Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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103. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will report on the provision of specialist staff to boost delivery of more affordable homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24310/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Over 4,000 affordable housing supports were delivered in 2023 representing an increase of 128% on 2022 activity.

To build on the momentum now in place, my Department has been working with the Housing Delivery Coordination Office and the County and City Management Association to identify additional staffing resources required by local authorities to ensure more affordable purchase and cost rental homes are delivered at scale.

I have recently approved 71.5 new specialist and administrative posts across 27 local authorities to help ramp up the delivery of affordable housing throughout the country. This is in addition to 69 specialist and administrative staff approved in 2022, and, once recruitment is completed, will bring the total complement of staff dedicated to delivering affordable housing to 140.5 persons.

These new posts will be solely dedicated to affordable housing delivery and will equip local authorities with increased levels of in-house expertise in key areas such as design, procurement, surveying, engineering and administration.

Last year, over 4,000 affordable homes were delivered, a 128% increase on 2022. I am determined ensure this momentum is sustained so that affordable purchase and cost rental homes continue to be built at scale. My objective is to ensure that local authorities have the capacity to deliver the current robust affordable housing delivery pipeline now in place and to quickly expand and develop this pipeline further in line with Housing For All delivery targets.