Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

If that is the case, why would the Minister not say he has a target for new-build social homes? Again, this is a scheme that he funds and a scheme that local authorities and approved housing bodies deliver, some in conjunction with the Land Development Agency. It makes no sense to say that we do not need targets for cost rental and affordable purchase but we do for social housing. Again, it is a very simple question. There were clear targets for next year, some of which the Minister shared with us in the committee only a matter of months ago. My question, which the Minister has not answered, is very simple. Why is there no target for cost rental over the six years? Why is there no target for affordable purchase over the six years? Why is the Minister not accepting that in addition to not producing enough of these homes, increasingly they are unaffordable? Targets are important. They are particularly important for Government schemes funded by the Minister's Department. It allows him to plan, to programme and to be held to account. It sounds like the Minister has effectively abandoned the very meagre targets for cost rental and affordable purchase schemes that his predecessor had in his plan because this Minister knows that cannot be met, and rather than be embarrassed by his failure, he is simply ditching the targets altogether. Frankly, that is not good enough.

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