James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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90. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of affordable housing commencements in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11966/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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In implementing the key objectives under Housing for All, each local authority has prepared a Housing Delivery Action Plan in respect of local authority supported or overseen delivery from 2022 to 2026. 18 local authorities with a strong and identified affordable housing need, including both Cork City Council and Cork County Council, were also set affordable housing delivery targets and asked to include planned affordable housing delivery in their Housing Delivery Action Plans. These Plans were published on local authorities’ respective websites in July 2022.

2022 represented the first year of a very ambitious programme of delivery of affordable housing and saw the first affordable purchase housing delivered in a decade and significant activity in Cork. This momentum will continue with delivery increasing this year. A pipeline of affordable housing is in place which is actively being further developed by local authorities, by Approved Housing Bodies and by the Land Development Agency. To date, I have approved over €44.5 million for 10 affordable housing projects submitted by Cork County Council under the Affordable Housing Fund which will deliver almost 600 affordable homes.

Local authorities are now submitting data returns and information on delivery of affordable homes in their area to my department in the same manner as is currently done for social housing. It is intended that information on delivery across all delivery streams will be gathered and I expect that my Department will be in a position to begin reporting on affordable delivery in national quarterly delivery statistics by the end of this quarter.