Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I might, if there is a detailed follow-up, ask the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Damien English, to contribute.

We discussed the report in Cabinet this week. Effectively, the report endorses what the Government has been doing, particularly with regard to Ireland 2040 and medium-term planning to make sure we see the next phases of residential development in Ireland happening on the basis of proper and good planning as opposed to being driven by individual developers on the basis of what sites they can access and so on. We have undertaken an audit of all available public land for housing throughout the country. Every local authority has been asked to report comprehensively on it. I remember it clearly during my time in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. We are now putting pressure on to make sure we maximise the potential of those, whether it is social housing, social housing and private combined, a public private partnership or affordable housing schemes. That is exactly what is happening now. What the Government is doing, I am glad to say, has been endorsed by and large by the NESC report that was published this week.

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