Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with all the sentiments. We must do something significant and we are doing so. Tomorrow we will announce how we will spend €5.35 billion on a social housing programme that will add 30% to existing social housing stock nationally in the next five years. It is why we have a raft of measures to bring vacant properties back into use and we have tripled the ambition of the rapid build programme initiated by the last Government. It is why, this year, we will have significantly more homeless families and individuals housed in sustainable tenancies than last year, despite the directive being in force at that time.

There is no lack of priority or ambition in responding to what the Deputy directly describe as a crisis. I am working night and day on that, as are many other people. Before answering these questions I had a meeting with the Dublin Region Homeless Executive to make sure we are on schedule with the targets we are setting for ourselves. I am asking whether having a 50% requirement on local authorities in Dublin adds to what we are trying to achieve, as opposed to allowing those authorities to judge the percentages for themselves. We will probably go beyond that prescribed percentage in certain months. It is too blunt a tool and all the evidence suggests the new approach is working better.

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