Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 11: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which he is continuing to encourage the local authorities to return to the concept of providing a reasonable number of local authority houses in each local authority area throughout the country thereby reducing the extent of reliance on rent support as a means of augmenting the local authority housing programme; if particular attention can be paid to the total number of persons currently on local authority housing waiting lists; the annual recurring cost of rent support and the obvious benefit to the Exchequer of reducing such a liability in the traditional manner by providing local authority houses for rent and or purchase; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22167/12]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Government's housing policy statement, published in June 2011, clearly identifies that the priority for Government will be to meet the most acute needs of households applying for social housing support. I am determined to ensure that the social housing programme is framed in a manner which optimises the delivery of social housing and the return for the resources invested. To achieve this it is essential that we tailor the use of available Exchequer supports to prevailing conditions and explore the full range of solutions to address housing needs.

The social housing capital budget has been reduced from €1.535 billion in 2008 to just over €333.7m this year. The financial parameters within which we will be operating for the coming years rule out a return to large capital funded construction programmes. Nevertheless, the Government is committed to responding more quickly and on a larger scale to social housing support needs through a variety of mechanisms, including through increased provision of social housing.

Delivery of social housing will be significantly facilitated through more flexible funding models such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme and leasing, but the Government is also committed to developing other funding mechanisms that will increase the supply of permanent new social housing. Such mechanisms will include options to purchase, build to lease and the sourcing of loan finance by approved housing bodies for construction and acquisition. There is also obvious potential, across a range of housing programmes, for the Government's objective of sourcing and providing suitable residential units for use as social housing to be aligned with the commercial objectives of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).