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

I thank Deputy McAuliffe for the work he continues to do on the housing committee with colleagues in government on delivering very important legislation such as the Affordable Housing Act and the Land Development Agency Act that enables us to ensure 2022 is a year of delivery. As the Deputy knows, under our housing strategy we aim to deliver 300,000 new homes between now and the end of the decade. This includes 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes, while tackling the issues of vacancy and putting our existing stock back into use.

Under Housing for All each local authority is required to prepare a housing delivery action plan setting out details of social and affordable housing delivery in the period from 2022 to 2026. This includes information on the location where the housing will be delivered, in addition to information on planned delivery streams and delivery in the preceding years. In September 2021, I issued social housing targets to each local authority setting out building targets over the next five years, while exiting out of leasing and reducing the amount of acquisition. The main focus under Housing for All is delivering new homes through new build.

In developing these housing delivery plans, each local authority was required to assess the demand in its area for affordable and social housing under the housing needs demand assessment and to plan provision accordingly. In December I received a plan from Dublin City Council, including Deputy McAuliffe's area. The Department is working through it with the housing delivery co-ordination office and reviewing the plan to make sure it will hit the targets we need, having regard to the policy objectives we have set out with the Deputy's assistance in Housing for All.

The review will require further engagement in the short term with the city council and this will be done in the coming weeks. The Department worked closely with Dublin City Council to increase the supply of housing in the constituency of Dublin North-West and throughout the area of Dublin City Council. We expect to have the work concluded on Dublin City Council's housing delivery plan in the coming weeks.

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