I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to take Question Nos. 22 and 23 together.
As indicated by the Minister of State at my Department during the concluding stage of the Seanad Debate on The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1979, I propose to ask housing authorities shortly to carry out an assessment of housing needs in their areas during the next five years. This assessment will take into account census data, including household formation, which will be available in due course, and also the condition of the housing stock. My Department have made arrangements with An Foras Forbartha for the preparation of a manual which will give detailed guidelines to the authorities for the purpose of the assessment. The preparation of the manual is nearing completion.
Pending the completion of this assessment, the Government's target of 23,000 to 27,000 houses per year up to 1980, which was published in the White Paper, Programme for National Development 1978-1981, will stand. This target exceeds the assessment of 21,000 to 25,000 houses a year up to 1986 which was made independently by the NESC in 1976, and generally supported by assessments made by local authorities in 1976/77.