Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 778: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the progress to date in compiling a comprehensive register of land owned by local authorities as recommended by the Committee of Public Accounts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27646/06]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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There are no plans to produce a register of all local authority lands, and there was no formal recommendation by the Public Accounts Committee to undertake such a task. Given the range of purposes for which local authorities may own land, and the continuous changes in their land holdings which arise through, acquisitions, disposals or development, it would be impractical for my Department to establish and keep updated a comprehensive register of land owned by each local authority. However, the new accounting and financial management system in place in local authorities provides for the creation of asset registers for this purpose.

I am conscious of the crucial importance of local authorities planning ahead to ensure that they have sufficient land available to meet the requirements of their Social and Affordable Housing Action Plans. In that regard, my Department has written to local authorities emphasising the importance of engaging in a process of active land management on an ongoing basis. Information received as part of that exercise, although not fully complete, indicates that, at end-2005, local authorities had access to land capable of supporting the delivery of some 43,000 social and affordable housing units.