Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

The resources are being provided. In tomorrow's Estimates, Members will see that more and more money is being provided for social housing. We are well ahead on our expenditure on the national development plan in that area. I accept that the figure for needs assessment is still at 43,000, but it is down 10%. Approximately 40% of those included are single.

Senator Brady correctly pointed out that many of those in need of accommodation are single people. We keep trying to tell local authorities to look at the people on their list. Some officials in local authorities consider that they can still build the same three-bed semis that they built 40 years ago. We keep telling them to look at the people on their list and to build accommodation suitable to the needs of the people on it. If 40% of them are single, the councils should be providing one or two-bedroom houses or apartments and not three-bed semis. It seems to be quite hard to get through to them on this issue.

To respond to Senator Tuffy, we have plenty of money for the local authorities. We are driving them to spend what we give them, but they are supposed to follow the remit of the housing strategy. They are supposed to tell us what amount of social housing is needed as they provide the information for the housing strategy and the action plan. They tell us, we give them the money and we drive them all the time to use it. I wish they were knocking on our door looking for more. We are taking the initiative, especially at this time of the year.