Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

A broad spectrum of housing needs must be met and the Government has actively responded by increasing the level of social and affordable housing. In the first four years of the national development plan, more than €5.2 billion was spent on social and affordable housing, which is ahead of the forecast. That helps those in the low income bracket. Under the full range of social and affordable housing measures, the housing needs of 13,600 people were met last year compared to the needs of 8,500 people five years earlier. That is the highest figure in housing provision in the past 15 years. Last year, there was increased activity under the affordable housing scheme, with more than 1,500 units completed. The combined output of the 1999 affordable housing scheme and the 2003 shared ownership scheme was more than 2,500 units. That is higher than forecast in the national development plan.

The answer to Deputy Rabbitte's question on planning legislation is "Yes". When the changes to the housing scheme were made in 2001, developers were allowed to complete existing planning applications. As the Deputy will recall, the matter caused an outcry in the House and I had to answer questions on it on many occasions. Due to the arrangements under Part V, developers held back and there was a risk that the housing supply would dramatically decrease that year. We could not allow that to happen and we allowed the existing applications to continue. The quid pro quo was that the developers would move on the land and build, which they did and a record number of houses has been built. In future, however, Part V must be complied with and we will see more of such developments. It was the Government's wish that it would work the other way, but that did not happen.

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