Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Substantial progress has been made towards the target of 10,000 affordable houses outlined in Sustaining Progress — I mentioned the various initiatives. There are 59 projects planned on State and local authority lands. Together with a projected 2,100 affordable units under Part V, just short of a total of 8,900 housing units are projected to be delivered. These projects are being progressed as a priority. Activity is being paralleled as necessary with a view to their earliest possible delivery.

This year we estimated approximately 500 affordable units under Part V and next year we are projecting an output of approximately 1,500 units in specific affordable housing projects. There has been progress with a number of sites. The Finglas Road site is under construction while the Bricin's Park military site has been advertised as part of the redevelopment in that area. Advertisements for expressions of interest from developers and builders were placed at the end of last month for the Jamestown Road, Inchicore, and Infirmary Road projects. There are almost 500 units in those projects.

The group is currently examining additional strategies put forward by the Construction Industry Federation, including the option of land swaps that might accelerate delivery. The services of Des Geraghty, the former president of SIPTU, have been engaged to assist the initiative. He presented a progress report to the initiative as part of the recent pay talks.

Both local authority and State lands have been identified for the initiative in Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Meath, Sligo, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow. The potential yield from the sites in the ownership of State authorities alone is almost 3,000 houses. Almost 3,900 will be developed on local authority lands and these are distributed across the country: in Clare, Cork city and county, there will be 900 units; in Dublin city and county, there are 3,800; Galway city and county have more than 500; Kerry and Kildare have 700; Meath has 450; Sligo has 130; Waterford city has 100; Wexford has 60 and Wicklow has 50.

The precise numbers will be determined in planning the projects. They may vary depending on the need to incorporate a mix of social and other facilities. It is anticipated that a further 2,000 units will be delivered to meet the needs of the target group under the Part V arrangements. That brings the total yield to approximately 8,900. That is still short of the 10,000 target but there is an ongoing effort to identify further sites. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is currently engaged in discussions with a number of Departments and State agencies in regard to those other sites and securing land.

The sites identified have the potential to yield almost 9,000 units but the precise number can only be determined when planning starts in those areas. We have to follow the rigours of the planning process and that takes time. The idea, however, is to try to incorporate a social mix and other facilities to ensure there is a good living environment in the developments. Once the initial planning phase is over, specific planning permission for the projects will have to be obtained and developers procured to deliver the projects. A number of meetings have taken place in recent months with developers to examine the projects. We are trying to ensure the process is parallel to the greatest extent possible to prevent undue delays.

See this speech in context