asked the Minister for the Environment if he considers that the housing programme as indicated in the Green and White papers is adequate to meet housing needs in view of the recently published census and, if so, if he will make a statement on the matter.

23.

asked the Minister for the Environment if he proposes to ask each local authority to reassess their estimates of housing needs in view of the unanticipated increase in the population in every county with the exception of County Leitrim and if he will indicate the number of new houses required in the next five years to meet anticipated housing demand.

I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to take Question Nos. 22 and 23 together.

As indicated by the Minister of State at my Department during the concluding stage of the Seanad Debate on The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1979, I propose to ask housing authorities shortly to carry out an assessment of housing needs in their areas during the next five years. This assessment will take into account census data, including household formation, which will be available in due course, and also the condition of the housing stock. My Department have made arrangements with An Foras Forbartha for the preparation of a manual which will give detailed guidelines to the authorities for the purpose of the assessment. The preparation of the manual is nearing completion.

Pending the completion of this assessment, the Government's target of 23,000 to 27,000 houses per year up to 1980, which was published in the White Paper, Programme for National Development 1978-1981, will stand. This target exceeds the assessment of 21,000 to 25,000 houses a year up to 1986 which was made independently by the NESC in 1976, and generally supported by assessments made by local authorities in 1976/77.

Can the Minister say whether in the five-year review which he has announced will be undertaken next year in any case, there will be taken into account the transfer from the private purchase area to the local authority area as a result of the increases in housing prices? In other words, many people who otherwise would have been buying their own houses are not able to do so because of the escalating house prices. Is there any plan to right this situation?

I will be depending on the local authorities to make their assessments in the immediate future. Presumably, an important factor would be a situation in which local authority housing was not available for people who required it.

Can the Minister say why the Government asserted both in the Green Paper and in the White Paper that the need for local authority housing would decrease? What was the basis for that assertion?

Unfortunately, we did not have the census in 1976. It has come to light only now and, obviously, the increase in population means that we must have a new look at the housing situation.

Meanwhile, the number of applications for local authority housing is increasing.