Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A number of measures have been put in place to try to help affordability in terms of the cost of building or in the context of the ability to rent or buy on the tenant's side. I refer, for example, to the An Bord Pleanála fast-track process, the help-to-buy scheme - which was put in place for that reason, the rent pressure zones and recent changes to the apartment guidelines that are coming on stream. Some of the schemes in Dublin that will be released under LIHAF 1 and LIHAF 2 - which was also announced in the budget, with an additional €50 million in funding - will see homes coming in under the €320,000 price that I mentioned in my initial reply. A number of projects outside Dublin will have houses and apartments for sale or to rent in the price bracket to which the Deputy referred. Therefore, we will be able to bring on stream affordable housing by using the LIHAF finding in particular.

The question also mentions HBFI and the forthcoming affordable housing scheme. Legislation will need to be introduced to put HBFI in place. We are talking about that agency being in a position to provide financing in the course of next year. Depending on what sites it is financing and how quickly it can deliver those, a very small number of new houses may actually be built in 2018, followed by a complete ramping up of supply in 2019.

I will be announcing the criteria for accessing the €25 million affordability scheme for 2018 and 2019 in the coming weeks. We will work with the local authorities on the sites that will be suitable. The housing bodies will then work with us using models such as that relating to the Ó Cualann project, the representatives of which have shared their learning with the Department, to decide where those houses will be located. Again, the important thing is to get those agreements in place and to commence construction. If we can do it under the rapid-build framework, we can do it within six months. At this point, I cannot give the Deputy an exact figure for the number units to be constructed using the €25 million fund.

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