Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not agree with very much else the Deputy said, but I do agree with her last point, namely, that local authorities have to return to building houses. That is a critical element of the approach of the Government to addressing and solving the issue rather than just talking about it. In 2015, 7,400 new social housing units are targeted for delivery with a further 8,400 to be delivered through the HAP scheme.

Since the strategy was published by the Minister, as I mentioned earlier, €493 million has been allocated to local authorities and approved housing bodies for the construction - I will use the word "building" which the Deputy asked me to use - and acquisition of more than 3,000 units up to 2017. In addition, we have more than €91 million worth of housing investment across a range of housing schemes to bring vacant social housing units back into productive use, which the Deputy perhaps appears to pooh-pooh but it is clearly an important aspect of what we need to do, namely, to improve housing for people with disabilities, which is critically important, and retrofit homes to improve energy efficiency, which is extremely important in the context of energy poverty. These are practical decisions and approaches that have been taken by the Government.

Approximately 4,000 households are in receipt of the housing assistance payment. It is available in 13 local authority areas-----

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