Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

As Taoiseach may be aware, I am a member of the Committee of Public Accounts. At last Thursday's meeting, we heard from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government in respect of the current housing crisis and the related figures for 2018. The Secretary General of the Department, Mr. John McCarthy, attended the meeting and, in reply to a question I posed, he stated quite categorically that the figures were clear for the breakdown of council properties, so-called turnkey properties, regeneration properties and rapid-build or modular homes, as they are known. He went on to state the Department publishes quarterly updates in this regard and rejected allegations of spin in respect of the presentation of the figures. According to the 2018 social housing output figures under local authority build, the number is listed as 2,022, but the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has bundled all of those categories and has consistently refused to give a breakdown of local authority build by individual category. At the meeting of Committee of Public Accounts last week, however, in response to questions I posed, the Secretary General finally provided a breakdown of the figures for 2018. There were 768 turnkey units and 200 regeneration properties, which leaves a total of 1,054 newly built local authority houses for 2018.

Why was there a continued blurring of numbers by the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. A number of weeks ago he appeared on "Morning Ireland" and, when asked for a breakdown, stated the figures would be available the following week. They have yet to materialise outside of the Committee of Public Accounts, they are not on the Department's website, and they have not appeared in press releases. On "Morning Ireland", Gavin Jennings grilled the Minister extensively and asked for a breakdown but those questions went unanswered. The Tánaiste and former Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, stated at one point that the Department was the most transparent Department, and the introduction to the release of the 2018 figures makes strong claims as to its transparency, but we have received the very opposite of transparency. Could it be that the reason for the reluctance to provide a breakdown of figures is that some individual councils are performing poorly? It has been said that Dublin City Council, for example, which is at the epicentre of the crisis, built only 21 houses last year. Could it otherwise be a matter of red tape? We need to know.

Will the Taoiseach provide some straight answers to the following questions? Will he confirm that the figures for new builds by local authorities, given to the Committee of Public Accounts by the Secretary General last week, are accurate? Is it correct that Dublin City Council built only 21 units in 2018? What is the breakdown by local authority of the 1,054 new builds in 2018?

See this speech in context