Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 October 2017
722. Deputy John Curran asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of houses that were completed and ready for occupation during 2016 in each local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42664/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraOver 19,000 households were housed last year under the range of Social Housing Programmes. Statistics on the number of social housing properties constructed, purchased and leased by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies are published on my Department’s website at the following link: http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision.
In terms of overall housing construction, the ESB residential connections dataset provides the best available indicator, at this point in time, that a residential unit is becoming available for occupation. A comprehensive list of the number of ESB residential connections, broken down by Local Authority area from 1996 onwards, is available through the following link on my Department’s website:http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/statistics/house-building-and-private-rented/construction-activity-esb-connections.
My Department and the CSO are working with the ESB in order to provide a more detailed breakdown of the ESB connections dataset. Once additional ESB data is received by the CSO, it will be further analysed and matched to other datasets with initial results expected by the end of the year.
In parallel, my Department, through a special Housing Data Analytics Group, HDAG, is also working with the CSO and other public sector bodies, such as the Housing Agency, Central Bank, ESRI, Department of Finance, SOLAS and local authorities, to further refine and improve housing activity statistics and data more generally. The HDAG is also consulting with residential construction industry sources on this topic.
