I propose to take Questions Nos. 16, 28 and 65 together.
The results of the statutory assessment of housing needs undertaken by local authorities at the end of March 1999 indicated a total of 39,176 households in need of local authority housing. From ongoing contacts by my Department with local authorities it is estimated that needs have increased over the past year by around 15%.
I am aware that Focus Ireland recently published figures on needs which it obtained from individual local authorities. However, some of these figures represent the number of applicants rather than the assessed needs.
With regard to the NESF recommendation on waiting lists it is incorrect to suggest that it recommended a 70% reduction in waiting lists over two years. The NESF recommended that 70% of households assessed as being in need of housing should be housed within two years of going on to the waiting lists and that a longer-term target should be fixed for the elimination of all waiting lists. Information available from the 1999 assessment of housing need indicates that two-thirds of households assessed as in need of local authority housing were on the local authority waiting list for less than two years and it is the case that a significant number of households on waiting lists are housed within two years.