Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a design issue. Whether one uses slate on the outside of a house or whether it is painted or pebble dashed is an aesthetic issue. The construct of the houses in Poppintree, which I have been in, is pretty good.

Obviously, we must make sure that we are building houses that look attractive, as well as houses that make sense from all the other management perspectives. However, the idea that we are building tenements for the future because they are rapid-build units simply does not hold water. These houses have 60-year guarantees on them and are not really any different from conventional construction.

As for the issues raised regarding staffing numbers to administer the housing assistance payment, HAP, we have a centralised HAP management office in Limerick for the entire country and there has been staffing there. On additional staff, Senator Coffey probably sanctioned some of these posts in the past 12 months but more than 140 additional staff numbers have been sanctioned across local authorities mainly in the areas of housing, engineering, planning, design and so on. To be fair, there are issues regarding the budgets that go with that. While additional numbers can be sanctioned, in most cases local authorities must find the resources to do that and I accept this can be a limitation for some local authorities. As for the thresholds that are put in place, they are linked to local rent, just as increases in HAP payments are linked to local rent. They effectively are linked to the bottom third of the rental market in any area. That was the basis for deciding what should be the increases in HAP and rent supplement.