In view of the fact that the Minister said that the increase on this year's allocation was taken up entirely by Dublin Corporation, does he not acknowledge that the remainder of the local authorities are working on a figure which is a 20 per cent cutback in real terms? The experience all of us have with people seeking local authority housing is that we can give them no hope.

They have twice as good a chance of getting a local authority house as when Fianna Fáil were in Government because we are building twice the number of local authority houses.

Could the Minister give us a factual indication of the period involved from the time when normally a local authority requests permission to build houses until they are completed.

Local authority houses do not require planning permission. Local authorities starting houses in January of the year in most cases are able to finish them in 12 to 15 months. If they are small schemes, they are occupied within six months. When Fianna Fáil were in Government it took six years from the time of application.

I will accept that. Perhaps we were lethargic in that respect. May I suggest, therefore, that the vast majority of the houses built in the last three years were those which were planned and approved by Fianna Fáil?