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

In response to Deputy Durkan, we now have a framework for rapid-build housing. I understand that Kildare County Council has been asked to fully exploit the potential of rapid-build housing, but it needs to come back with projects. We now have a central tendering list that has been agreed for companies that have the capacity for modular construction, which is essentially offsite construction, and then they put very good quality houses together. We will see a considerable amount of private and social housing built through offsite construction. I know of at least one facility in County Kildare that has the capacity to do that.

If there are opportunities for Kildare County Council to build social housing projects in a more rapid format, the framework is there to do it now. We will approve the projects if they are good enough and if they are cost effective. There is no excuse now for local authorities not to use rapid-build technologies to build social housing. There is a framework to do it and we want to support it.

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