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

That is a coincidence, but it is helpful that it was concluded yesterday so I can answer him today in this way. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will make an address on this matter later this morning. It is pertinent to the next question tabled by Deputy O'Brien as well in terms of the cost-evaluation programmes.

Local authorities do not want this and the proof is in the fact that 280 projects could have gone through the first stage of the approvals process but only 45 did. They prefer the four-stage process. We have streamlined the four-stage process down to 59 weeks but now local authorities such as Wicklow County Council are getting it down to 44 weeks. We will continue to streamline the process and to improve and reform it. Among the things that we have done is an internal specification for local authority housing that can be taken off the shelf by local authorities, but also an internal specification not for the facade or front of the home but for the actual layout. If one is going to build 30 homes or 20 homes plus step-down facilities or elderly housing, there are now external layout specifications that can be taken off the shelf by local authorities to help them drive things more quickly. We are moving the housing delivery office into the County and City Management Association, CCMA, which is another important reform that will put the delivery of social housing at the centre of local government again.

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