Ms AnnMarie Farrelly:

We have taken a similar approach to what is proposed by the Land Development Agency. We are getting housing land ready for housing delivery. We use the time when the sites are being serviced to get ready to have the housing delivered. That is through the typical methodologies of joint ventures, direct delivery by the local authority and at times more active collaboration with the private sector.

We have done the site-by-site assessment of the potential of the individual sites and the constraints on the individual sites. We know the sites well which allows us to plan how those sites might be developed. Our project office takes very much a project management approach, drawing on the expertise available across the departments in the council - our housing, planning and architectural staff and then, when necessary, bringing in outside expertise to assist. It is very similar to the approach of the Land Development Agency. In Fingal we have found that the higher the number of active sites, the greater our ability to have short-term delivery. The key thing is to have more sites active. Large sites deliver at a similar pace to the smaller sites. The Land Development Agency can assist us in having more sites active. We have five key public housing sites, three of which are being progressed by us and the additional two will now come earlier to the market because of the involvement of the Land Development Agency.

The Cathaoirleach mentioned maximising the sites' potential. There is a dynamic between delivering appropriate densities and being able to deliver affordable units. The cost of the unit is key for affordability. The higher-density schemes seem to cost more. That is something we are working out. Different parts of Fingal have different affordability issues. The Castlelands site in Balbriggan will be developed by the Land Development Agency. It has the potential to deliver affordable units without much need for discounts in terms of the land value being brought to the table. That will be worked through over the coming year.

The first thing to get right is to master-plan the site, knowing what should be on the site and what can developed on the site in line with the potential constraints of that site. That is why we focus very much on ensuring a framework is in place. That framework will be used by ourselves where we are developing directly, but also by the Land Development Agency when it progresses the sites in which it is involved.

I will ask my colleague, Ms Egan, to answer the social housing questions.