Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to correct one thing the Minister said. The target in Rebuilding Ireland is not to reach 25,000 units by 2020 and 2021. The target in the plan is to "ensure that an average of 25,000 homes are produced every year in the period to 2021". That is what Rebuilding Ireland says. Nobody expected 25,000 units in 2016, 2017 or 2018 so what the target suggests is that, as it ramps up, about midway through the plan, the 25,000 is passed and is then exceeded in the years thereafter.

On the basis of that target - it is a direct quote - the Government is 43% behind halfway through the plan. Somebody changed the wording of my question and it does not reflect the original wording. In order to meet that key Rebuilding Ireland target, the Government must increase output annually to somewhere close to 35,000 units. Either the Minister has changed the Rebuilding Ireland target and not told anybody, or else he must explain to the House how, if the Government is to reach that crucial target, it will get to 35,000 units per year between now and 2021, which is what would be required to meet the target set in the plan.

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