Ms Clare Costello:

I thank the Deputy for the question. What we are seeing with housing is there is going to have to be a multifaceted approach to solving the housing crisis. It is going to require both the public and private sectors working in conjunction in order to build the required houses, which the ESRI paper from last year set at approximately 33,000 per annum over the next decade. There will, therefore, be requirements for both sectors to work in conjunction with one another. On the State side that includes the local authorities, the approved housing bodies, AHBs, and the Land Development Agency, LDA, which is being established via a Bill currently going through the Houses. Members will be aware of the agency and the ambitions for it regarding the provision of housing over the next number of years. At present eight sites have been allocated to the LDA. At a ninth site, at Shanganagh, the agency is looking at the provision of almost 600 units in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. There is potential there with the LDA, with the funding it is due to get of €1.25 billion from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, to really get involved in the provision of housing from the State's perspective.