Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 July 2014
474. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if the number and condition of unfinished estates in a particular local authority area is factored into the needs and resources allocation model for the Local Government Fund when determining the amounts to be dispersed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32196/14]
View answerI assume that the Question refers to general purpose grants from the Local Government Fund. General purpose grants are my Department’s contribution towards meeting the cost to local authorities of providing a reasonable level of services to their customers.
Local authorities’ cost and income bases vary significantly from one another and calculating an appropriate distribution of these grants is complex. General purpose grants are structured to bring about equalisation over time; that is a position of balance where the financial needs of local authorities are met by their resources and they are able to provide an appropriate level of service to their customers.
In determining these grants a number of factors are taken into account including the overall funding available for this purpose, the estimated cost to each authority of providing a reasonable level of services to their customers, the income each authority should generate from local sources and the necessity to provide each authority with a baseline allocation that supports its financial stability.
Apart from General Purpose Grant allocations from the Local Government Fund, Budget 2014 contains a special provision, in the form of a targeted €10m Special Resolution Fund (SRF), to assist further in addressing the legacy of unfinished housing developments. On 2 May, the former Minister for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan, T.D., announced the allocations from the Special Resolution Fund to local authorities in respect of 86 unfinished housing developments across the country; the related press release is available on my Department’s website at: http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentHousing/Housing/News/MainBody,37940,en.htm.
This public investment will leverage an additional €12m from third parties (developers/lenders/bonds) which will be invested in these estates. It is hoped that the SRF will enable very substantial progress to be made in resolving as many of the remaining unfinished developments as possible.
