The Construction Industry Federation has denied that builders are relying heavily on cash payments to get around their obligations under the recent Planning Acts to provide 20% of development land for social and affordable housing.
The spokesman for CIF was commenting on findings by the homeless lobby, Focus Ireland, that only one third of the social and affordable homes planned under recent legislation has been delivered in the past two years.
Focus partly blames the shortfall on changes in the legislation introduced in 2002, whereby the developer could give cash in lieu of housing or land to local authorities.
But the builders say that up to 2005, €25 million has been given to local authorities when they waived the obligation to surrender development land or its equivalent in completed houses.
The spokesman said this was very low considering the overall amount of development since the legislation kicked in over the past three years.
But the CIF agrees with the Focus finding that many local authorities do not have the expert staff needed to implement the quota.
The federation's spokesman highlighted the shortage of quantity surveyors and legal staff required to negotiate with builders how much land they owed or how many houses they should build in lieu of it.
Fine Gael's Local Government Spokesman Fergus O'Dowd sharply criticised what he called the Government's failure to speed up the supply of housing for people on low incomes.
Mr O'Dowd challenged the Minister for the Environment to ensure that local councils are given the necessary staff to ensure that homes are built under Part V of the Planning and Development Act.
Focus Ireland figures reveal that in 2004 the number of houses built under this provision only reached 30% of the target, rising to 35% last year.
With nearly 44,000 households on the waiting list for social housing, Focus Ireland says it is crucial that local authorities and developers work more closely together.
The housing body is calling for the cash transfer option to be used only as a last resort.
