Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 January 2019
66. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he has met with either Cavan or Monaghan county council to discuss social housing strategies; the housing targets for new builds in both counties for 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1308/19]
View answerI have met with all local authorities at senior level in relation to the advancement of social housing. In particular, I have held a number of Housing Summits with the local authority Chief Executives, including those from Cavan and Monaghan. The most recent of these Summits was last September and I intend to hold a further similar engagement in the near future.
Separately, both I and Minister of State English regularly visit individual local authorities to discuss progress on social housing. Minister English visited Monaghan County Council in November 2018, where he met the Chief Executive and the Council's housing team and visited a number of social housing projects. A similar engagement was held with Cavan County Council in May 2018.
With regard to social housing targets, I wrote to all local authorities, including Cavan and Monaghan, in early 2018 setting out their social housing targets for 2018-21 across all delivery streams, including build, and details 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/. I will issue specific 2019 targets shortly, including to Cavan and Monaghan, which will be based on the increased national social housing targets for 2019.
An overall housing budget of almost €2.4 billion is available to support housing delivery in 2019 by local authorities and others against these targets. I and Minister English will continue, in 2019, to meet directly with local authorities on this important work.
