Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have had discussions on the various processes of getting on site which we are constantly trying to improve as a major part of Rebuilding Ireland. Local authorities are the responsible authorities to do this. Their capacity was reduced by previous Governments, for reasons with which I did not agree, but we are building it up by strengthening their teams and the number of people available to them, as well as giving them funding so that they can up their game and take charge of the delivery of housing. The most recent statistics show that there are 772 developments in the pipeline, which will deliver 12,293 homes, though we have asked local authorities to increase this figure. The number of schemes at capital appraisal is 165, with 119 at preplanning and 58 at pre-tender design. The number of site starts is 191 and at site finish stage there are 147. On top of these there are acquisitions and bringing back voids and turnkey projects so activity is well up. The figures will show that next year, with up to 8,000 social houses being delivered as compared to a year ago or two or three years ago. We recognise that it is not enough and we have told local authorities to put more projects in place. This includes agreeing a new timeline for bringing projects to site and where it used to be up to five years it is now at 59 weeks, which is in line with the private sector.

See this speech in context