Mr. Billy Coman:

It is about 20. I think nationally it is about 20, but I will confirm that.

It is important to realise that we look at all options. We have to. Housing construction was only kickstarted where the funding became available in 2015 and it does take time. Local authorities had not been in the house-building game since 2008. It took a long time to build up that expertise and get the necessary expertise back in there again. It was a matter of identifying ideal sites, the proper locations. I take the Deputy's point that there is a lot of infill in there, but these are ones that we can turn around and do so as quickly as possible in areas where we have a housing need. This started in 2015 and realistically it is going to be 2017 and into 2018 before we will realise the plans for new construction. In the meantime, there are other options and avenues to look at. HAP is one and acquisitions is very much part of it, as is closer collaboration, which Mr. Cummins mentioned quite a bit through his presentation.

Local authorities are only one of the stakeholders. The approved housing bodies are a vital cog in the strategy itself in delivering social housing. That collaboration is getting stronger all the time. Approved housing bodies can borrow. That is one of the avenues. They can borrow to construct, which we cannot. We are working with them and for the Dublin region we have now developed a series of protocols for working together under four different streams directly with the Irish Council for Social Housing to ensure that it has the capacity to deliver on the strong role it has to play in terms of that.

There has been a reliance on the private sector for centuries and that has not changed. Deputies may say there is an over-reliance on the private sector and it is within their gift to say that. Whether I agree with that or not is not for me to say, but there is a strategy which has and continues to rely on the private sector. It has delivered heretofore, but what is needed is stronger regulation and security of tenure. Those are two avenues that have to be explored.