Vol. 572 No. 5
22 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government the progress made to date with regard to the details of the agreement reached with the trade unions and employer organisations regarding the building of 10,000 affordable houses; when the scheme will start; the time-span within which the 10,000 houses will be built; the company by which they will be built; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23596/03]
49 Mr. Morgan asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government the initiatives which have been taken to advance the agreement reached with the trade unions and employer organisations under Sustaining Progress regarding the building of 10,000 affordable houses; if the eligibility criteria to apply to the target group has been defined; if these proposed houses are to be delivered by local authorities; if State-owned land is to be used for the building of these proposed houses; the way in which the building of these houses is to be financed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23539/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 and 49 together.
The Government has committed to an ambitious scale of delivery of affordable housing coming through the new affordable housing initiative under Sustaining Progress, as well as through existing schemes. The announcement in July 2003 of the immediate release of two sites in Dublin, and agreement to a proposal relating to two further sites in Meath and Kildare was a critical step in ensuring early delivery of affordable housing under this initiative. Arrangements are now being put in place for the establishment and transfer of title of these four sites and implementation meetings have been held with all relevant local authorities. This initiative, combined with Part V arrangements, will build on the progress made in delivering existing affordable housing schemes to boost the supply of affordable housing over the coming years.
The Government is working with the parties to the pay agreement to define the precise terms of the initiative, including the eligibility criteria to apply to the target group. It is the intention that the initiative will be targeted at those who in the past would have expected to purchase a house from their own resources but find that they are unable to do so in the current market.
As the Taoiseach has indicated, the Government is looking at the potential to release further State land for this initiative and a series of meetings have been held with other Departments in this regard. A review of local authority land is also under way and the results of this analysis will be reported to Government in the near future.
We are working on the models for delivering the initiative to ensure that it does not have an impact on the Exchequer or general Government finances nor detract from the funding available for existing social and affordable housing programmes.
We must be pragmatic about the timescale within which these issues can be addressed. The timescale for the delivery of units on each site will be dependent on the individual site characteristics, including its planning and servicing status. We are committed in our support for this initiative and I believe that, with the shared resolve of the Government and the parties to the pay agreement in respect of the issues which undoubtedly have to be resolved, we will meet the challenge set in Sustaining Progress and achieve measurable progress by the mid-term review next year.
