Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Broin. The €214 million carryover is made up of six different subheads. There is €58 million from local authority housing and €40 million from energy efficiency, with about €90 million from pyrite and mica remediation, which is basically because the mica scheme is up and running and accepting applications. There is about €10 million from Irish Water. The total carryover of €214 million is outlined in the paper submitted. We intend for that to be used this year.

To answer the question about the impact of the shutdown of construction and the difference between public and private, we made up quite significant ground, where we did just short of 72% of the target that was set for public housing delivery. One must remember, on the private side, which caught up quicker, that a sizeable proportion of private homes were one-off dwellings. That has a disproportionate impact. When one is building estates, the Deputy will be aware that whole sites were effectively closed, whereas people were able to get moving on the one-off houses. That difference predominantly relates to one-off homes. We have a total of about 21,000 homes and just short of 4,500 are single dwellings, so it has a disproportionate effect. The private sector caught up. We want public home-building to catch up this year. There is a role for turnkeys. I have been critical of them in the past, especially if I felt that they were not adding to stock. Where they are adding to stock, they should be welcome. They allow fast delivery, especially through approved housing bodies, and efficient delivery too.

On where we see the tipping point, even with the restrictions, we hope that we will see quarter 1 figures about delivery in the next four to five weeks. That will give us a much clearer picture on what the projections for the remainder of this year are.

There has been a greater dependence on HAP and, particularly, RAS, and on emergency rent supplement but I think most people understand one of the reasons for that has been the pandemic. We have had to be able to provide short-term rental supports for people who have not been able to pay their rent through no fault of their own. They have lost their jobs and entered into the emergency rent supplement payment, which is an important one that continues at the moment.

The turnkey piece, on which we can go into in more detail in the meeting we have after this, is not to substitute local authority or approved housing body, AHB, build direct programmes but to complement them. Where it complements them and makes sense, we should do it and we should allow that flexibility. I am trying to build up capacity in the local authorities to deliver their own homes. We need to make sure we are building up experience and expertise within the sector on the project management side. I have set specific targets for every local authority in the country on what it needs to deliver in 2021, split between build, lease and acquisition. I have met all the chief executives, either in person or virtually. I intend to continue to do that from the end of this month, particularly in Connacht, where I have to meet a number of chief executives. In a matter of weeks, we will have an idea of what has been able to be delivered in quarter 1.

We will publish the housing for all plan in the summer of this year, which will give us a multi-annual view of what delivery we need to do over the next three, five and ten years in relation to public and affordable homes. I hope that answers most of the Deputy's questions.