Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 28 February 2019

Public Accounts Committee

2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government

9:00 am

Ms Jackie Maguire:

In Meath, the amount of housing we are allocating under all the measures is slightly higher than the number of people joining the housing list. The impact of the Part V acquisitions is having a very positive effect on certain cohorts of household, especially families of three or more. With regard to housing a family in a three-bedroom house, we are eating into that when we were not in the past. The area that we see as a challenge is single accommodations, including predominantly single male applicants on the list. The emphasis and priority at present is on families, family structures and getting family homes built. We had a gap of not building housing for many years and we have seen a very positive impact in the last three years relating to that family cohort. I suspect the challenge for us will be similar across other local authorities and relates to single accommodations that we need to start building again.