Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 September 2018
23. Deputy Eugene Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his plans to fund local authority house building in counties Roscommon and Galway in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39085/18]
View answerThe Government’s Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is firmly focused on increasing supply to meet social housing needs under a range of programmes in all counties, including Roscommon and Galway, with the target to deliver 50,000 social homes through build, acquisition and leasing in the period to 2021, as well as meeting the housing needs of an additional 87,000 households through the Housing Assistance Payment scheme and the Rental Accommodation Scheme. The Action Plan is supported by €6 billion in funding, which means that local authorities have the financial support available to them to deliver on their local targets.
Earlier this year, I wrote to all local authorities, including Roscommon and the two Galway councils, setting out their individual social housing targets across all delivery streams, including build. Details of these targets are available on the Rebuilding Ireland website at the following link:
http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-murphy-publishes-social-housing-delivery-targets-for-local-authorities-2018-2021/.
My Department also publishes information on approved social housing construction projects in all counties via quarterly Construction Status Reports. The most recent report is available at the following link:
http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-murphy-publishes-latest-social-housing-construction-report/ and includes the approved projects for Roscommon and Galway. Since the period covered by this last published Construction Status Report, further construction projects have been approved for Roscommon and Galway and updated Construction Status Reports will continue to be published on a quarterly basis.
The timing and delivery of each of these projects is a matter for the local authorities and the approved housing bodies (AHBs). I am keen, however, that all local authorities, including Galway and Roscommon, further accelerate their programmes and I have assured them that the necessary funding to support their activity is available.
My Department will continue to fund social housing construction in Roscommon and Galway in 2018, 2019 and in later years, in line with the Councils' programmes to deliver on their targets.
