Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. Increasing the supply of housing, particularly social and affordable housing, is a priority for me and for the Government. The programme for Government contains a commitment in respect of increasing the social housing stock by more than 50,000 units, with an emphasis on new builds. I will elaborate on that presently. In budget 2021, we backed this objective with funding of €3.3 billion for the delivery of housing.

This is the largest budget allocation for housing in the history of the State. This investment will ensure that the housing needs of over 28,500 households are met. The available funding will deliver 12,750 new social homes through build, acquisition and leasing. However, a major focus of this investment relates to the delivery of new-build homes, with an overall target of 9,500 such homes. Increased build targets will see increased local authority construction activity on local authority land. That is what the Government wants to see.

My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on social housing delivery activity. These quarterly figures are published on the statistics page of the Department's website. In addition to the statistical overview of activity in each local authority area, a detailed social housing construction status report is published which provides scheme level detail on new-build activity. The most recent publication covers the period to the end of quarter 2 of this year. The reports have been delayed due to Covid-19 as we prioritised the response on homelessness and housing delivery. However, we are currently collating this information. The statistical returns for the construction status report for quarter 3 will be completed in the coming week, certainly well in advance of the end of the year. I have asked for that to be expedited. There has been some pick-up in activity in the quarter 3. When the Deputy has finished, I will update him on that.

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