Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The figures provided by the Minister of State on what is happening or under construction in Wexford are that 75 homes have been delivered in two years and 375 houses are at the planning and design stage and will be coming on stream in the near future. There is another issue that has not necessarily been dealt with in spite of the best intentions of all concerned and Deputy Ó Broin and many others will be aware of it as it was discussed at the special committee when the Dáil was formed last year, which tried to make recommendations to ensure Rebuilding Ireland would be the sort of document we hoped would address this issue. The Minister of State and the Minister refer to 10,000 units being in the construction pipeline but only 24% of those are currently on site and, therefore, most will not be built until 2021. That has to be considered in the context of what many Members would say is the unambitious target of 26,000 units by then. The stages for approval have decreased from eight to four but it still takes two years to go from a site being declared initially to units being built. What has the Government done and what will it do to ensure the procurement process is improved? That delay is one of the greatest frustrations in this area. The Minister of State replied to a question on this topic from Deputy Mattie McGrath in respect of County Tipperary. There are similar situations in my own constituency. The first application for 30 units in Tullamore went to the Department three years ago but nobody is on-site yet. The Minister of State said money is not a problem. It is not a problem if one has to wait three years for approval but it is a problem if one is to get approval in six months. I ask the Minister of State to give some indication that progress is being made and that will continue.

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