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Local Authorities

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 March 2022

Wednesday, 30 March 2022

Questions (41, 42)

Colm Burke

Question:

41. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if funding will urgently be made available to Cork City Council to repair a heating system for a local authority housing estate (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16884/22]

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Colm Burke

Question:

42. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if support will be urgently be made available to Cork City Council to repair a heating system for a local authority housing estate (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16885/22]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 41 and 42 together.

The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, responsive repairs and implementing planned maintenance programmes, is a matter for each individual local authority, under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966.

Local authorities also have a legal obligation to ensure that all of their tenanted properties are compliant with the provisions of the Housing (standards for rented houses) Regulations 2019. Local authority officials and elected members have a very important role to play in this regard by making adequate budgetary provision for housing repairs and cyclical maintenance utilising the housing rental income available to them as part of the annual budgetary process.

Notwithstanding the legal obligations on local authorities to manage and maintain their housing stock, my Department does provide annual funding to local authorities to support their work in this area through the Voids Programme and the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme.

The funding provided through the Voids programme is available to support local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-letting and is additional to the funding provided from the local authorities own resources. From 2014 to 2021, expenditure of some €261 million was recouped to local authorities under the Voids Programme which funded the return to productive use of 18,527 properties nationwide.

The Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP) aims to retrofit the home to a BER of B2/Cost Optimal BER. It is expected that 36,500 local authority owned homes will be retrofitted under this programme out to 2030. A budget of €85m has been made available for EERP 2022. Allocations for each local authority are currently under consideration and will be released shortly.

In choosing the properties to be retrofitted, local authorities are urged to choose a mix of properties, requiring varying levels of retrofit, when setting out their works programme. With regard to the properties which are selected to be remediated either through funding available from the Voids programme or the EERP, this would be a matter for each individual local authority, which would be Cork City Council in this case.

My Department and local authorities are working to transition from a largely response based approach to housing stock management and maintenance to a planned maintenance approach. This will require the completion of stock condition surveys by all local authorities and the subsequent development of strategic and informed work programmes in response. My Department will support these work programmes by ensuring that the funding available under the various stock improvement programmes are aligned with this approach.

Question No. 42 answered with Question No. 41.
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