Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a direct question. In the event of this being adjudicated to be off-balance sheet by EUROSTAT, can the fiscal space cope with the increase in funding that would be required? The Minister of State has intimated to us that he is asking local authorities to redouble their efforts and ensure that they are the lead agency regarding the provision of houses and that funding is not an issue or an obstacle to them becoming that lead agency and providing the sort of units and numbers of units we deserve. That is one thing. It is the public pronouncement we hear week after week but if we look at the facts associated with the Government's programme, we will see that 76% of what is being built in quarter 2 of 2017 is by AHBs. With regard to sites that have commenced in quarter two of 2017, 63% are by AHBs and with regard to what is being tendered for, the percentage relating to AHBs is 73%, so the facts do not bear out the Minister of State's pronouncements. The facts will have to come into line with pronouncements eventually.

If, despite the Minister of State's pronouncements, commitments and what he has told us on a continuous basis, there is no capacity there to address this then let us find a different way to proceed. The Minister of State spoke about re-purposing NAMA at one time with a view to it possibly contracting builders to provide local authority houses and for them to be leased over 70 years or whatever the case may be, but we have heard no more about that. We heard in the budget about €750 million being provided for builders to provide social housing units but we have heard no more about that either. The Government might be getting the kickback in respect of its announcements but the people on the ground are not seeing results. We are not seeing action to match the rhetoric.

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