Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 9 Feb 1988

Vol. 377 No. 6

Written Answers - Cavan Housing Sanction.

164.

Mr. Boylan

asked the Minister for the Environment if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Cavan County Council has submitted to his Department for sanction a proposal for the erection of 11 rural cottages in the county; if his attention has been further drawn to the conditions in which many of these applicants are living, some in caravans with no electricity or running water, and the fact that they have been on the waiting list for five years or more; if in view of the grave disappointment expressed following his Department's decision not to make funds available to start any of these houses in 1987, he will reconsider his decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

165.

Mr. T. Fitzpatrick

asked the Minister for the Environment if he will, as requested by Cavan County Council, sanction a proposal for the erection of 11 rural cottages in County Cavan for persons in extreme need of rehousing; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that tenders have been accepted and approved, but to date his Department have not given approval to proceed with the building; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for the Environment (Mr. Flynn)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 164 and 165 together.

The responsibility for the identification of need for local authority housing and the planning and initiation of a housing programme to meet that need is a matter for each individual housing authority. Each authority's annual programme is subject to the limitation of their annual allocation which in turn is dictated by the total of the public capital allocation for local authority housing for the year and the capital demands of other authorities.

Pending examination of the housing authority's claims for capital allocations for their 1988 housing construction programme, which were recently received in my Department, it is not possible to indicate what funds will be available to individual authorities to finance their housing programme.