Mr. Owen Keegan:

It would certainly not be possible in the short term. We have a situation where, effectively, social housing delivery ceased as a consequence of the financial difficulties. Gearing up has taken time and it has not been helped by extensive Covid-19 lockdowns. We will certainly strive to exceed our targets but we must be realistic. Doubling them or unilaterally increasing them in my view will not work.

I cannot speak for Dún Laoghaire but in the cities, almost every site we have is now in the process and will contribute to that figure of 15,000 units. If somebody said we need 30,000 units, land acquisition becomes a big issue for us in terms of how we can, and where we want to, acquire it. At the moment, we have sites for those 15,000 units covering social, cost-rental and affordable purchase. Any increase on that will be difficult unless we buy in from the private sector, however, which is certainly a possibility. Land acquisition will become a constraining issue.