Vol. 482 No. 1
103 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he will give details of the housing scheme whereby local authorities build council houses on sites provided by the applicant; the number of houses provided by each county under this scheme in 1996 or the most recent year available; if national rules or if each county determines its own rules and resources; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17448/97]
It is assumed that the Deputy is referring to the provision by local authorities, as part of their annual housing programmes, of houses in rural areas on sites provided by applicants on the housing list of the authority. My Department's guidelines to housing authorities on the provision of local authority housing apply, as appropriate, to the provision of these houses and include specific requirements that the building of isolated houses in rural areas should be limited to those special categories whose needs can be met satisfactorily only by the provision of such houses e.g. farmers and small-holders etc. who desire to live on their holdings and agricultural workers who must live near their place of employment and the housing authority should be satisfied that there will be a continuing need for the house during its useful life.
Subject to the guidelines, the extent to which isolated rural houses are included in their annual housing programme is a matter for individual housing authorities having regard to the priority of those applicants whose needs are to be met by the provision of such houses. Where the estimated all-in-cost of a house comes within a cost ceiling notified to each county council annually, the approval of the Department is not required to the seeking of tenders or to the acceptance of a tender where it is the lowest valid tender. Funding is provided from the annual capital allocation made available to authorities each year by my Department for their local authority housing programme.
Details of isolated rural houses provided in 1996 are set out in the following table.
|
County Councils |
Number of Rural Houses completed in 1996 |
|
Carlow |
3 |
|
Cavan |
18 |
|
Clare |
– |
|
Cork (N) |
10 |
|
Cork (S) |
5 |
|
Cork (W) |
– |
|
Donegal |
65 |
|
Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown |
– |
|
Fingal |
1 |
|
Galway |
23 |
|
Kerry |
25 |
|
Kildare |
1 |
|
Kilkenny |
– |
|
Laois |
8 |
|
Leitrim |
11 |
|
Limerick |
7 |
|
Longford |
18 |
|
Louth |
– |
|
Mayo |
58 |
|
Meath |
4 |
|
Monaghan |
– |
|
Offaly |
1 |
|
Roscommon |
4 |
|
Sligo |
11 |
|
South Dublin |
– |
|
Tipperary (NR) |
4 |
|
Tipperary (SR) |
– |
|
Waterford |
– |
|
Westmeath |
2 |
|
Wexford |
17 |
|
Wicklow |
5 |
|
Total |
301 |
