1 June 2017
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
Recent file picture: Simon Coveney at his Fine Gael Party leadership campaign kick off rally in Cork’s new ‘Capitol building’ Picture: Cathal Noonan
Simon Coveney is currently wearing two hats, he is campaigning for the Fine Gael Leadership contest and is also Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. In his latter capacity he today published the Third Quarterly Progress Report on implementation of “Rebuilding Ireland – an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness”.
Rebuilding Ireland is a whole-of-Government Plan split into 5 key pillars designed to
- Comprehensively address homelessness;
- Increase the supply of social housing by 47,000 units by 2021,
- Increase the total output of all housing supply (social, private and rental) to at least 25,000 per annum by 2021,
- Improve and modernise the rental sector, and,
- Make the best use of the existing housing stock.
Cork South Central based Minister Coveney welcomed the publication of the third Progress Report, as approved by Government, saying –
“In terms of momentum, the report shows strong evidence that Rebuilding Ireland, even though just 10 months old, is delivering increased supply. All output indicators are up with planning permissions for 16,375 new homes granted in the 12 months up to end December 2016, an increase of 26% year on year; Commencement Notices for 14,192 new homes submitted in the 12-month period to end March 2017, up 38% year on year; and 15,684 ESB connections, up 19% year on year.”
The Report documents the progress made on 47 specific actions during the first Quarter of 2017 of which 38 are complete or on schedule. Of the nine actions, which are incomplete or behind schedule, all have seen significant progress and will be completed or, in the case of ongoing multi-annual actions, brought back on schedule, during 2017.
- Pillar 1 – Address Homelessness
- Pillar 2 – Accelerate Social Housing
- Pillar 3 – Build More Homes
- Pillar 4 – Improve the Rental Sector
- Pillar 5 – Utilise Existing Housing
Speaking about progress in the above five pillars Minister Coveney said:
“This progress report is very encouraging . This is largely due to the combined efforts of relevant Government Departments, Agencies, Local Authorities [including Cork County Council, and Cork City Council] and Approved Housing Bodies, in collaboration with industry and housing sector stakeholders who have all got behind the Action Plan, taking a solution- focused approach, and delivering on the actions agreed by Government. However, we cannot afford to be complacent: the housing challenge remains immense, households remain under extreme pressures, and demand still far outstrips supply. We must continue to work together to meet this challenge head on by driving implementation with urgency and purpose.
Read the full report
Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and homelessness – Third Quarterly Progress Report is available here:
http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/rebuilding-irelands-third-quarterly-progress-report/.
