PAC to examine 2017 delivery of social housing

The meeting at 9 a.m. in Committee Room 3 can be viewed live here and on Android and Apple devices using the Houses of the Oireachtas app.

Scheduled witnesses include

• Secretary General John McCarthy of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and
• Housing Agency Chief Executive John O’Connor.

The Committee and witnesses will discuss the Department’s appropriation accounts for 2017 focusing on matters relating to housing supply. It also will examine the Housing Agency’s 2017 financial statements and Chapter 10 from the C&AG's 2017 annual reports on Funding and Oversight of Approved Housing Bodies.

“The Committee will examine the Department's and Housing Agency's effectiveness in addressing the nation’s need for more social and affordable housing,” said Committee Chairman Sean Fleming TD. “Members will be interested to identify, in discussion with our witnesses, the extent to which this effort produced actual delivery of housing in a value-for-money manner.”

“The Committee is concerned that a great part of the responsibility for delivering housing units lies with the Approved Housing Bodies,” Deputy Fleming said. “These receive an enormous amount of funding from the Department. The Committee has serious concerns about the level of Department oversight and the lack of statutory regulation of these bodies."