In a monitoring system recently put in place, my Department has requested housing authorities to provide details of accommodation provided to returning emigrants under the amended terms of the capital assistance scheme as part of their quarterly progress reports on activity in the voluntary housing programme furnished to my Department. The amended terms of the capital assistance scheme provide that up to 25% of accommodation in a project undertaken by a voluntary housing body with funding under the scheme may be made available for allocation to elderly returning emigrants who satisfy the eligibility criteria. It is a matter for an approved housing body to decide whether it will provide accommodation for returning emigrants in a project which is being undertaken by it under the scheme. Where an approved body decides to make such accommodation available for a returning emigrant, it is a matter for that body to select a suitable candidate from the Safe Home waiting list in consultation with Safe Home. The relevant local authority has clear rights of consultation in relation to the granting of tenancies in projects funded under the capital assistance scheme. Local authorities are advised by my Department to facilitate approved voluntary housing bodies which propose to accommodate emigrants in projects being undertaken by them within the amended terms of the scheme. I have no proposals to amend the terms of the scheme in this regard.
