities within the next couple of months.

I welcome Deputy Catherine Byrne's explanation statistically of the supply situation in Dublin in respect of homelessness and how less than 1,000 units would fulfil the demand and solve the homelessness problem on the basis of the information provided by the local authorities in Dublin. It comes back to my point that there is a tipping point issue which needs to be addressed quickly.

In answer to Deputy Brendan Ryan, the voluntary housing organisations are active in providing houses. Private sector organisations come up with schemes at times but they would go to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government rather than to me, and I do not have a lot of information on them. Mr. John McCarthy, the economist with the Department of Finance, may have some information of a cross-Department nature.