Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am informed by councillors that last year some local authorities undertook tender processes known as competitive expressions of interest. I sought information from many local authorities and I would hope to have it soon. I asked if they could definitively lay out to us with regard to their efforts to seek expressions of interest how many proposals were put before them, how many were accepted, how many were refused and why they were refused. This is in order for the Minister and his Department to adjudicate properly and effectively on that process. It would help us to find out where they have moved since and why they have not moved any further. It would create an opportunity to provide us with the tools to break down these obvious logjams.

I said earlier today that Rebuilding Ireland was produced with the best of intent and with a wide-ranging consultation process with all stakeholders and with the committee here with a view to addressing the issue once and for all. Unfortunately, however, in the actual implementation of it, we are falling down in getting from the expressions of interest to building on the ground. The Government has said that 8,500 social housing units are under construction, but the Minister of State and I both know that there are certain schemes within that figure that are two years in the making and they still have not broken any ground on site. That is why we need to find a way of addressing that. People may get behind us.

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