Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 3 Jun 1998

Vol. 491 No. 6

Written Answers. - Local Authority Housing.

Dan Neville

Question:

197 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the level of expenditure in each county and county borough area under the works in lieu of social housing scheme; and if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of the scheme. [12651/98]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Molloy)

Local authorities expenditure under the scheme of improvement works in lieu of local authority housing is funded from Exchequer funds allocated by the Department. The following table sets out such amounts drawn by authorities in 1997:

County Councils	£	County Councils	£
Carlow	78,500	Cavan	18,500
Clare	94,000	Cork (North)	416,500
Cork (South)	45,000	Cork (West)	20,800
Donegal	8,800	Fingal	4,900
Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown	47,200	Kerry	73,200
Kildare	149,600	Kilkenny	67,700
Limerick	49,000	Longford	110,500
Louth	34,000	Mayo	135,800
Meath	3,200	Monaghan	92,800
Offaly	16,800	Roscommon	127,600
Sligo	119,800	South Dublin	138,000
Tipperary N.R.	133,400	Tipperary S.R.	194,700
Waterford	23,000	Westmeath	34,000
Wexford	146,100	Wicklow	70,900
County Boroughs	£	County Boroughs	£
Cork	26,000	Dublin	85,000
Limerick	330,000	Waterford	102,900

The scheme is an effective response to the housing needs of certain approved applicants for local authority housing and a valuable element in the range of measures available to meet social housing need. Since its introduction, the terms and conditions of the scheme have been modified a number of times to make it more attractive and to encourage its use by local authorities. In November 1997, as part of a package of improvements to various social housing schemes, the threshold above which prior departmental approval for work under the scheme is required was increased to £20,000 generally and to £25,000 in the case of offshore islands. To further boost the effectiveness of the scheme, I recently allocated an extra £1 million to authorities, bringing the total available to fund work under this scheme in 1998 to £3.6 million.