Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. I recognise his ongoing commitment to dealing with this issue, the work he has done in the Oireachtas and the parliamentary party to draw attention to the issue of housing supply and point to the terrible social costs experienced by people who are under pressure in their accommodation or in not being able to find accommodation. I am aware that he wants us to do more quickly and I am doing my best to do so. I just wanted to express my appreciation of his efforts.

The Deputy is aware that we have increased capital expenditure to meet housing needs. A recent example is the further €100 million made available before Christmas on foot of the work done by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to ensure we could invest in local housing programmes such as home hubs and to respond to the social housing needs identified by local authorities. A traditional challenge has been local authorities not drawing down the available funding to meet housing needs. I am pleased to say, however, that last year all of the funding made available for housing was drawn by local authorities. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, approached me towards the end of 2017 to say he believed there was an opportunity to invest more to ensure the programmes to which we had committed would happen. On that basis, we brought forward the Supplementary Estimate of €100 million for the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. I believe we are making progress. The Deputy and I are both aware that we want to make more progress and address the challenges. I will continue to do my best, with the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to do that and take on board the warnings and advice the Deputy offers on the issue.

See this speech in context