Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I take the Deputy's point. Very little housing is built directly by local authorities. One or two counties build a small amount of social and affordable housing but the bulk is built by private developers. I imagine it is intended to increase the amount of social housing built over the coming years. The numbers that will be built remain to be seen as they depend on funding. The overall housing budget this year is €2 billion, which is a considerable amount. The Government must get value for money and one would wonder whether it was doing so over recent years given the demand from the private sector. If demand reduces slightly over the next few years, we should be able to get better value for money.

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