Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 85: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that 32% of the total number of affordable housing units provided here for the first six months of 2007 were in the Dublin area and that 18 out of 34 local authorities provided no affordable housing units outside of Part V, and eight provided none at all for the same period; his plans to provide more affordable housing for persons who can not afford to purchase at the market rate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35053/07]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The provision of affordable housing is a key priority for the Government and is a central element of the "Paths to home ownership" component of the Government's housing policy statement Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities. Significant progress has been made in increasing delivery under the range of affordable housing mechanisms currently in place, including the Shared Ownership Scheme, the 1999 Affordable Housing Scheme, Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2006 and the Affordable Housing Initiative.

In addition, a low-cost site scheme is in place through which sites can be made available, at discounted prices, primarily to approved applicants on local authority housing lists, where it is considered that this is an appropriate mechanism for meeting their accommodation requirements.

Apart from the various schemes designed to deliver affordable housing, certain ancillary supports are also available to assist certain applicants towards realising their home ownership aspirations. Specifically, the mortgage allowance and rent subsidy schemes help lower-income households access shared-ownership and affordable housing by providing an annual subvention towards the repayment costs.

Furthermore, at my Department's request, the Affordable Homes Partnership initiated a process in late 2006 to purchase 500 homes in the Greater Dublin Area and has arranged for these homes to be sold, through the relevant local authorities, at discounted levels, to eligible affordable housing applicants.

In the National Development Plan 2007-13, the Government has committed to the delivery of 40,000 affordable homes over the seven year period of the plan. Under the social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, 17,000 of these are to be delivered over the three years 2007 to 2009. My Department is working closely with local authorities and the Affordable Homes Partnership to achieve the significant increases in delivery required to meet these ambitious targets. In particular, in the context of their Housing Action Plans, my Department will be continuing to engage with individual local authorities to review the full year delivery in their areas for 2007 and to ensure that every effort is made to optimise delivery in future years; a particular focus is being placed on the Greater Dublin Area and the other main urban centres where the demands for affordable housing and the associated supply response, are most concentrated. Furthermore, taking account of a report recently received from the Affordable Homes Partnership, my Department is currently examining the scope for additional measures to enhance the overall level of affordable housing delivery.