Ms Mary Hurley:

I can speak to supply. We are seeing the construction programme ramping up significantly and this year, between build, acquisition and lease, over 7,800 homes will be delivered. We are on track to do that and we are working very hard with local authorities currently to get as many build units over the line as quickly as possible. We have put many structures in place including, in our own Department, the housing delivery office. We are working very closely with local authorities. There is great clarity on targets and local authorities are aware of what they need to deliver.

As we see the build trajectory increasing, we are seeing that from next year, HAP will start to decrease. We are seeing more units coming through and this year we are very confident of meeting the target of 7,800 new homes. We will continue to try to work with local authorities to meet challenges and help them with the barriers they face. The supply is certainly coming through and we secured additional funding in the budget for next year. An extra €470 million was secured for the housing budget and it will enable us to deliver 10,000 homes across build, acquisition and lease. We all agree that supply is the key to addressing this challenge.