Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Coveney, in his capacity as Minister with responsibility for housing has dealt with this issue in great deal on numerous occasions. As Deputy Martin is aware, we have an extensive housing programme in respect of which serious allocations of money have been committed between now and 2020. There are planned programmes for the development of houses by local authorities, the private sector, housing agencies and so on. The Minister has previously set out the targets for this year. It is a case of coming from very far back with an industry that had collapsed completely. The Minister has made changes in terms of initiatives such as expediting planning permissions and opening up opportunities to public lands and sites that were inaccessible for buildings and contractors. All of this work is proceeding in parallel and simultaneously. This year, there will be significant developments in the housing sector, including from local authorities either purchasing existing houses or getting into the business of building houses in respect of which they have been allocated funds.

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