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

I thank the Deputy for the question. In the past two years since Rebuilding Ireland began, the number of people on the housing list has fallen by about 20,000. That is because local authorities throughout the country are implementing solutions to get people into social homes. As the Taoiseach mentioned earlier, we do not have an ideological objection over how they do that; we want it to happen as quickly as possible. That involves building homes, acquiring homes and long-term leasing. A number of local authorities do not have the experience necessary at the moment to meet current housing demand because previous governments outsourced their responsibility almost exclusively to the private sector. This Government has taken that responsibility back into the State and into the local authorities.

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