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

I thank the Deputy for the question. The initial response to the use of hotel accommodation was to move to rapid build as a solution for new social housing homes. As the technology has advanced, however, it is now the default position in the private sector to use rapid build. As such, we are telling the local authorities that rapid build should be the default position for every new scheme because that can be delivered far more quickly. In the coming weeks, I will announce the build targets for 2018 for every local authority. We may not distinguish in that between traditional and rapid build as we expect most to be rapid. Most houses from local authorities now should be rapid build. This is no longer a solution for a particular aspect of our housing crisis for those in homelessness. It is now the default for all builds. Where a local authority does not proceed with rapid build, we will want a good reason as to why because it takes longer. I will produce more detail on the targets in the next couple of weeks for 2018, including the allocation of an additional €500 million provided for Rebuilding Ireland in the last budget over the course of the five-year plan. Rapid is very much what we are proceeding with now for every local authority.

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