Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Deputy Cowen's commitment to transparency, which I am trying to bring about in my own work. It is good that we are able to publish indicative targets for 2017, and publish them so quickly, that we can confirm with our quarterly construction report that includes all of the figures we have published for 2017. We need to be able to measure what we are doing and what local authorities are doing. That is why I want to publish the targets for 2018 quite clearly for every local authority in order that everyone - both the public and the public representatives - can see exactly what is expected of them so we can achieve those targets. Recently, the Minister of State, Deputy English, published the social housing needs assessment for 2017. The report showed a small decrease, which is welcome. Off the top of my head, I think the decrease was between 6% and 7%. There was a decrease in almost every local authority area. Of course we need to do more.

My focus for 2016 is to get an accurate understanding of what was completed in the private and local sector in that year but also what was completed in 2017 because it is one figure that we not have. It is very important in terms of judging progress over the lifetime of the Rebuilding Ireland programme, which extends to 2021. My data analyst group is focusing on that aspect at present.

The Deputy talked about identifying the failures of the conventional system. Many of them have been identified. The conventional system is not the same system that existed pre-crash. Many changes have happened in terms of the new one-stage process. We introduced a new four-stage process that has been sweated down to 59 weeks. We have a new procurement framework for rapid build and rapid build has become our default in terms of what we do. We are using a shared services model when it comes to planning for public private partnerships, planning and design and procurement from the rapid framework, which is very important.

The shared services model is working very well and is progressing in other areas.

Deputy Ó Broin spoke about the need for a national turnkey campaign. Turnkeys have been very successful for local authorities and we will progress a national turnkey campaign during 2018. I have spoken about this with local authorities, the County and City Management Association and other groups, as an effective means of delivery for our local authorities.

We have a new land management unit that will drive delivery. The money is there in the form of the €6 billion. Even when we were racing ahead of our targets in 2017, I was able to secure additional funding that went to delivery in 2017 for house completions and regeneration projects, along with some of the family hub accommodation we delivered for those people who were in emergency accommodation in hotels. The money is being spent and it is delivering houses. This is seen in the numbers we have for 2017.

When we talk about economic recovery and how we achieve it, as each of us meet with our constituents it is important that we talk about the changes and the changed approach we took to the taxation system and the tax base, the moving of some of the credits and some of the discounts, so the tax base was not too narrow. We also focused on increasing the number of people in employment with the Action Plan for Jobs. This five-year plan was aimed at increasing the numbers of jobs - I cannot remember by how many but it may have been 100,000 - and in the first two years, people wondered if it would actually work. In the third, fourth and fifth years they saw the benefit of the action plan and what it actually meant in the context of overachieving on our targets. We had the same approach in the context of Rebuilding Ireland, which is also a five-year programme. We are 18 months in to that plan and we are already exceeding almost all of our targets, which is very welcome.

As we build new homes, we have to do so in a sustainable way that does not erode the tax base for the future. This means that we cannot just build thousands of homes all over the place. It also means that we cannot just say "If it is a supply-side measure, then we must pursue it." In pursuing that, we may be building in serious crises for the future. We must maintain this balance. All of the data on what has been achieved for 2016 have been published. We will now publish the figures for 2017. My focus is on the future and on getting things built. If the Deputy believes there is a particular problem with his local authority in its delivery, then we can meet the manager there to see what has and has not been achieved.