Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 44: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the impact that the downturn in the construction industry will have on the provision of social and affordable housing; the number of units he expects under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 for the next six months; if he is examining alternative methods of delivering social and affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27673/08]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Delivery of homes under Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2006 is, necessarily, subject to a number of variables. These include the volume of housing development for which planning permission is granted, the finalisation of individual agreements between local authorities and developers, the timing of commencement and phasing of individual developments and the general level of activity within the sector itself.

Local authorities have been advised from the outset of Part V to conclude agreements with developers at the earliest possible stage to ensure that housing to be provided under agreements is delivered in a timely manner. Accordingly, most of the homes that are delivered this year under Part V will be as a result of agreements reached with developers up to 12 months ago, or longer in some cases, and should therefore not be impacted by the recent reduction in residential development activity generally.

While it is difficult to predict precisely the likely future output from Part V in any given period, particularly because of timing factors, I expect that Part V delivery this year will exceed the 3,246 homes delivered through this mechanism in 2007. It will, therefore, continue to play a significant part in achieving progress towards the ambitious targets for social housing and for the delivery of affordable homes set in the national social partnership agreement, Towards 2016. I expect that it will be later in 2009 before the recent reductions in overall housing output begin to impact on Part V delivery. In terms of planning for future delivery, consideration is being given to the enhancement of the existing affordable housing mechanisms by introducing a new affordable housing product based on an equity loan arrangement.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

An incremental purchase scheme, targeted at households with an income lower than that required for affordable housing, is also being advanced.

In terms of the broader social housing programme, a wide range of supply options are available to local authorities. Apart from Part V, these include design-build contracts, acquisitions, public private partnerships, turnkey projects and lease options under the rental accommodation scheme, as well as the traditional construction contracts tendered by authorities. The potential for new and innovative approaches to delivery and funding of housing programmes is kept under review by my Department on an ongoing basis.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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There is a major problem with supply in the affordable housing area. I refer to the PPPs and the breakdown in the five McNamara PPPs with Dublin City Council. It is the young and the most vulnerable who are waiting. Some 8,000 people are on the Dublin City Council waiting list, 3,056 people on the affordable housing list in——

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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A question, please.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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——South Dublin County Council, 4,500 on the affordable housing list in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and 750 people on the affordable housing list in Fingal County Council. We want to see new thinking in this area.

The Minister stated recently that if councils are not using the money hoarded to build houses under Part V, he will confiscate it. The Minister might advise us how much money has been taken from local authorities that have not produced the goods or delivered on Part V. What other measures is he taking to ensure Dublin City Council reopens its affordable housing list?

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Flanagan referred to PPPs and the regeneration projects, which are the subject of a Private Members' motion last night and tonight. I made a statement on this situation last night. We are in consultation with Dublin City Council and I hope to meet it in the coming week to discuss this issue. I have met one of the groups involved and will meet with the other two this week.

Regarding Part V, we have not received the housing assessment needs from the Dublin county councils yet. We have received responses from 51 of 88 local authorities but none of the Dublin local authorities has responded. All were to be in by 31 May but we have not received them. We sent a further request for them to be delivered as soon as possible. We will then be in a better position to know the overall situation.

The question refers to other options that I did not address in my reply. I am bringing forward initiatives in the equity loan and incremental schemes. There are major opportunities for people under these schemes, which will hopefully be included in the housing Bill we will bring forward.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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In the context of this question and providing social and affordable housing, there is great apprehension about funding for the Limerick regeneration project. I would like the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, to state that the Government is committed to providing funding, the amount of funding in 2009 and that people in Limerick can be assured that funding can be provided. The regeneration project is important to Limerick and the people living in the areas concerned.

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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This was the subject of a question I answered in the House some weeks ago. Off the top of my head, some €20 million was allocated to this project in 2008.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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It is €10 million. A sum of €10 million is in the budget.

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I am not sure of the figure but I will provide a definite figure to the Deputy. The budgetary situation in 2009 has not been decided yet and it is a matter for discussion about all projects and housing developments for 2009.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Do I gather from that response that the Minister of State is committed to providing the funding and will specify the amount of funding? The Government announced this project amid fanfare. Is the Minister of State committed to providing the funding?

