Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response and I will try to respond in one minute. The original projections of the ESRI for the population were developed using best practice. The input assumptions of the adjustments made by the Department for policy-based intervention are questionable. It should be noted that the migration assumptions used were and continue to be far below the historical data as observed by the CSO since 2016. The ESRI baseline assumed a net inward migration figure of 8,000 people per annum from 2016 to 2021, rising to 12,500 people thereafter. The reality has been of the order of three or four times that figure over the period to 2020. In the past four years, a minimum of 85,000 people do not seem to have been accounted for. There is a discrepancy in the ESRI report and the press release issued over the weekend in the media, which referred to a figure of 33,000.

I welcome the Minister of State’s acknowledgement that the national planning framework will require an increase in annual average housing output in every local authority. Will he clarify to which cities he is referring? Do they include Drogheda in County Louth, which has been seeking city status for the past five years? I welcome the circular the senior Minister will send out to local authority chief executives in the coming days. They certainly need to know exactly what is happening as unfortunately there is no certainty in that regard at this time.