Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did not hear the very last thing the Deputy said but funding is available to local authorities, when they ask for it, to fund certain projects. Wexford County Council went way beyond its targets last year, thankfully, and successfully did so in respect of both its build and its acquisition. We encourage that when it makes good sense and is good value. Certainly if there is targeted housing for someone with a disability, that is something we encourage. We have also encouraged local authorities to work with private sector housing if there are already social housing tenants in those houses.

I am surprised at the reply the Deputy received. I did not fully hear the wording of what he read out. It was a little bit different from what he said at the start but we will certainly check it out. The Deputy can be very clear that we will talk to Wexford County Council. In respect of any delays on sites, we have a housing delivery unit that troubleshoots where there are problems on certain sites. The Deputy is bringing it to my attention now and it is news to me that there is a delay of six months. It is a little bit different now as the Deputy is saying it is a private site, not a council site, for a turnkey. That is fine, we will check it out. I would just say that the local authority has not come to us with a site that was delayed for six or seven months. Measures were put in place with Irish Water last summer by the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to make sure this would not happen as it caught up and it should not be happening again.

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