James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I agree with the Deputy; we do not want to be relying on HAP. What we want is people in social homes, whether delivered by local authorities, affordable housing bodies or whatever the case may be. The solution to driving down HAP is increasing the delivery of social homes across the country, so I agree with the Deputy on that. That is what we are trying to do - drive up the delivery of social homes in particular.

The ideal scenario and what I am really pushing hard on is to get local authorities to own build. Where that is not possible, there is a timing issue or they are building up capacity, we have forward-funded local authorities and affordable housing bodies to deliver social homes. The last option is turnkeys, which we are trying to move away from as much as possible.

HAP is costly and it is not adding to the stock. I agree with the Deputy on that. I want to move away from HAP.