Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Take my county as an example.

The Department has approved an affordable housing scheme in Westport. It has received a submission for Castlebar regarding an affordability issue; I hope that gets approval. Again, we see that the local authority needs to be encouraged to set ambitious targets to deliver affordable housing schemes.

I will move on to the ongoing viability challenges Deputy Verona Murphy talked about as regards increased construction costs, higher interest rates and supply chain issues. I will ask Mr. Doyle about the current state of serviced sites under the Department's remit. How many sites are there at present? What is the overall capacity for potential housing units on serviced sites? What proportion of the Department's capital budget is being allocated to the development of serviced sites? The easiest solution to delivering affordable housing seems to be through serviced sites.