James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his question.

I confirm that there are no approval lags for CREL funding. There is an approval process for funding applications to ensure compliance with the scheme conditions and value for money for the Exchequer. This is, as it should be, a requirement under public financial procedures. A necessary process should not be misrepresented as a delay.

Since July last year, the average time taken from the date the final report was submitted to the Department to the date of approval is 48 working days. In this regard, my Department has already approved more than 41 affordable housing body, AHB, projects this year, which will deliver more than 3,000 units up to 2029, while more than €400 million in CREL funding has been provided to AHBs to date in 2025. This ongoing and continued resourcing underpins the Government's commitment to the sector and I am satisfied that the approval process and support for AHBs under CREL is robust.

While my Department makes every effort to process CREL and CALF applications as quickly as possible, the size, scale, complexity and specifications of each application is significant and the assessment time required to ensure projects are viable and represent value for money can vary. In addition, where an application is for funding under both CREL and CALF, it is often the case that the applications for the two schemes are not submitted by AHBs at the same time. In such instances, clarification is sought from the relevant AHB to establish whether a project can proceed independently. Where individual progress is impossible, turnaround times can be affected. My Department encourages AHBs and local authorities to seek funding for such projects simultaneously and will take further steps, as required, to ensure this happens going forward.

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