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

The issue is that we are asking the local authorities to do things a little differently.

It will not necessarily be the same as it was previously, whereby the Department has to do everything in terms of designing an affordable housing scheme and then the local authorities implement it. We are asking people to take a much more innovative approach towards building more diverse and healthier communities on publicly owned land which, in some cases, is not being used for any purpose. In some cases, the development will be 100% social housing and we will fully fund it. If that is what local authorities want to bring forward, that is fine. I am not aware that I have refused any local authority council housing projects since I became Minister. Funding is not the barrier. We are asking local authorities to look at the new housing policy that encourages mixed tenure, a mix of social, affordable, private and other specialist housing units, for elderly people in particular, such as the 81 social housing units development currently under way in Limerick city centre. It is the largest social housing site in the country.

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