Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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477. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of the 1,700 social housing units to be directly built up to end 2017 that will reach completion in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017. [19394/15]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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478. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of social housing units to be directly built in 2015 using the €312 million funding allocation for direct builds up to end 2017 that had received planning permission by 1 May 2015. [19395/15]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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479. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of social housing units to be directly built in 2015, using the €312 million funding allocation for direct-builds up to end 2017, that were, on 1 May 2015, under construction. [19396/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 477 to 479, inclusive, together.

On 5 May 2015, I announced a major social housing construction investment programme of €312 million, covering all 31 local authorities and with over 1,700 housing units to be built across some 100 separate projects. That announcement followed proposals made by local authorities on their planned delivery of new social housing units out to 2017.

The projects approved were those deemed most suitable to go ahead at this time. This was the first such announcement under the Social Housing Strategy and further announcements will be made as local authority proposals for the delivery of social housing units are evaluated. Information supplied by the local authorities on their proposals shows that 32 of the projects approved by me already have Part VIII planning approval. As this was an announcement of newly approved projects, it did not include any projects that are already under construction.

The process for new build construction involves a number of stages, such as the appointment of consultants, design and planning stages, contractor procurement and ultimately the site build and sign-off period. In a social housing context, each of these stages must comply with the requirements of the Capital Works Management Framework, including in relation to the procurement elements of the process. Taking each of these stages into account, a minimum realistic timeline from inception to completion for a standard new build scheme on a serviced site would be 14-16 months, assuming no issues with planning or site vacancy exist.

Given the foregoing, it is not possible at this stage to state the number of units that will be delivered each year from 2015 to 2017. However, I expect that all the projects involved will be advanced as quickly as possible and will be delivered by the end of 2017.