I am always delighted to go for a walk with Deputy Gould.

Sentiment score: 0.51

4. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline the way in which his Department plans to address approval lags for cost rental equity loan, CREL, funding; the reason capital advance leasing facility, CALF, and CREL funding is being approved at different times; the number of units which have been delayed, in tabular form; and his plans to address these delays. [53906/25]

Sentiment score: 0.14

We need to be honest here about what is going on. Someone is spinning something or telling porkies. It was reported on RTÉ's "Prime Time" last May that there were delays. AHBs said there were delays. It cannot be easy for approved housing bodies to be publicly critical of the Department of housing and the delays in because they rely on the Department for their funding. They said it very clearly in the public domain - as well as to me and others - that there is huge uncertainty in relation to the approval of these cost rental affordable projects and the social housing associated with it. The Minister and the Department might be putting it across that these are questions relating to the different points at which projects are approved, but we need to get straighter. How many projects have been turned down for CREL and CALF?

Sentiment score: 0.16

We are in agreement that we want to see as many cost rental and social homes as possible built in as quick a time as possible. I do not understand why it is coming out that there are these delays. The Minister says there are no delays. I am not satisfied that is the case because AHBs are saying there are issues of delays. The Minister also said at the housing committee that there is a finite amount of funding - which of course there is - to approve these projects. However, that has to mean that there are projects going forward that are coming to the Department's desk and it is having to decide that it will not fund them. I would like to know, and we should know, how many proposals are coming forward from AHBs for social housing that the Department is deciding not to progress because the funding is not there.

Sentiment score: -0.01