Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

The Deputy knows that from legislation NAMA is required to have a commercial mandate for all activities. Notwithstanding this, I was very pleased with the meeting a week ago with the chairman and CEO of NAMA, when we outlined our requirements with regard to compliance with our business plan. Social housing lists are foremost in our minds in this respect. Many single families could be easily housed in some of the apartments in the major urban areas.

With regard to housing issues, my Department outlined very clearly to NAMA the importance of securing a social dividend from the overall NAMA process. There is also the reorientation of housing policy away from reliance on local authority new builds and acquisition to a more flexible delivery option, including leasing and rental accommodation schemes. There is an increasingly prominent role for approved housing bodies in overall social housing delivery. NAMA has been in touch with the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency in the past few days to identify properties and see where we can make progress on leasing options.

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