Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. As he will be aware, delivering increased social housing will prevent and alleviate homelessness. The National Economic and Social Council estimated 73,000 units would be needed between 2005 and 2012. However, the Government has failed to meet its target under the national development plan to provide 9,000 social housing units annually. The number of units delivered over the past two calendar years did not exceed 5,000, as Deputy Hogan stated. A shortfall of 13,000 units, therefore, has arisen between the Minister of State's commitment and delivery, which is not good enough.

Even the commitment made by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in the social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, to provide an additional 23,000 social rented dwellings over the next three years will fall well short of what is needed. Most social housing tenants pay relatively low rents and, therefore, rental income does not meet management maintenance costs. The Government needs to provide other adequate funding to cover maintenance and other essential costs. Given the lull in the housing market and the glut of apartments on the market, especially in my own constituency of Dublin North-East, what measures will the Minister of State take in conjunction with developers to ensure people who have been on local authority waiting lists for years are looked after? What new initiatives will he undertake?

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