Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Regarding social housing, there was a recent announcement of a €200 million investment by the EIB, forming part of an overall €405 million social housing package, to construct 1,400 new houses. What is Mr. McDowell's understanding of the timeframe for those house completions? Why are we not seeing a more ambitious programme? While we welcome what is the EIB's second round of investment in the past three years, why are we not seeing more ambition from the State and the EIB, given that we have such a housing crisis? Some €200 million is welcome, but we all know how much it costs to build a house, and 1,400 will not reach anywhere near where we need to be. Is there more potential for the EIB to invest in social housing, given the current model? If there are no upper limits to what the EIB can invest, why are we not replicating it in various sites across Dublin and other areas where there are social housing problems?