The Housing Minister is being urged to make more money available to local authorities to help tackle the ongoing housing crisis in Ireland.

Sinn Féin is calling on Minister Simon Coveney to review the procurement and tendering rules to allow faster delivery of new social housing.

The party's spokesperson on Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoin Ó Broin said Minister Coveney must also reform the "slow and cumbersome" procurement process.

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He said: "The problem is not with the planning process. It is with the cumbersome procurement process that can take up to 134 weeks.

"The social housing procurement process for local authorities goes through four stages each as burdensome as the next.

"Fast track procurement was used in the rapid build project in Ballymun. There is no reason why it couldn't be used to build permanent social housing.

"The Minister should leave the planning process alone.

"He needs real solutions. He should increase the funding available to local authorities to buy and build houses."

(CD/MH)