Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
606. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps his Department has taken since 2022 to establish a residential-specific productivity baseline for use in housing policy formation, including any internal memoranda, assessment frameworks or technical guidance issued to inform national housing targets. [72307/25]
View answer607. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department has conducted any assessment of the budgetary or value-for-money risks arising from the absence of residential-specific productivity indicators in the construction sector; and the outcomes of any such assessment. [72308/25]
View answer608. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the date on which his Department last requested the Central Statistics Office to examine residential construction productivity separately from other construction activity; and to provide details of any technical workstreams, consultations or data-sharing arrangements agreed since 2022. [72309/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 606, 607 and 608 together.
The Central Statistics Office produces annual and quarterly information on productivity in economic sectors of the Irish Economy, including on productivity in the construction sector. In principle, an initial productivity baseline could flow from these data sources, however the underlying data sources do not allow for the distinction between residential and other forms of construction.
My Department is involved in regular collaboration with the Central Statistics Office, alongside other Government Departments and State Agencies, in developing indicators relating to housing data. For instance, one such recent area of collaboration is in relation to developing insights on the scale and variance of use of Modern Methods of Construction for new residential dwellings.
If it were to be feasible, a robust and reliable measure of residential construction activity could be beneficial. However, the Central Statistics Office is best placed to adjudicate between the many competing demands for additional statistical series and is also the appropriate office to generate any related business case or formal assessment of the value of developing a residential-specific productivity indicator, including an examination of the likely operational challenges. As the Central Statistics Office operates under the aegis of the Taoiseach, questions regarding the Central Statistics Office’s plans in this area are best directed to that Department.
The new Housing plan Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030 seeks to facilitate delivery of 300,000 homes over the lifetime of the Plan which will include record levels of new social homes, an ambitious nationwide Starter Homes Programme and the provision of additional delivery in the areas of Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) and vacant and derelict properties brought back into use.
