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

I thank the Deputy and his colleagues for the very kind welcome to Limerick. I very much appreciated the band; that was a nice touch.

Delivery is key in everything that we do. Rebuilding Ireland is our plan but it has to be delivered. We do not just release a policy and step back from it. That is why we started this housing summit model to bring the local authority chief executives in. I also meet with the housing body CEOs and the voluntary sector and NGOs to talk about how we are going to resolve this housing and homelessness crisis.

Turnkey type estates are exactly the way we should be going with local authorities where it makes sense. We are rolling out a national turnkey campaign to take advantage of existing sites and builders who are willing to build a cluster of 30, 40 or 50 homes that we can then bring in for social, affordable and private use.

Other infrastructure is, of course, key. Thankfully, one of the key responsibilities I have under my Department is Irish Water and making sure it is working in tune with our housing policies so there is no delay in opening up a new land bank because it has not been serviced by the appropriate water infrastructure. The point about broadband is very well made. It is something that myself and the Minister, Deputy Naughten have discussed, not only in the context of what we are doing today in housing but also in the context of the future housing needs of our population. At least 550,000 new homes are needed between now and 2040. We need to make sure we are progressing our plans for things like broadband and other key infrastructure at the same time.

In respect of a potential skills shortage, I have discussed it with the Construction Industry Federation.

I am keen on particular programmes which get people from long-term unemployment back into developing construction skills and having jobs. I was at one recently which had taken a group of ten people from long-term unemployment, one from homelessness, and over the course of a three to four week programme had given them a course on construction skills. All were employed and starting on sites the following week. It is also worth noting new technologies relating to prefabrication, which we call rapid build but which has a host of other names, including modular homes. These will help since not as many people will be needed on site as were traditionally needed in the past so that we can meet the housing need without needing as many people, but we still need people to have the requisite skills.

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