Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

The mistake is regularly made, when viewing output under Part V, of simply applying a percentage to the total overall housing output to determine the Part V contribution. While some people make that mistake, others, including Deputy Gilmore, encourage a misreading of the provision. This has led many to jump to erroneous conclusions and make wild pronouncements about what Part V should achieve.

The affordable housing strategy being rolled out by the Government will deliver 17,000 homes over the coming three years. This will not be at the expense of social housing because some 60,000 households will benefit under the measures committed to in the housing policy framework and Towards 2016.

We have also implemented the NESC recommendation to develop active land management strategies and these are now a companion piece to the multi-annual housing action plans that are designed to deliver an integrated and holistic response to housing need. More broadly, we are exploring the feasibility of introducing a "use it or lose it" scheme that could entail compulsory acquisition of land for housing purposes at below market value in specified circumstances.

The Government has put coherent and connected policies in place to address the current and future demands of the housing sector. We are providing resources for expanding programmes and, importantly, we have projects in place to deliver them. We focus on the delivery of homes, rather than mere aspirations.

The purchase of a home is the largest transaction most people undertake. Therefore, we are taking action on a number of fronts to improve consumer information and protection. In this regard, the auctioneering and estate agency review group report to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, published in October 2005, contained a number of valuable recommendations that will impact positively on the housing sector and be of particular benefit to consumers.

A key recommendation of the review group was that a new property service regulatory authority be established to regulate the auctioneering and estate agency businesses and related matters, including regulation of property managing agents and property letting agencies, which have not been subject to regulation up to now. I am glad to say that action to implement the review group recommendations is well under way. Legislation to regulate property services, including the establishment and role of the property services authority, is in the course of preparation by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Arrangements for the early establishment of the authority and its structures are already under way.

The review group also looked at the issue of gazumping. Deputies will be aware that this issue has been examined in some detail by a number of agencies, including a law reform study as far back as 1999.

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