Vol. 498 No. 4
339 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he will give details of the housing capital allocation to Dublin city and county distinguishing each local authority and showing the permitted housing starts; the number of private house purchasers grant aided for each of the years 1997 and 1998; and the projected number for 1999 in this regard. [27716/98]
Statements showing the number of housing starts and the housing capital allocations for each local authority for the years 1997 and 1998 are available in the Oireachtas Library. A capital provision of almost £230 million will be available in 1999 to local authorities to enable them to commence-purchase 4,500 houses and to meet commitments arising from their existing housing programmes. Local authorities will be notified shortly of their programme of authorised starts for 1999.
A total of 10,355 new house grants were paid in 1997 and the figures for 1998 and 1999 are expected to be in the order of 10,000. The number of grants paid to applicants in the Dublin city and county area was 3,884 in 1997 and 2,782 to November 1998.
Details in respect of 1997 and to the end of September 1998, on an individual local authority basis, are given in the Department's housing statistics bulletins in regard to mortgage allowance and shared ownership transactions in respect of private houses. Copies of the bulletins are available in the Oireachtas Library. It is not possible at this stage to provide figures on activity at local authority level on these schemes in 1999.
