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

I thank the Deputy for his follow-up question. I do not inspect the properties myself. I have engaged with the Housing Agency and with my officials who have been in constant engagement on this issue and am satisfied, as Minister, that everything that can be done is being done. We must recognise that this is an acquisition programme over a three year period with the aim of securing 1,600 homes. As I said earlier, bids have been accepted on over 900 homes to date, so a huge amount of work has already been done.

I will give the Deputy a more detailed breakdown of what has happened with regard to the 3,967 homes that were offered initially. The local authorities themselves were interested in 2,742 of those homes. This figure was reduced to 2,163 when some of the homes were withdrawn by the vendors. The Housing Agency placed bids on 1,492 homes and to date, 939 of those bids have been accepted. Contracts have been signed for 552 of those bids. A final decision is awaited on a further 97 and an additional 194 were withdrawn by the vendor. When one looks at the amount of properties that were available to the Housing Agency and in which the local authorities were actually interested, the percentage secured is actually very large. A huge amount of work has been done and that work continues in terms of bidding and the negotiations that are already underway. It is a fantastic programme because it enables us to acquire homes that have already been built and to get them into use for social housing, with the co-operation of the AHBs. That work is happening.

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