Vol. 243 No. 1
asked the Taoiseach when it is proposed to set up the Department of Physical Planning and Development; and if he has taken into consideration the observation made by the Minister for Lands in connection with the amalgamation of the Department of Lands and Agriculture.
4.
asked the Taoiseach when it is proposed to set up the Department of Physical Planning and Development; and if he will arrange that one of its prime functions be the co-ordination of a planned drive to provide 24,000 houses per year.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 and 4 together.
Since I announced on the 2nd July last the setting up of a new Department to deal with housing, physical planning and construction, and following some initial steps taken towards that end, the Report of the Public Services Organisation Review Group has been received. This report recommended certain regroupings of Departments' functions and, pending consideration of these recommendations by the Government, it is not proposed to alter the existing position.
In regard to the second part of Question No. 4, the Deputy has a similar question to the Minister for Local Government tomorrow. He may wish to await that Minister's reply.
To anticipate the Minister's reply tomorrow, may I ask is the Taoiseach aware that the Minister's replies have a monotonous flavour about them and are mostly based on "No"? Would the Taoiseach agree that one of the priorities in the new Ministry should be provision of adequate housing? Would the Taoiseach say that this will be a priority in the new Ministry?
I certainly would.
Is the Taoiseach aware that at present there is a very grave shortfall in the number of houses provided each year?
The position was never better.
Will the Taoiseach ensure that the new Department will build an adequate number of houses each year?
The target projected some years ago has almost been reached. It has been exceeded at the lower end of the spectrum, that is, 12,000 to 14,000 houses. As well as that, for the past seven or eight years there has been an increase in the output of houses annually, with one exception. That indicates a very healthy rate of growth: healthy for the people who are looking for houses and healthy for the industry itself.
Is the Taoiseach aware that there is a housing shortage in Dublin which could be called a housing crisis?
I know there is a shortage of houses and that there are more people awaiting houses than can be accommodated at this moment.
Is the Taoiseach aware that his Minister's White Paper showed a backlog of houses of 59,000, and this was a conservative estimate, and can he, therefore, be content with exceeding a target which was so inadequate as to leave us with such a backlog? Does the Taoiseach not consider that this target needs to be drastically revised?
The inadequacy did not arise out of the target set but out of the neglect of the second Coalition Government.
We were told we built too many houses.
