Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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37. 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 the average nine-month timeline for the procurement and tendering process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28690/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government has published Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, which is available at the website .

The Plan sets out a practical and implementable set of actions that aim to increase the supply of homes to 25,000 units per annum by 2020, thereby creating a functioning and sustainable housing system. This cross-Government plan is divided into five pillars, each targeting a specific area of the housing system for attention.

Pillar 2, for example, entitled Accelerate Social Housing, provides for a number of actions to increase the level and speed of delivery of social housing and other State supported housing. Significant funding of €5.35 billion is committed over the period of the plan, reflecting the increased level of ambition, to deliver 47,000 social housing units, through build, refurbishment, acquisitions and leasing, between now and 2021.

Pillar 3, entitled Build More Homes, has a key objective of increasing the output of private housing to meet demand at affordable prices. The range of actions are summarised in Appendix 1 of the Plan, and they include a new Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) with €200m in funding for infrastructure to facilitate housing provision at more affordable prices. The LIHAF is designed to relieve critical infrastructural blockages with the potential to open up lands and facilitate housing of the order of 15,000 to 20,000 homes by 2019.

In addition, a dedicated Housing Delivery Office has been established within my Department, along with a Housing Procurement Unit and a One-Stop-Shop for Approved Housing Bodies within the Housing Agency. These arrangements will support further streamlining and efficiency within the various approvals and procurement processes that are required in order to support the delivery of value for money for public funds.

The Government has just given approval for the priority drafting of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016, which will give early effect to a number of priority legislative commitments in Rebuilding Ireland - An Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness.  The Bill proposes a number of key measures including the introduction of temporary fast-track planning arrangements whereby planning applications for large-scale housing developments will be made directly to An Bord Pleanála and the streamlining of timelines for presenting and considering local authority own development proposals through the Part 8 processes, including social housing proposals. These measures will provide greater certainty in the planning system and facilitate the earlier provision of increased housing supply and help to address the current housing supply shortage situation.

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 developed to such an endeavour. My focus is firmly on the implementation of the actions set out in Rebuilding Ireland, with all stakeholders, including Government departments and agencies, local authorities, AHBs, voluntary bodies, and the construction sector, to achieve its ambitious goals.