Mr. John McCarthy:

It is certainly failing to take advantage of efficiency in the system. The programme has certainly been ramped up quite significantly. In fact, last year we had to get a Supplementary Estimate of €100 million to be able to support it. One can see in the construction status report that the programme is ramping up. What is occurring is frustrating, however, considering that there are mechanisms that can accelerate delivery.

With regard to the voids issue that the Deputy raised, the local authorities are accountable to their elected members and to the National Oversight and Audit Commission. It is in the public domain for the National Oversight and Audit Commission to shine a light on it. It is cold comfort in many respects that the average re-let time is actually coming down. The position was actually worse in 2016. This is the second year in a row in which the re-let time has come down but it is still too long, on average. It is too long an average because the local authority-by-local authority breakdown shows there is a very significant range. Some local authorities can actually re-let properties very quickly. We have to get best practice rolled out across the system.