Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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486. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the current Government policy regarding social housing for the islands off the coast (details supplied). [41850/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Lead responsibility for the maintenance of sustainable communities on the off-shore islands rests with the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, whose Department works with other bodies, including my Department, in meeting its objectives in this area.

The overall strategic objective of Government housing policy is to enable all households to access good quality housing appropriate to their household circumstances and in sustainable communities of their choice. The Government’s vision for the housing sector is being implemented through Rebuilding Ireland – An Action Plan for Housing and Homelessnesspublished in July 2016. The aim is to significantly increase housing delivery, including a social housing programme of 47,000 units to be delivered by 2021. The accelerated delivery to be provided through this programme will contribute to one of the core objectives of the Plan, namely to deliver housing in a way that meets current needs while contributing to wider objectives such as the need to support sustainable urban and rural development and communities.

The results of the 2016 Summary of Social Housing Assessments were published in December 2016 and provide details on the number of households qualified for social housing support across each local authority. The Summary results will be used to inform the social housing targets to be set on a county by county basis over the period of the Action Plan. Decisions relating to the location of social housing units within an authority’s administrative area are a matter for the authority concerned, by reference to national and local planning and housing policy.