Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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247. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will consider a national building agency that would directly employ builders to spearhead a public housing building programme in view of his concerns over housing supply, noted in his Department's draft national risk assessment report, and the risk this poses to overall competitiveness and social inclusion. [20697/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government’s 2016 Draft National Risk Assessment - Overview of Strategic Risks, was published on 10 June 2016, and is available at the following link:. Since then, the Government has published Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, available at the website www.rebuildingireland.ie. The Plan sets out a practical and implementable set of actions to achieve the Government’s goals to significantly increase and expedite the delivery of social housing units, boost private housing construction, improve the rental market, and deliver on the commitment to see housing supply, in overall terms, increase to some 25,000 new homes every year by 2020.

The Plan comprises five pillars of concerted actions right across Government and I can assure the Deputy that implementation of the Plan is well underway, including through local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies, a new Housing Delivery Office within my Department, and a new Housing Procurement Unit and a One-Stop-Shop for Approved Housing Bodies within the Housing Agency. I am also in the process of establishing a Stakeholder Forum that will act as a vehicle for continuous feedback on the practical experience of implementation.

I do not believe that setting up another body to deal with housing is either necessary or appropriate, particularly given the time and resources that would need to be diverted to such an endeavour. My focus is firmly on the implementation of the actions set out in Rebuilding Ireland, working with all stakeholders, including Government Departments and agencies, local authorities, approved housing bodies, voluntary bodies, and the construction sector, to achieve its ambitious goals.