John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the reply. When he launched his strategy, I was in no way critical of it, but I said that implementation would be critical. Previous replies I have received from the Minister on this have indicated there would only be €6 million and so I welcome his commitment here today to increase the scheme.

The strategy clearly recognises that these properties can be brought back more quickly than a new build. That is one of the key reasons behind it. This scheme has greater potential in 2017 and 2018 as other issues relating to planning and development of new builds begin to come back to the market. I want to see this frontloaded and driven as quickly as possible.

Specifically the Minister said he would introduce a scheme; we want to see the detail of that with - he is noted for this - specific targets for the coming two years.

In reply to me previously, the Minister indicated that he saw the scheme having the capacity to deliver 3,500 units between now and 2021. My real focus is determining what can be delivered in 2017 and 2018. These are the key years because, even with the best will in the world on the part of the local authorities in terms of building local authority houses and so forth, construction will not meet the demand at present. We must prioritise this in order to bring additional properties back into use quickly.

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