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

Whereas I need to be careful about what I say in the context of how we draw down funding, in particular in the context of the European Union fiscal rules because the Ministers for Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance are primarily responsible for that, I can certainly comment on social housing. We are using a series of new approaches to drive delivery. We have already committed €5.35 billion in our investment programme for social housing which will contribute an extra 47,000 social houses units to the social housing stock in the next four to four and half years.

To put that into context, it will increase our social housing stock by nearly 30% over a four-year period. It is a very significant investment commitment and one of the very few multi-annual commitments the Government has made in order to respond to the social housing need with the required level of urgency.

Most Members of the House would accept that there was an over-reliance on the private sector, in particular the private rental sector, to solve the needs of social housing and families who needed State intervention. We are looking to correct that, while at the same time supporting many individuals and families in the private rental sector. It is a combination of Part VII. I remind the Deputy that in the past developers were given the opportunity to buy out of their Part VII responsibilities, which is no longer the case.

We have dramatically increased funding and encouraged AHBs to build more, something to which they are responding well. We have ramped up the capacity of local authorities to deliver in a much more ambitious way than we have seen for at least a decade. Things are moving in the right direction. The Deputy will see the numbers being delivered.

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