Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 May 2023
341. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the allocation put in place for 2022 and 2023 for the caravan loan pilot scheme nationally; the amount approved for each local authority; the spend to date for 2022 and 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21419/23]
View answer342. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the review of the caravan loan pilot scheme has been completed; the process used to carry out the review; when the findings of the review will be published and a new scheme put in its place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21420/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 341 and 342 together.
The Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998 provides that the role of my Department is to ensure that there are adequate structures and supports in place to assist housing authorities in providing accommodation for Travellers, including a national framework of policy, legislation and funding.
The Act provides that housing authorities have statutory responsibility for the assessment of the accommodation needs of Travellers and the preparation, adoption and implementation of multi-annual Traveller Accommodation Programmes (TAPs) in their areas.
The nationwide pilot Caravan Loan Scheme was introduced to support the provision of Traveller-specific accommodation through local authorities to provide preferential loans to Travellers to purchase their own caravan or mobile home for use as their primary residence. The 2022 nationwide pilot scheme was limited to the provision of up to 75 caravans or €3 million, whichever was the lessor, across all local authorities, until the end of 2022. At the conclusion of the 2022 nationwide pilot, €2.66 million had been drawn down by local authorities to provide 77 caravans.
The information on the number of loans and the amount drawn down by each local authority under the 2022 nationwide pilot Caravan Loan Scheme is set out in the following table.
|
Local authority |
Number of loans |
Draw down |
|
Carlow |
- |
- |
|
Cavan |
- |
- |
|
Clare |
- |
- |
|
Cork City |
13 |
€527,417.70 |
|
Cork County |
1 |
€40,000 |
|
Donegal |
- |
- |
|
Dublin City |
18 |
€633,685 |
|
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown |
6 |
€234,000 |
|
Fingal |
10 |
€236,498.05 |
|
South Dublin |
13 |
€422, 855.27 |
|
Galway City |
4 |
€159,989.60 |
|
Galway County |
- |
- |
|
Kerry |
- |
|
|
Kildare |
2 |
€70,725 |
|
Kilkenny |
- |
- |
|
Laois |
- |
- |
|
Leitrim |
- |
- |
|
Limerick City & County |
3 |
€106,500 |
|
Longford |
- |
- |
|
Louth |
1 |
€25,650 |
|
Mayo |
- |
- |
|
Meath |
- |
- |
|
Monaghan |
- |
- |
|
Offaly |
- |
- |
|
Roscommon |
- |
- |
|
Sligo |
6 |
€202,329.02 |
|
Tipperary |
- |
- |
|
Waterford City & County |
- |
- |
|
Westmeath |
- |
- |
|
Wexford |
- |
- |
|
Wicklow |
- |
- |
|
Total |
77 |
€2,659,649.64 |
In addition, under the 2021 pilot Caravan Loan Scheme from the participating local authorities of Cork City Council, Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council and Limerick City and County Council, 9 loans were drawn down by Cork City Council in early 2022, bringing the total number of loans provided in 2022 to 86. My Department funded €210,000 towards the cost of these loans and €60,000 was funded through Local Property Tax (LPT) resulting in €2.93 million expenditure on both pilot Caravan Loan Schemes in 2022.
The nationwide pilot Caravan Loan Scheme concluded at the end of 2022 and my Department is in the process of reviewing the operation of the pilot scheme with input from local authorities and other stakeholders. A report has been prepared for consideration in advance of submitting it to the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.
