Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 533: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of housing completions and in each case the total that were social housing and affordable housing in respect of each year since 2002 to date in 2007. [13758/07]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Data on the number of house completions, including social and affordable housing, for each year from 2002 to 2005, are published in the Housing Statistics Bulletins, which are available in the Oireachtas Library and on the Department's website at www.environ.ie.

Data for 2006 is currently being finalised. However, provisional indications are that of the new house completions of 93,419 some 5,200 were social housing and some 3,200 were affordable housing units.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 534: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of such houses started to date and the number completed and occupied in respect of the 10,000 additional houses promised in the Sustaining Progress Affordable Housing Initiative. [13759/07]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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A range of State and local authority lands were assigned to the Affordable Housing Initiative provided for under the Sustaining Progress social partnership agreement. These lands, together with 2,500 affordable homes to be delivered under Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2006, provide the basis for reaching the 10,000 affordable home target included in the agreement.

While the agreement did not specify the target period within which the 10,000 homes were to be delivered, my Department has been working actively with the State agencies and local authorities concerned with a view to achieving the earliest possible delivery of completed homes. To that end, in excess of 70 projects on State and local authority lands are being progressed, with innovative approaches, such as land exchanges, being utilised, where appropriate, to accelerate delivery.

The data available to my Department, including provisional data for 2006, indicate that 3,125 homes had been completed under the Initiative up to the end of 2006, with a further 557 units under construction at that stage. Significant work has also been progressing on the planning and procurement aspects associated with a range of other projects that have yet to get to construction, providing a strong platform for additional future delivery.