Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The HAP place finder process is a huge benefit to any county that has it. Some 14 local authorities have indicated that they wish to set up a HAP place finder process. How many of these are up and running?

Has the Department received any applications for the mortgage-to-rent scheme? Has there been any take-up of the rural housing relocation scheme? Is it a worthwhile scheme? Have any other ways been considered to facilitate relocations?

A review of rental pressure zones started last summer. At what stage is that and when will we see some amendments to the criteria? Did I miss something during the summer? A number of landlords at the bottom end of the market want to stay in it but, because the rent they get is so low, have no option but to find ways to get out. We could keep some landlords in the market with some subtle changes.

The Minister spoke about repair-and-lease scheme and it is disappointing that it has not been taken up. There might not be many vacant properties around Dublin but there is a huge number of them in all rural towns. I do not know if the scheme was not sufficiently promoted or enough information given about it. I see vacant properties every day in which we could have families living. I do not know what we need to do to get to that position, though I know there are complications with the planning process and other regulations.

I congratulate Mr. Walsh on his appointment and the next question is for him. How many housing developments have progressed through the fast planning process? How many have been granted and how many refused? In respect of student accommodation, there was a target of just over 8,600 and there were 3,000 up to May this year. Is the Department confident of hitting the target? The Department said it would review the differential rent scheme for social housing but I do not see any update on that.

There is a four-stage process for the approval of social housing projects but how many have got through the process in 59 weeks? What is the average time it takes to go through the four-stage process? The quarter 2 figures for 2018 have just been released and 143 projects are at stage 1. One has been there since 2013, two since 2014, 19 since 2015, 13 since 2016, six since quarter 1 of 2017 and 11 from quarter 2 of 2017. A total of 36% of the total number of projects have been sitting at stage 1 appraisal for over a year. I understand a review was carried out and a document published, which I could not find. From my interaction with my local authority, I understand it can be tweaked. Can the witnesses give me an update on that?

I have a question on the national planning framework, Project Ireland 2040, relating to housing development, the housing crisis, the proposed regional strategy that is coming down the road and the impact it will have on my county and on Kildare and Meath.

I will give the example of Wicklow town which has invested more than €100 million in critical infrastructure to allow housing development to happen, including the port access road, upgrade of the waste water treatment plant and the water services. With all the infrastructure that is there, we do not need to go to the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund, LIHAF, for it. Our population target and the national spatial strategy was 26,000 and under a county development plan launched last year it was 26,000. It will now be 17,000 under the roadmap that has been issued by the Department. That means Wicklow town will not be able to grant planning permission for a home until 2026 and we have the critical infrastructure there already. If that is what is happening with this roadmap, it needs to be revisited before the draft document is published.