Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

That is what I am doing. I will be formally doing it later in the day. What it shows is that in the first eight months of this year 58,600 housing units — houses and apartments — were completed, an increase of 23% on the corresponding period for last year. If we hit 80,000 units last year, we are confident of being ahead of that figure this year. We should hit 90,000 units anyway. The detailed figures I can provide later give a breakdown by each local authority area or county. The ten-year target of 500,000 new houses, which was set by the current national development plan and was to be achieved by 2010, will effectively have been delivered by the end of 2006, four years ahead of schedule.

Increased supply has improved affordability, although perhaps not to the extent that we would like. In 1997-98, annual house price inflation was at 40%. Since then it has steadied somewhat from those dizzy heights, but I appreciate that we have seen impacts of increased demand in the past year due to growth in population, growth in employment and overly aggressive marketing by some financial institutions, particularly in the case of 100% mortgages and interest-only mortgages. Having steadily, over five or six years, brought the annual rate of increase down to single figures, there is no doubt that products such as 100% mortgages have been at least partly responsible for the new burst of the increase over the past 15 or 16 months.

The figures last month showed that the rate of increase was slowing down a little but it is still 1% a month, which is 12% a year. Currently, it is running at 12% to 14% a year, well above the rate of inflation, which is 4.5%. While we have made some progress on price increases, I am not happy that we have reached a proper level yet.

Increased supply has also improved access to housing by first-time buyers. The number of first-time buyers in recent years has probably been higher than ever before. It is estimated that 45% of mortgages for new house purchases last year were taken out by first-time buyers. The percentage might be slightly lower if one were to look at second-hand houses because more first-time buyers have traditionally gone for new houses than for second-hand houses. As supply measures increasingly have effect and the market hopefully calms somewhat with interest rate increases and, I would add, responsible lending and more sanity in the mortgage lending area, we will resume the path towards house price moderation and stability in the market.

We have not relied exclusively on the market. We have taken a wide range of steps to address issues of affordability, particularly in the Dublin area where price pressures are most acute. In particular, the affordable homes partnership, which we established last year, will bring an important additional focus to bear on co-ordinating and adding impetus to the delivery of affordable housing in and around the capital. There are four local authorities in the Dublin area. A little co-ordination and co-operation between them was necessary and that is the main area of responsibility of the affordable homes partnership. We are awaiting the outcome of the partnership's call for extra land, applications for which they are currently processing.

In addition, we have made available a wide range of State and local authority lands for affordable housing and we have adopted innovative ways of bringing these into use — none more so than the land exchange mechanism. To date, we have exchanged three pieces of State property totalling less than two acres, in return for which we have received more than 500 discounted affordable homes. The speed of delivery has been also impressive. The deal for phase 2 at Harcourt Terrace was wrapped up only a few weeks ago but many of the houses are available. An advertisement for 200 houses in Clondalkin, Tallaght and Lucan was placed in newspapers last weekend while the advertisement regarding the 90 houses we received in exchanged for Broc House in Donnybrook will be placed in newspapers over the next few days.

The Part V mechanism is also crucially important in contributing to increased social and affordable housing output and I am determined to ensure that it reaches its full potential in this regard. Let us be clear on what is that potential. Part V only applies to larger housing developments on zoned residential land, which is important, and sight must not be lost of other important societal gains resulting from improved social integration. Opposition Members and media commentators, in particular, deliberately misinterpret Part V, which provides for up to 20% of a development to be set aside for social and affordable housing, depending on what is outlined in the local authority's housing strategy. However, Part V does not apply to one-off housing, developments of fewer than five units or developments on land that has not been zoned. It is primarily concerned with housing estates in large urban areas on zoned land. As more land is zoned near large cities and towns, the dividend from Part V will improve.

Part V output is gathering momentum, with almost 1,400 homes delivered last year. Up to the end of June, almost 2,800 homes had been delivered, which is significant for the families that have moved into them. Annual output is expected to increase over the coming years, particularly as the old planning permissions expire. When planning permission is granted for an estate or a house extension, the applicant has five years to avail of it. Many of the houses on sale, therefore, were built courtesy of planning permissions granted prior to the introduction of Part V. As these expire, the output under Part V will be greater. More than 3,800 homes were under construction under Part V at the end of June and deals were being negotiated for a further 4,100 homes.

