Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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389. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is considering amending the turnkey purchase of housing developments for social housing to allow for stage payments to the building developers. [28494/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Local authorities have been making productive use of turnkey development opportunities to achieve delivery of new social housing since the commencement of Housing for All. Under the procurement arrangements that apply to such transactions, an initial 10% is usually paid as a deposit and the balance of the funding is provided on completion and delivery of the housing units in a 'turnkey' condition. An option for turnkey projects can also be to agree delivery on a phased basis, which allows for payment to be made to the developer on completion of each individual phase.

While I am always open to innovative approaches to housing delivery and there are alternative delivery arrangements which allow for stage payments to me made, the widely used procurement arrangements which local authorities normally rely on for 'turnkey' transactions do not allow for stage payments.

I have been heartened by the strong level of successful delivery we have achieved around the country for new social housing using the turnkey approach where it is clear that those developments would not have gone ahead without the certainty of an end purchaser. Where local authorities have limited or no lands available for housing in an area those turnkeys have been particularly beneficial.

My Department publishes comprehensive programme-level statistics on a quarterly basis for social housing delivery. This data to the end of Quarter 4 of 2024 is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: .