Fianna Fail is urging the Government to "step up" and start investing in more social homes.

Cork North West TD, Aindrias Moynihan, made the call after he raised concerns over the "slow" delivery of social housing in the Ballincollig area.

Deputy Moynihan was commenting after it became clear that the promised delivery of 34 social housing units behind McDonalds on the Old Fort Road has been stalled.

He said: "The introduction of a new Choice Based Letting scheme in the areas was promoted to people as a positive development, but with just three houses in Ballincollig put on offer, supply was simply swamped by demand with each house receiving over 200 offers.

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"Last week's announcement that the Government is moving away from the acquisition of houses for use by local authorities and towards the building of new social housing units is welcome.

"However, there is a severe lag from the time a decision is made to build new units to the time a family moves in – in many cases it can be two to three years.

"I know that the County Council are planning a medium sized development at Poulavone but this still requires the jump the first hurdle of getting Departmental permission, never mind passing all the various planning stages.

"With the stalling of the 34 houses near the Old Fort, the small number of houses coming on stream via the Choice Based Letting system, and the time it will take for the new units at Poulavone to be built and made ready for families, the hundreds of people in Ballincollig waiting for a council house are rightly concerned and frustrated with the Government's failure to deliver."

(CD/LM)