Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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344. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the time to complete the four stage approval process for social housing at Saint Finian’s Avenue, Lucan, County Dublin. [22317/16]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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345. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the time to complete the four stage approval process for the 11 social housing units at Saint Marks Green, Clondalkin, Dublin 22. [22318/16]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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346. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the time to complete the four stage approval process for the 18 social housing units in the Mayfield Estate, Clondalkin, Dublin 22. [22319/16]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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347. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the time to complete the four stage approval process for the 37 social housing units at Lett’s Field, Dublin 22. [22320/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 344 to 347, inclusive, together.

The 4-stage approval process, under which assessments are carried out for publicly-funded capital projects for which my Department is the sanctioning authority, is a streamlining of the 9 stages covered under Capital Works Management Framework.

The 4 stages are:

Stage 1 – Capital Appraisal (establish the business case);

Stage 2 – Brief pre-planning developed design and cost check;

Stage 3 – Pre-tender cost check;

Stage 4 – Tender approval.

These 4 stages are advanced largely in parallel with the normal local authority work on planning, designing and tendering of social housing construction projects. Therefore projects continue to be advanced while stages are cleared and the approval process does not negatively impact on the overall delivery.

The time taken for advancement through the various stages will always vary, with the quality and completeness of the initial proposal and subsequent submissions a key input in this regard, along with the scale and complexity of individual projects. My Department also encourages informal technical dialogue to resolve issues and while that might add to the time it takes to issue an approval in nominal terms, it is normally a more productive engagement in terms of getting projects from conception to completion as efficiently as possible.

With regard to the four projects in question, St. Finian’s Avenue pre-dates the use of the 4-stage approval process; this project was initially approved in March 2014 and is now nearing completion. The position in respect of the other 3 projects in question is as follows: