Ms AnnMarie Farrelly:

I will come in on the Senator's questions. My colleagues may also wish to respond.

As regards housing, there are ongoing discussions with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage regarding what the new targets may be under the new plan for housing which I understand will be launched in the coming month. As to whether there is more we can do, we are trying to utilise every avenue for housing delivery, including direct build by the council, working with approved housing bodies, AHBs, and pursuing public private partnerships where they are a smart solution in certain circumstances. The Senator asked about the LDA. I do not think there can be too many actors involved in housing provision at this time in terms of ramping up housing supply. The LDA will play its part in that regard. It certainly has a big part to play in the provision of affordable rental and affordable housing. We are all mobilising to do more. Housing supply can be difficult to get off the ground but we in Fingal, for example, have sites on which we can deliver 3,000 units in the coming years. These are sites on which we are actively involved in planning or design and hope to get to site on most of them very quickly. We are already on site in some of the developments.

The Senator is absolutely right with regard to the alignment of priorities across all infrastructure providers. Land activation requires everybody to be working to the same programme and delivering on time in order to get development happening, whether that is commercial or housing. There is no doubt that active engagement with the likes of Irish Water to ensure it is doing the right projects in one's area at the right time is the only way we can get sites active. There is a significant amount of work ongoing in that area. I am not sure it is as difficult as the Senator suggested. More probably needs to be done with regard to communication to make sure priorities line up on time, but it has happened quite well in recent years.

I am not sure I will comment on the staffing issue relating to Irish Water. It is the subject of ongoing discussion and we might let that take its course in terms of the White Paper.

We are engaged in the management of remote working hubs but it is not our wish to staff them ourselves. Some of my colleagues may wish to come in on this issue. Ms Delaney may have further information on it. Most of the hubs will work to a business plan that allows the doors to be open, so to speak, but we assist and are very often involved in the overall management structure for the hubs to ensure they run efficiently.

As regards the rural regeneration and development fund and the urban regeneration and development fund, the most frustrating part of any project is design, planning and procurement. There is no avoiding it in respect of all these projects but it can be frustrating not to see work happening on the ground. We are working through that for many of the projects. Obviously, increased costs are a concern and something we will have to keep under review. The increase in cost happened quite quickly and we do not know where it will bottom out. Most projects are currently in the design phase, which can be slow. We use our Part 8 processes within local authorities to look after that.

I will ask my colleagues to come in on any issues they wish to address.