David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I am happy the Ceann Comhairle's office selected this matter and the Minister of State is here to respond. I have been looking through the Housing for All local authority affordable housing delivery targets. The number is 189 for Cork County Council between 2022 and 2026, which does not seem very ambitious. In many other counties the number is higher and, for example, Fingal has a target of 981. Straight away, this begs the question as to how come there will be so few houses built in the Cork County Council area.

I also notice a number of applications have been made to the Department. There were four made in February. The most recent response I got from the Department, and the Minister of State might have something new to add today, is that the Department is still assessing these. As they cannot move on until that is done, why is it taking so long? It is quite frustrating when we see first a low number and then the amount of time it takes for something to go through the bureaucracy to get clearance to start work on the houses. One cannot just flick a switch with this and the parties involved need to get planning permission, go for tendering, appoint a builder and all that goes with it. In the middle of that there may be objections to the building.

This brings me to a second point. I know the Minister of State is familiar with the Midleton area, where I am from, for all kinds of reasons. It has the N25 between Carrigtohill and Midleton, which is supposed to be upgraded. It is an extraordinarily busy road, with 30,000 car movements per day. It is very dangerous and there are some crossings across the carriageway that are very dangerous. There have been some accidents. There are slip roads into the carriageway that are very short and I have seen very close misses and accidents around them. The former Amgen site is at one end of it, with 64 ha of prime IDA Ireland land that cannot be used because the road is not fit for purpose. We are supposed to build 6,000 houses at another end of it in time.

A number of applications were made recently to build houses at the location but Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, objected because the road is not up to standard. Two of the affordable housing proposals are in that area and they will not go ahead either because the road is not up to standard. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has blocked work on the road, which means all this planned housing is at risk. That will be a huge challenge.

The water supply plant for Midleton is at capacity and we are waiting for Irish Water to put down pipes and do a job on that. We are told it will be done by the end of next year, maybe, but again nothing can happen and we cannot build a doghouse in the town. Mitchelstown is in the same position until this is done. That is another constraint.

There are many such worries and constraints but at the same time I have people contacting me every day wanting to know how to get or build a house. There is a local authority home loan scheme, and this was raised yesterday evening by Deputy Colm Burke during Question Time as well. I support him in doing that as it is an extraordinarily slow and bureaucratic scheme. It is very frustrating as well. I know people with good incomes who have been refused on that scheme. Other people want to do up properties over a shop and they have been refused and so on. They are not told the reasons for the refusal. That must be sorted out too.

There are many issues that can and should be tackled. I ask the Minister of State to ensure that will happen so we can get this process moving.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. He has asked me to pass on his apologies to the Deputy for being unavailable to take this matter himself.

The Housing for All strategy delivers on the programme for Government commitment to step up housing supply and to put affordability at the heart of the housing system, with an ambitious target of 300,000 homes to be built over the next decade, including social, affordable and cost-rental, private rental and private ownership housing. In the Housing for All policy from 2022 to 2026, the Minister has targeted more than 28,000 affordable homes to be delivered by local authorities, approved housing bodies, AHBs, the Land Development Agency, LDA, and through a strategic partnership between the State and retail banks.

Local authorities have been asked to prepare housing delivery action plans. To address affordable housing needs in these plans, each local authority was asked to assess the level of housing demand with affordability constraints projected for their areas based on the housing need and demand assessment, HNDA, tool, and to plan their provision accordingly. Local authorities with a strong and identified affordable housing need, including Cork County Council, were asked to prepare specific affordable delivery action plans. An identified high-level housing need arises where the HNDA indicates that, of the total projected need for housing in the county, more than 5% of new households will not qualify for social housing and will also be constrained in assessing housing by their ability to afford to buy or rent.

Through the various delivery streams it has activated, the Government aims to provide over 28,000 affordable homes by the end of 2026. Five-year delivery targets for local authority-led or arranged delivery were issued to relevant local authorities, including Cork County Council, for 2022 to 2026, amounting to just over 7,500 homes. In addition to the targeted local authority delivery, further affordable housing will be delivered by AHB cost-rental schemes, LDA schemes on State lands and via Project Tosaigh and the first home affordable purchase equity scheme, which will be launched shortly and available nationwide until 2026.

