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

The changes have been made by the Central Bank and kicked in in January, but it will only be on 1 March, at the end of this week, that the mechanism to allow the credit union movement to invest in housing projects will apply. My officials are meeting both credit union bodies today and we are moving as quickly as we can. We have engaged a lot with the credit union movement because we believe in what it wants to do, but taxpayers' money of €2 billion has also been set aside this year. We have the money we need. The issue is how quickly can we build houses and make them available. We are looking to bring back into use private vacant properties if we can acquire them at the right price and restore them. We are changing the rules and mechanisms for planning and delivery times for new builds which include rapid construction. We are doing all we can to speed up the delivery of housing because we have the money we need. The new regulations will allow credit unions to invest and we welcome their involvement. The Department has engaged fully. We will work to make it happen as quickly as possible. To this end, further meetings are planned in the weeks ahead.

See this speech in context