Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 122: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if the recent statement of housing means there will be no more rental-buy or shared ownership arrangements for low income families to purchase a home; the number of such homes that were delivered nationally in the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16956/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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On 16 June I launched the Government's new housing policy statement which will serve as a framework for a sequence of legislative and policy initiatives in the short to medium term. Based on a number of fundamental principles and goals that will form the foundation of a substantial reform programme, the new framework for housing policy responds to current and emerging conditions in the housing sector, taking account of the dramatic cycle of rapid growth and sudden collapse in the residential property market. The centrepiece of the approach is to chart a way forward for housing policy in Ireland by placing greater emphasis on:

· choice;

· equity across housing tenures; and

· delivering quality outcomes for the resources invested.

The policy statement also formally announces the standing down of all affordable housing schemes, including shared ownership, in the context of a full review of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000.

Affordable housing schemes were introduced to bridge the affordability gap that emerged during the boom years, preventing middle income households from realising their ownership aspirations. However, affordable housing did nothing to address the underlying problem – which is that the market was becoming overheated with an unsustainable chasm being created between prices and incomes. Affordable housing was therefore a symptom of a market failure and not a solution to it.

In addition, affordability has eased to such an extent that there is little or no demand for affordable housing. Indeed, in recent years the challenge has been more of how to deploy existing affordable stock productively rather than deliver new affordable housing.

The possibility of localised affordability challenges in the future, particularly in areas where supply is short and demand is likely to bounce back relatively quickly is not ruled out. Such affordable housing schemes that may be necessary in the future will have a broader tenure focus than in the past.

The Government is committed to supporting access to home ownership for lower income households and a range of paths to home ownership will remain in place in that regard. These include the incremental purchase scheme, the availability of loan finance from local authorities for house purchase, including open market purchase, and the tenant purchase scheme.

Information on the number of houses provided under the Shared Ownership Scheme is published in my Department's Housing Statistics Bulletins, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library and on my Department's website (www.environ.ie).

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the numbers of new build social housing units directly built and tenanted by Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council from 2007 up to June 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16957/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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My Department collates and publishes a wide range of housing statistics that inform the preparation and evaluation of housing policy. The full range of data compiled can be viewed on my Department's website, www.environ.ie, where data on Local Authority completions, broken down by county and city, are displayed. Information on occupation of local authority units is provided on an annual basis. The most recent data published on this relates to 2009. I expect that 2010 data will be published shortly.