Mr. Kevin Kelly:

The site in Castlebar will have 25 units. As we have outlined, in order to achieve the increased ambition in our programme we need additional lands to cover around 300 units. In terms of meeting the targets that have been set for us, we need additional land for around 30 units and of that we will provide 25 units.

A scheme has been approved for Westport and we are looking at a second site as a mixed initiative between social and affordable housing. Following the initial exclusion of some counties, the Department is very open to any town making a case and coming forward with schemes. The fact that Mayo County Council has a small scheme in Westport is only a reflection of the site that we started out with as opposed to any limitation by the Department. Let us reflect on this interesting point. We conducted a survey on the affordable housing need in County Mayo. We got between 700 and 800 responses but curiously only 34 of the respondents said that they could afford a house that cost more than €200,000, which is hard to deliver in the current price scenario. That aspect is something we will develop.

It has been well rehearsed that we got additional staff under a number of different headings and programmes, including active travel and so forth. Panels have been run down very quickly. We put a pilot scheme in place especially for technicians and lower engineering grades. We exhausted that panel in a short period and had to create another panel. This has been a challenge but we are working on it to ensure we have staff in place.