Ms Bairbre Nic Aongusa:

Having listened to the discussion and concerns about the delay in the approval process, I believe that at the heart of the matter is an understandable concern on the part of the Deputies over when houses will come on-stream. It must be borne in mind, as Ms Neary has said, that 18 months is the total length of time for the process. However, the announcements made this time last year by the former Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, represented stage one approval for more than 3,500 social housing projects. There were other smaller numbers of social housing projects that had been approved in 2014 under the then Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. To give some hope, we are now in the process of collecting information from local authorities about live projects and what is happening. The figures indicate that by the end of 2016, a total of 1,300 units will be started on 74 projects. Construction will be starting on site for that number of projects. During 2017, construction will start on site for 1,900 additional units. We will also have a smaller number, a couple of hundred, social housing units completed, but they are units that were approved in 2014. The large number of units which were approved in 2015 are starting on site, many this year, and more by the end of 2017. They are happening and the process is going through.