Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

On affordable housing, the total potential yield of housing units under the affordable housing initiative is over 10,000. This is positive as it represents a greater figure than that originally set out. There is now an injection of extra State resources for the purpose of moving the scheme on as quickly as we can. Mr. Des Geraghty has issued his second report which has been helpful in this endeavour. The mortgage market has been opened up. Bank of Ireland has already made an announcement in this regard and other institutions will follow. This will help first-time buyers by minimising the amount of the deposit required, which was one of the difficulties.

Public investment in the affordable housing scheme will now be supported by legislation giving effect to a claw-back arrangement designed to prevent profiteering and facilitating direct sale. The issue now is to move ahead and get the houses built. The planning process for a number of developments has begun. Those at Finglas Road, Flemington in Balbriggan, Blessington, St. James's Road, Infirmary Road and Brickens are at an advanced stage in the procurement process and will start this year.

We are also considering the possibility of land swaps because an issue we are encountering is that a number of housing units are available in the private sector. Advertisements have been placed for the Harcourt Street site, which is the most advanced. The developer or builder will get that site in return for a specific number of completed houses, which will be assigned to designated people through the local authority system. I have been encouraging this imaginative approach which avoids the delay necessitated by the planning process and so on.

By this means, instead of undergoing a process which generally takes a number of years, we can obtain units that are already built. The land is then transferred to the builder in exchange and he or she then takes responsibility for the planning process in regard to private dwellings to be constructed on that land. In this way, the units go straight to the people. Proper procedures and rules must be adhered to, but it is the fast way of dealing with this.

Mr. Geraghty's third report will monitor the effectiveness of the delivery mechanism structure employed by the local authorities and the alternative fast-tracking strategies and communications strategies applied both centrally and within each local authority area. He is also engaged with the relevant bodies in regard to other direct costs incurred by affordable housing applicants, such as conveyance costs. The delivery of units through the planning and construction process takes time and may encounter difficulties. The contact group which is overseeing the initiative has been examining alternative strategies that can be used to expedite the delivery of units. I have mentioned one of these but other approaches are under consideration.

I understand all local authorities which have sites under this initiative are examining them to determine the feasibility of their use as land-swap options. I hope this will speed up the process as against undergoing the lengthy and sometimes painful ways of dealing with these issues.

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