asked the Minister for the Environment if the condition of houses in Wolfe Tone Villas, Wexfrod, has been investigated by his Department; if he will allocate funds to bring these houses up to minimal living standards; and if he will direct Wexford Corporation to carry out repairs immediately.
Written Answers. - Wexford House Repairs.
385.
Local authorities are obliged in accordance with regulations made under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1979, to ensure that houses let by them are maintained in good tenantable condition and repair. For this purpose, the authorities may retain all rental income and a proportion — 45 per cent in 1980 — of all proceeds of sales of houses to tenants to meet the maintenance and management costs of their rented estates. The Exchequer meets in full the loan charges incurred in the provision of local authority houses for renting which this year amounted to over £62 million.
In the light of the foregoing, the condition of houses in Wolfe Tone Villas, Wexford, or indeed in any other local authority housing estate, has not been investigated by my Department. There are at present no capital moneys available to me to meet expenditure on the improvement of existing rented local authority dwellings due to the necessity to conserve all available capital resources for the provision of new local authirity houses. However, in consultation with the Minister for Finance, I am examining the general question of financing necessary improvement works to local authority houses.
I understand that an on-going programme of maintenance works financed from their own resources is being carried out by Wexford Corporation on all their rented dwellings including the houses in Wolfe Tone Villas.