asked the Minister for the Environment if a revised differential rent scheme could be introduced for people in a housing scheme (details supplied) in County Galway; and if a grant or loan could be provided to improve facilities.
Written Answers. - County Galway Differential Rent Schemes.
615.
The differential rent scheme for local authority dwellings has general application and it would not be practicable to vary it in relation to particular schemes. While the scheme is designed primarily to relate the rents payable by individual applicants to their financial and family circumstances, it is also structured to ensure that the maximum rents in respect of individual schemes will not exceed levels related to the original cost of providing the schemes. As a result, the maximum rents applicable to individual tenants normally vary in accordance with the relative standard of the scheme in which they reside. The primary factor in determining rents is, however, the operation of the ability-to-pay principle. Since that principle gives the fairest result overall and since it ensures that no tenant will be liable for more than he can afford I do not consider any change in the system to deal specifically with older unserviced houses to be warranted.
My Department provide unsubsidised loans and operate a scheme of grants to assist authorities in the carrying out of certain improvement works to their rented dwellings. In addition, under the new scheme provided for in the national plan, subsidised capital may be made available to housing authorities to assist them in carrying out major remedial works of a structural nature to dwellings which require such works if they are to continue to be suitable for renting.