The Minister of State with responsibility for Housing and Urban Renewal, Noel Ahern, has said that the social housing needs of almost 13,000 households were met in 2005.
The minister was announcing the numbers of social rented and affordable dwellings completed last year.
Mr Ahern said 2005 saw the highest local authority output for 20 years.
He said that local authorities achieved over 5,100 completions in 2005, which is an increase of 600 on the previous year.
According to the figures there were 6,500 social rented units, which is also up by 600 on the previous year.
Mr Ahern pointed out that they would invest over €2 billion for the social and affordable housing programme in 2006.
A spokesperson for the national housing organisation, Threshold, says that it welcomes any increase in the numbers of socially affordable houses, but the Government still has a long way to go.
He pointed out the fact that there are currently 44,000 people on local authority waiting lists and that the Government needs to drastically increase its funding to tackle all aspects of affordable housing.
