Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Senator is absolutely right to identify that social housing delivery is always needed and continues to be needed. I, like the Senator, have constituents who have received social homes in the past number of weeks and months and are happy about that. There is a positive trend on which we must continue to work. However, the particular point of difficulty at present is the group who are not eligible for social housing. The waiting list has come down by more than one third in the past number of years. We also know there is considerable private rental sector pressure and the demand for cost rental will continue to expand. Cost rental is a new form of social housing delivery that we have prioritised. We have legislation in respect of it. The Land Development Agency has been tasked with developing and rolling it out with all the approved housing bodies. I would have thought that a measure such as this, which complements existing schemes, could be extended to that pressure point. It is very welcome. The total dwellings delivered from the RLS last year, until the end of quarter 3, was 349. Waterford delivered 164 of those. That is the scale of Waterford's success and it is to be commended on such success.