Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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5. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason he decided to withdraw funding for social housing PPP bundles shovel ready this week; and the measures he will take to ensure the 3,000 social homes planned as PPPs are going to be delivered in the original timeframe. [36246/25]

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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The Minister will be well aware that he and his Department decided to withdraw funding for up to 500 social homes that were due to be delivered through public-private partnerships. Will he set out the rationale that underpins that decision and give detail on it? How many value for money assessments were undertaken before the final decision was made? Will he outline the measures to ensure the 3,000 social homes set to be delivered as PPPs will be delivered as social housing in the original timeframes?

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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It is the clear focus of this Government to increase the supply of new build social and affordable homes. As such, the decision not to proceed with the contract award for bundle 3 was not taken lightly and was made after much careful consideration of the costs involved and is ultimately the correct decision.

I cannot comment on or discuss the tendered costs for PPP bundle 3 as these numbers are part of the preferred tenderer's tender submission covered by confidentially clauses in the procurement documents and are commercially sensitive. The costs for the earlier completed PPP bundles 1 and 2 will be released in the coming months as part of the public sector benchmark process. However, I assure the Deputy that my Department, the National Development Finance Agency and the relevant local authorities remain fully committed to delivering the social housing that PPP bundle 3 was designed to provide. These 486 social homes are very much needed and remain a priority for all parties and will instead be delivered by way of an alternative procurement and delivery strategy.

I wish to highlight that the investments already made in preliminary design work and securing planning consent is not lost and will in fact facilitate delivery of the 486 homes as expeditiously as possible under a new procurement and delivery strategy. All six sites in PPP bundle 3 have full planning permission and my officials, in conjunction with the stakeholders, will now consider and agree alternative procurement and delivery strategies for these homes.

There are three sites from PPP bundle 3 with a potential of 244 social housing homes in Dublin City Council area ready for tendering though a design and build construction programme and my Department are working closely with DCC and the NDFA to advance these tenders immediately.

I want our largest local authority, Dublin City Council, to bring forward new social housing projects on its own land using the various new-build funding schemes including design and build construction projects using the social housing investment programme. In recent years, DCC has had very low delivery rates on its own land, with 177 units delivered in 2022, 323 in 2023 and only 35 completed in 2024. As part of this decision the officials in my Department will initiate, in collaboration with the NDFA, a review of PPP bundles 4 to 7.

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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It has confounded and upset many people in communities where these social housing projects were due to be delivered. Two are in my constituency, Ballymun and Whitehall. These areas have high levels of social housing need. It is deeply upsetting and disappointing. Can the Minister guarantee they will be delivered according to the original planned timeframe?

I wrote my PhD and a book 14 years ago critiquing the public-private partnership model as an expensive model that would lead to delays. Unfortunately, Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael did not listen to me or the proposals we made. Will the Minister clarify whether is this the end of the PPP model for delivering social housing?

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I understand people’s upset and frustration. My duty is to deliver the maximum number of homes we can but that means maximising the value so we can maximise the delivery of those homes. I will not blindly sign off at any price for social homes. These homes were frankly at an astronomical price. No doubt had I signed off on them, I would be before the Committee of Public Accounts answering questions on how I could justify approving this kind of costing for social housing units. We will deliver those social housing units as quickly as possible because I want those homes delivered. However, the PPP model is not the only opportunity for Dublin City Council to deliver social homes. I welcome more applications from DCC to be able to deliver as many social homes as possible in the city.

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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The Minister did not answer how many value for money assessments were undertaken before the final decision was made. How was it let get to this point where he now says it is too expensive? Public-private partnerships involve lifetime maintenance costs and not just the delivery cost. I have been heavily critical of this model of delivery of social housing. The Minister still has not answered the question: is this the end of PPPs for future bundles? Up to 3,000 homes were planned to be delivered through PPPs. What is the Department’s plan for those? Are they now scrapped as public-private partnerships? Will they be delivered by new ways? If so, will the original timeframe be maintained? Will Dublin City Council and local authorities in counties Wicklow, Sligo and Louth, which were due to deliver through PPPs, be allocated the funding to deliver them through direct build, as should have been the case originally?

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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It is not the end of PPP but we will review the processes to see how we can ensure that when the PPP process is used, there is value for money for the delivery of homes. We will use every method available to maximise the delivery of social homes. We will do that and we will continue to review it. We will deliver these homes as quickly as we can. We are reviewing the entire situation.

On value for money tests, one was carried out by myself. I looked at it as a Minister, as I should when it arrives on my desk. It was an outrageous cost to deliver these homes, which I was not going to stand over, and I decided this was not the way to do it or to approve it.