The Minister for Environment is being slammed over his social housing targets for Dublin as "fantasy over reliance on the private sector".

Sinn Féin Housing Spokesperson Dessie Ellis TD was responding to figures from the city council which reveal that more than half of the planned housing for Dublin for the next three years are expected to come from the private sector.

Deputy Ellis said: "His target for Dublin City Council is 3347 units to be delivered from 2015 to 2017. He also claims that this will reduce our housing waiting list significantly, 25% in all across the state.

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"However, like much of what this Minister claims the devil is in the detail, or in this case it is the fantasy that the details reveal.

"In an answer to questions by Sinn Fein Cllr Criona Ni Dhalaigh, the City Council revealed that there will not 3347 council houses delivered in this timeframe. 1736 of these units will be private properties leased by the Council or Housing Associations under the Rental Accommodation Scheme and the Long Term Leasing Initiative.

"The actual number of Council homes will be somewhere between 1498 over three years. That is less than 50% of the planned housing for the city and represents an average of just 499 council houses each year.

"Alan Kelly's housing targets are over-reliant on the private sector. They will leave thousands of families in short term leases, with no real security of tenure, unable to put down long term roots and at the mercy of the market."

(CD/MH)