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to the Limerick regeneration project. It would be inappropriate for me to give any figure for 2009, which I do not have at this stage.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Is the Minister of State committed to providing the funding?

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I stated that the Government is committed to the Limerick regeneration project.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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What about funding?

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Obviously, if the Government is committed to the project, it must be funded.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Will it be Government funding?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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That is beyond the scope of the question.

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of applicants for social housing, by local authority, and in total in tabular form; the steps being taken by him to ensure that the number of people on social housing waiting lists is reduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27578/08]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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A statutory assessment of housing need is carried out every three years by all housing authorities. The last assessment took place in 2005 and indicated that there were 43,684 households on local authority housing waiting lists. Detailed information on this assessment is available on my Department's website. Local authorities are currently carrying out the 2008 statutory housing needs assessment, the results of which will be published in due course.

Information on housing need, broken down by housing authority, has been a major consideration in the allocation of Exchequer resources for the national social housing investment programme. This year alone, my Department has allocated a record amount of over €1 billion to support construction and acquisitions projects by local authority across the country, with a further €200 million for regeneration and renewal projects. In addition, close to €300 million in capital grants and loan funding is being provided to support a significant programme of activity by the voluntary and co-operative housing sector.

The Government's housing policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities, and the National Development Plan 2007-2013 reflect the strong commitment to expand social housing provision contained in the social partnership agreement Towards 2016. Under the agreement, 27,000 social housing starts are to be delivered over the period 2007-09. Good progress is being made in meeting this target with some 9,000 new social housing starts achieved in 2007. The resources being made available for social housing under the National Development Plan 2007-2013 will allow for the needs of some 60,000 households to be met over the full period of the plan.

Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Why is the assessment of housing need so old? Surely this should be updated at least yearly. I am sure there are more than the 43,600 to which the Minister of State refers. The reply referred to 9,000 housing starts in 2007. From my experience as a councillor, I know this to be a meaningless statistic because it has no relationship to the houses built and allocated to people on the housing list each year. The record of the Government on housing over the past 11 years has been abysmal. The National Economic and Social Forum had a target of some 10,000 each year to get rid of waiting lists. That has never happened.

I dealt with someone last year who had been on the housing list for eight years. She lived in the most dire conditions imaginable and was suicidal. I do not want to give details but it was a situation that one would not believe. This is the kind of story that representatives come up against. People are on housing lists for years and we are throwing money away on the private rental supplement. The Government policy has been to rely on the private market to solve problems. In years gone by there was more emphasis on building social housing, which is the key.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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A question, please.

Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Will the Government do anything to fast-track the building and delivery of social housing? Now is the chance, when there are problems in the construction industry, to put construction workers building social housing in order to provide people with homes and the security that goes with it.

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The first question concerned housing assessments. The last was in 2005 and we await the return of the others. Some 65 out of 88 have been returned. That is the system at present but I take the point that it could be annual. It is a three year assessment at the moment.

The Deputy referred to my reply citing building starts. The target was 9,000 and the number of starts was 9,061. Social housing completions for 2007 are 9,469 so we are well ahead of target. My Department had a major input into the programme in 2007.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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What measures will the Minister of State take to ensure local authorities ensure all boarded up houses and any houses in disrepair are turned around as fast as possible? There are houses in my constituency which are not handed out to those on social housing lists as soon as possible. The Minister of State stated that 43,000 people are on social housing lists. How many years does he expect it will take for these people to be housed? Will the Minister of State review the remit of the affordable housing partnership and ensure it will achieve better value for money?

Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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We have approximately 5% social housing and not too long ago, perhaps 30 years ago, we had approximately 30%. Last year, we had approximately 9,000 houses but we needed 10,000 year on year for the previous five years. We need front-loaded social housing construction. Will the Minister of State ensure construction workers build these houses now so people can get roofs over their heads? It would stop the waste of money on private rented supplements and over time those people can buy their houses.

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Our target is 27,000 new homes up to 2016 and we are well on target for this, with more than 9,000 this year. With regard to the question from Deputy Flanagan, this matter was debated by the Seanad yesterday and information was relayed to us that there may be empty houses. Some local authorities tell us they are in a position to turn around the houses inside of four weeks. We will seek an audit on how many empty houses exist.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State can start in Roscommon.