Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Please do not try to say we do not have it. We have engaged with the local authority to ask it to bring forward proposals for all these different sites. On some sites there has been an application for funding from the local infrastructure fund; that will be announced at the end of the month and I hope some of the sites in Louth will be able to benefit so we can activate these sites. Most of the housing projects that have been committed to are being done in conjunction with or through Louth local authority. There is a total of 594 houses already in play but I am not in any way saying that is enough. We want much more than that and we have engaged with local authorities on the issue. We have made it clear the funding is there to develop this pipeline of houses. We will use land banks of public lands but we want to see more housing. We have said that to the council in Louth.

Contrary to the Deputy's opinion, we had a very constructive meeting with all the councillors, including those from the Deputy's party, on two occasions. All the questions would have been answered and dealt with and they were probably surprised by some of the responses. I totally accept that Sinn Féin claims it wants to build more social housing, although I have not seen funding for that.

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