Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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An issue flagged many times when I was a member of Dublin City Council was that, in essence, the Department of Social Protection saved millions of euro when the rent supplement scheme started to be phased out, but that burden was transferred, often to the local authorities in many ways, which were doing long-term leasing and other schemes. That holistic approach to housing is important. In particular as we now start to look at procurement, there is going to come a point when viability is a major issue for housing, even social housing. Last week, Dublin City Council had tenders with which it cannot proceed because the costs for social housing are deemed to be too high, yet we know the cost of not doing it is far greater. That broader aspect of how we apply value for money in housing is key.

I refer to the delay to the process that often results from value for money auditing. Local authorities would say they are almost constantly, at each stage, coming back with value for money reports, and that is adding to the overall delay in the provision of housing. Has the Department examined that issue?