About 3,000 affordable homes for this year forecast

Some 3,000 affordable homes are expected to be built this year and a further 1,700 homes will be provided through local authority tenant purchase schemes, according to the Taoiseach.

Bertie Ahern said the Government had set a target of "delivering 17,000 affordable houses in the period from January next over three years".

Up to June, local authorities had received €38 million in cash settlements from developers under part five of the Planning and Development Act, he said.

"While some characterise the cash option as the developers buying their way out, the officials concerned say that is not what is happening" because the money was ring-fenced for housing.

Sinn Féin's Dáil leader Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin, said the National Economic and Social Council recommended the construction of an additional 73,000 social housing units between 2005 and 2012. Mr Ó Caoláin said there were 44,000 families on local authority housing lists and "for many today the idea of aspiring to home ownership, where the current national average cost is €308,000, is totally prohibitive".

Mr Ahern said 8,500 affordable homes had been delivered "which is totally separate from the local authorities or the social housing scheme programme".

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said there was a need to increase the number of social housing units from just 7 per cent of the total of 400,000 houses built since 2002. But Mr Ahern said that many developments in the past four or five years had earlier planning permissions and did not come under the requirements of part five. That had changed this year.