Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On acquisitions, just over 1,800 units have been offered to the State and various agencies for purchase over the past 12 months through several different schemes by banks, funds and other parties. Obviously, the €70 million Housing Agency scheme is the principal one. As of a couple of months ago, the State, in all its forms, was in the process of purchasing only 600 of these 1,800 units, however. I raised this with the Minister of State, Deputy English, last week during a debate. Given the rise in homelessness, is the Minister satisfied that 600 units is an appropriate number? Is there a need for the Department to look at those lists to see if there are other properties, given the additional expenditure we are discussing, to ensure no property is missed or overlooked?

These are turnkey, ready-to-go properties from banks, funds, etc. During the recent debate, the Minister of State, Deputy English, gave an undertaking to examine this. We had suggested it might be worthwhile bringing this list to the committee and into private session next week in order that we could have a robust discussion about those units, where they are, and why some are not being purchased. Clearly, not all of them will be purchased, as there will be issues around location, price and quality of build. However, given the housing crisis, one third of the 1,800 units seems to be low. The length of time taken to purchase them is also a concern, as many of these were offered by banks last year. Is the Minister satisfied this process is working speedily and thoroughly enough?