Mr. Frank Curran:

It was a combination of AHB, advanced purchase, etc. When I refer to "build", that is a combination of the delivery from the local authority and AHBs. It has been significant through the years. In 2019 it was 246, while in 2018 it was 238. It is consistent. In 2017, it was 257. Many of those were direct build. When we started getting back into social housing in 2015 or 2016, before my time, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had many schemes in place and plans drawn up and was able to use the contractor framework. In many cases, it was first out of the blocks in terms of direct build. That will continue. We have set out a target of 2,000 in total in the next five yeas. Members will see that in the housing delivery action plan. That is approximately 400 per year. We have set out exactly where in the county those units will be delivered and how they will be delivered by AHBs and ourselves and the LDA.

When we look at our programme for social and affordable for the next five years, we have sight of the social housing that we have set out in the target and agreed with the Department. We are working very hard on the affordable. I referred to what is happening with the LDA in terms of Shanganagh and the Central Mental Hospital site. We have our own schemes coming on in Ballyogan, Stillorgan and Sandyford. Those schemes are coming through in terms of affordable units. The Deputy also mentioned Cherrywood. I agree that the market is very buoyant, particularly in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. There is no question about that. There will be affordable units that will come through advance purchase. People will have to pay a significant amount of money but there is still a €100,000 subsidy from the affordable housing fund that will bring people into the affordable category. What brings more people in is where one develops on greenfield sites such as the schemes I mentioned in Stillorgan, Ballyogan, Kilternan and Shanganagh that we can develop ourselves. Where the schemes are built specifically for affordable and mixed tenure, it makes that a lot easier.

We will also have Part V schemes coming through. There is the social 10% Part V. Part V will be coming through now for affordable. In areas where the price is high - it is currently high and there is no getting away from that - one can always use cost rental as well. For cost rental, local authorities can borrow over 50 years, for example,and spread the costs over that period. It may be more effective in assisting people by having those units as cost rental rather than affordable. There is a strong pipeline. It will be set out in the delivery action plan. We will be ensuring that we have the staff and resources in place to deliver on it.