Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 17 Jun 2003

Vol. 568 No. 5

Written Answers. - Planning and Development Legislation.

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

420 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that private lending institutions will only become involved in lending arrangements under affordable schemes if the clawback is treated as a secondary charge; if his attention has further been drawn to the fact that this is forcing local authorities to purchase and sell on the house in order to protect the clawback; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16407/03]

Seán Ryan

Ceist:

424 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government if he will report on difficulties being experienced with the implementation of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, with particular reference to affordable housing; if a meeting has taken place with the financial institutions regarding difficulties relating to the clawback requirements of the Act; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16430/03]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. N. Ahern)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 420 and 424 together.

Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, is currently being implemented by all planning authorities and I understand that many authorities are actively engaged with developers in Part V pre-planning discussions/negotiations. While specific details are not available at this stage, it is expected that output this year will be greatly increased. Preliminary returns from local authorities indicate that 13 affordable dwellings were provided in the first quarter of 2003.

In addition, draft guidelines have been prepared in my Department to assist those dealing with agreements under the revised Part V arrangements. These draft guidelines were circulated to local authorities, relevant stakeholders and representative groups for observations. The observations received are being examined and final guidelines will issue as soon as possible.

Mortgage finance for affordable housing provided under the Act, may be advanced by local authorities or the financial institutions. The provision of such finance by the institutions, including arrangements covering the clawback provision, is currently being examined by a group comprising officials from my Department, a number of local authorities and representatives from the Irish Mortgage Council. The most recent meeting of the group took place on 11 June.