The dividend from Part V will increase considerably over the next few years. Local authorities also received land under Part V because developers have the option of handing over land rather than completing units in accordance with the legislation. A further 1,000 homes will be provided on this land.

We cannot content ourselves with simply focusing on increasing supply because there is more to housing than the building of units. People want to live in quality homes, feel they are part of a wider community and have access to facilities relevant to their needs. These are among the principles underlying our housing policy framework, Building Sustainable Communities, which was published last December. The framework document outlines the key principles to underpin housing policy and investment over the coming years and it firmly places housing policy in the context of building sustainable communities. The focus is on integrated policies to ensure an effective private housing market, increased social housing provision and improved quality and management in the social housing sector and improved pathways to home ownership.

Our housing and planning policies must work in support of these objectives. The new social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, endorses the principles set out in the housing policy framework. The agreement commits the parties to working together on delivering important aspects of this agenda. A further policy statement is being developed, which will set out more detailed approaches to the issues outlined in the framework document.

The policy framework reflects our continued commitment to meeting the housing needs of the less well off. This commitment is amply demonstrated by the resources being invested in social and affordable housing measures. The total capital provision on social and affordable housing output in 2006, inclusive of non-Exchequer financing, amounts to €2 billion, which is more than double the expenditure in 2000. We have met the housing needs of 100,000 households through the full range of social and affordable housing schemes since 1997.

The Government has committed in the social partnership agreement to further additional investment in social housing with 27,000 new units to be started or acquired over the period 2007-09. It is envisaged these new units will be delivered through a combination of local authority social housing, voluntary and co-operative sector social housing and long-term contracts for new supply under the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. Further households will benefit from the full implementation of the RAS involving contractual arrangements with landlords for existing properties transferring from rent supplement. In addition, we are committed to delivering some 17,000 affordable units over the period 2000 to 2009. The needs of 60,000 new households will be met through social and affordable housing measures over the next three years.

Alongside the substantial increase in the provision of social housing, there is the equally important issue of ensuring this investment brings about an improvement in the quality of life of tenants and local communities. To this end, we will bring forward a programme of reforms to improve the effectiveness of local authorities in delivering housing services. Elements of the proposed reforms will require new legislation and, therefore, a housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill is being prepared in my Department. Hopefully it will be introduced in the coming months.

A further important component of the new housing policy framework is the emphasis on quality. It is not acceptable that social housing should be compared unfavourably with private housing development. There should be a high ambition for social housing, and, therefore, we are committed to delivering high quality social housing in mixed community settings. The design and quality of social housing is much better than that which pertained between the 1960s and the 1980s. At the time, mass production was the norm and large local authority housing estates were built. Significant anti-social problems are being experienced on them nowadays because they are too large and they are not well designed.

Of the €2 billion being invested in local authority social and affordable housing this year, approximately €250 million is being spent on regeneration schemes and remedial works to correct many of the mistakes made in the past when we went for quantity rather than quality. We will not repeat that mistake. Modern housing is of a good quality and more attention is paid to design and potential anti-social behaviour problems. It is not a perfect world and planners cannot eradicate such behaviour but the design of housing estates is important and more attention is paid to that than previously.

Our concern is with the planning and design of new housing, the prioritisation of management and maintenance of estates and an intensification of efforts to rejuvenate much existing social housing. This will build on the almost €1 billion invested in regeneration and remedial works since 1997 and will include completing the installation of central heating in all our existing local authority housing under the highly successful capital investment programme introduced by the Government two years ago. It was estimated at the time that more than 40,000 local authority houses did not have central heating.

The take-up of the scheme, which is 80% funded by the Department, has been very successful. Local authorities have taken to the scheme strongly and over the past two years, a great deal of good work has been done under it. Hopefully, within a few years, all local authority houses will have central heating. The achievements I have outlined, the level of future investment in social and affordable housing measures and the policy reforms now under way all serve to underline our commitment to meeting a broad range of housing needs. We are not simply addressing the specific needs of one group or sector. Housing is for all of the people and the Government is delivering across the broad spectrum of housing need. This is the bottom line. We have the capacity, commitment, vision and resources to continue to meet housing needs.

That is a broad summary of the measures we are taking with regard to delivery and policy. I look forward to the comments of Members.