All of the 4,500 starts or acquisitions available under the local authority housing programme were allocated to local authorities on 15 January last. Figures for the actual number of starts achieved and houses completed or acquired in 1999 in each local authority will not be available in my Department until early next year.
Based on current indications, however, I expect the total number of local authority houses to be commenced or acquired this year will be in the order of 4,000 and that authorities will complete or acquire about 3,700 houses. Most local authorities are in a position to reach their target of starts by the end of the year. Any authorised house starts not commenced by the end of the year will commence early in the new year and will not be lost to the programme. Due to the nature of an annual programme most of the starts authorised for a current year do not usually start until the last quarter of the year. Therefore, practically all local authority house starts are completed in the year following the allocation of the starts and few houses with the exception of acquisitions, are completed in the year in which the start is allocated. When the programme is in a period of expansion, as is currently the case, completions tend, therefore, to lag behind starts.
My Department has agreed to requests, from a small number of authorities whose current programmes are well advanced, for additional houses to be started in the current year. The authorities concerned are Galway, Laois, Meath, Offaly and South Dublin County Councils.
