asked the Minister for Economic Planning and Development if the forecast figures for housing in the White Paper indicate a reduction in the volume of construction of local authority housing.

The White Paper stated that housing output will be maintained at between 21,000 and 27,000 dwellings a year each year up to 1980. Of itself, this does not imply any reduction in the volume of construction of local authority housing. Indeed, at 31 December last, there was an increase of more than 8 per cent in the number of local authority dwellings under construction compared with 31 December 1976. However, the White Paper pointed out that there had been a lessening in the degree of relative urgency of the housing demands made on local authorities, that the cost of providing local authority houses had risen sharply in recent years and that the continuing and accruing subsidy for rented local authority dwellings is placing a very heavy burden on the Exchequer. In the face of these developments, the White Paper indicated that the local authority housing programme will be subjected to critical review and the maximum amount of help and encouragement will be given to families who are applicants for local authority housing to purchase their own new privately-owned houses wherever possible with the aid of the generous incentives for private housing recently provided by the Government. In consequence, the White Paper expected that there will be a further reduction in the numbers of applications for local authority dwellings and in the urgency with which they have to be met.