Ms Bairbre Nic Aongusa:

In response to the question from Deputy Ó Broin about why we could not have a large scale, local authority led, mixed income, mixed tenure development, I would say that the Minister has indicated he is open to all suggestions in terms of the action plan for housing so we will certainly bring it back and put it into the mix. On the research, I do not have the details of the international research here now but what I would say in response to all of the concerns that have been voiced here about sustainable communities is that the concept is not intended as a straitjacket, it is a guideline to be applied pragmatically and what we really want to do is avoid over-concentration of monotenure and mono-income estates, as Deputy Coppinger mentioned. I acknowledge that there are successful examples of local authority housing estates, which have worked well. It is not just about planning and infrastructure, it is also about management of housing estates and we are very much aware of that.

In many cases where the local authority housing estates have been successful, they have been in a broader context of being surrounded by other mixed-tenure and mixed-income areas.

Regarding the 18-month to two-year process, rather than putting a timeline on how long the approval process might take, I would be more focused on outcomes. My hope would be that we will achieve the targets. I am confident we will achieve the targets I outlined earlier - the numbers of starts that will be in place at the end of this year and the number of those that will be in place by the end of 2017, as we foresaw and as we funded back in 2015.

Regarding how many projects are approved, our records show that there are 16 live capital projects in the Dublin City Council area, for example, with over 600 units under way. Deputy O'Dowd said the needs of people who are homeless are not being acknowledged. However, in fact all our efforts in terms of social housing strategy are about meeting the needs of people who are homeless.