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

It is important to say we are ahead of target for 2016. The target for delivery across build, acquisition and long-term leasing for social housing in 2016 had been 4,240. The actual number was 1,000 more than that. This year, we obviously need to try to stay ahead of target as best we can. The Deputy, since he knows the local authority system, knows as well as I do that some local authorities are better than others at delivering with a sense of urgency. My job is to work in partnership with the local authorities to ensure the delays are not in my Department and to address in as timely a manner as possible any barriers, delays or issues slowing down approvals and the movement from approval and tendering to building. That will involve a combination of measures, from streamlining the planning system and new technologies for rapid-build solutions to getting approvals a lot faster in my Department through having face-to-face meetings rather than e-mails and letters. All this is happening but it takes a little time to build capacity in the system and essentially go from building virtually no local authority houses to building as many as we need to build annually. We are in the process of gearing up towards achieving a much more respectable figure.

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