The targets set for local authority delivery are aligned with the level of affordable housing need arising in these areas and as determined by the HNDA tool. Of course, where local authorities, including Cork County Council, have identified a demand and can secure delivery of a higher number of affordable housing units in an area, additional delivery supported by the affordable housing fund, AHF, is welcome. The funding to assist local authority and AHB delivery of affordable housing for purchase and rent is made available by the Government, through the AHF, previously known as the serviced sites fund, SSF, and the cost-rental equity loan, CREL, scheme.

The Minister's Department recently received four applications from Cork County Council, as Deputy Stanton said, for a subsidy to support housing schemes with affordable housing provision. Two of these applications are for sites situated in Clonakilty, and one each in Kinsale and Mallow. If approved, these projects will cumulatively assist in the delivery of 337 affordable houses, 277 of which will be for affordable purchase, while the remaining 60 will be cost-rental homes. The assessment process for these schemes is nearing completion and the Minister's Department will be writing to Cork County Council soon regarding these four applications.

One of Deputy Stanton's questions was why this process was taking so long. Housing delivery action plans are now being revised and updated by local authorities in light of the targets set and other ongoing engagement and clarifications. I expect these will be ready for publication by the local authority shortly. Cork County Council's plan will provide a comprehensive overview of the assessed need for affordable housing and projected delivery across County Cork.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response. I highlight again, however, that these applications were submitted in February, some four months ago now. I am told that some clarifications were required regarding the applications, but it is still strange that it is taking this long for approval to be given. This is another delay, and I hope the process will be completed soon. What does "shortly" mean? Does it refer to weeks, months or whatever? Perhaps the Minister of State might use her good offices to make this happen.

I will restate the other issues I raised that the Minister of State did not respond to. I refer to the Irish Water constraints. These are of great concern. Again, hopefully, the people in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will ensure that the work is done. It should be done much faster than it is being stated it will be. Anyway, it is supposed to be finished by the end of 2023, which will give people a target if they wish to build houses in the area.

The situation with the N25 concerns me a great deal. I spoke to people in the local authority and they are worried that all these ambitious targets the Minister talks about in the area, including the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, etc., may not be realised because of the constraints impacting the N25 road infrastructure. It is already at capacity and under pressure, and dangerous as I said already. I was disappointed that the Department of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, decided to pull the plug on that project, having spent €1.2 million on feasibility studies and consultants etc., to come up with a preferred route option.

These are important issues. People are crying out for housing, as we know. It is the number one issue in all our constituencies and there is an opportunity to address the issue in my area. We have the rail network to Midleton, which is fantastic. When that was established, the agreement with the county council was that the land on all sides would be zoned to make it feasible to have the population density to make this rail line work. The track is soon going to be electrified and trains will be coming to east Cork every 15 minutes, which is fantastic. If we cannot build houses, though, because of these other constraints, then we are going to be in trouble. Therefore, I again ask the Minister of State to use her good offices to get this process moving.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy again for the points he raised. I will pick up on some of the aspects mentioned, starting with Irish Water. We hear about these challenges, and I hear about them in my constituency as well. In fairness to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, significant funding was allocated to Irish Water. I think it is €1.5 billion annually for the next four years to enable the company to address these issues. We must have the correct infrastructure in place, whether that is for wastewater or water supply, to allow housing to be successful. The provision of water services is a key enabler to allow any housing development to go ahead and we agree completely on this point.

Turning to the other issue regarding the N25, I know the road well. Living in a neighbouring county, it is a road we use often. I take on board what the Deputy said in this regard, and concerning the importance of being able to provide affordable housing and cost-rental homes for people in all parts of the country, but specifically in east Cork as the Deputy stated. The Minister takes this issue very seriously. I take on board what Deputy Stanton said and I will feed his points back to the Minister's office. Regarding the Deputy's question concerning why this process is taking so long, four proposals were made, as the Deputy said, in respect of sites in Clonakilty, Kinsale and Mallow, and, if approved, they will cumulatively assist in the delivery of 337 affordable homes, of which 277 will be for affordable purchase and the remaining 60 will be cost-rental homes. I thank the Deputy for his time.