Vol. 554 No. 5
1460 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if new house starts are to be cut by one third for the rest of 2002, and if his attention has been drawn to the social consequences of that decision. [15585/02]
I estimate that on the basis of a capital funding provision of €755 million this year for the local authority housing programme that local authorities should achieve something of the order of 5,000 new starts. The number of starts achieved in the first six months of 2002 was 2,276.
