asked the Minister for the Environment if he will give details of a proposal whereby local authorities may purchase privately constructed new and secondhand houses for letting to eligible applicants.

Details of this scheme are being finalised as a matter of urgency in my Department and a circular letter dealing with the matter will issue to housing authorities shortly.

Will the Minister say whether a special capital allocation will be made available to local authorities to enable them enter into discussions and to purchase privately constructed new or secondhand houses as proposed? If so, will he indicate precisely when he will inform local authorities of his intentions in this matter?

No, the normal housing allocation will apply to this type of purchase of houses.

Would the Minister not agree that the present local authority building programme and the local authority acquisition of houses programmes will never catch up with the backlog in housing? Would he agree furthermore that something needs to be done immediately to accelerate the programme or whatever schemes are available to him if he is to remove the despair of those people whose names have been on housing lists for years who foresee no hope of getting a local authority house?

I am aware of the backlog involved in each local authority area. However, I can say that the efforts being made by me and by my Department at present are accelerating the production of houses, whether through building or by acquiring houses from local authority tenants who wish to hand them back, thereby availing of the new £5,000 grant. Methods such as these will be used to accelerate the programme.

I hope it will be demonstrated not only this year but next year also that there is an acceleration taking place in the building programme and that the figures that will emanate at the end of the year will show a very large increase over previous years in the number of houses produced by local authorities.

Would the Minister give the House an estimate of the anticipated increase he has mentioned?

No, I shall give those figures when the year has ended.

The Minister has not a clue what will happen.

I am sure the Deputy will be pleasantly surprised.

We are all in favour of it. We are very pleased to see the Minister adopting some Fianna Fáil policies.

When things are going well they are attributed to Fianna Fáil policy and when they are not they are dire.

If not Labour Party policies.

It is not the Labour Party policy. We are very pleased to see the Government adopting Fianna Fáil policies.

I am here now and inheriting the results.