Michael Ring
Ceist:1081 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his Department has a scheme of priorities for affordable housing. [10387/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 12 April 2005
Ceisteanna (1027, 1028, 1029)
Michael Ring
Ceist:1082 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his Department has an input into the way in which points are allocated for affordable housing or is this done solely by the local authorities themselves. [10388/05]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Arthur Morgan
Ceist:1099 Mr. Morgan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the details of affordable housing schemes in which a lottery scheme of allocation was used with respect to affordable housing units completed in the past five years. [10728/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. N. Ahern)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1081, 1082 and 1099 together.
The allocation of houses under the affordable housing schemes is a matter for each local authority, in accordance with the scheme of allocation priorities adopted by its elected members. Each local authority must establish a scheme that determines the order of priority to be accorded to persons to whom affordable houses are made available for sale, where the number of persons applying for such houses exceeds the number of houses available. A working group of officials from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and a number of local authorities was established to assist local authorities in preparing schemes. Following the working group's consideration, guidelines on a model scheme of allocation priorities were prepared and circulated to local authorities in June 2001. Notwithstanding this, the making and amending of a scheme is a reserved function and, accordingly, it is a matter for the elected members to decide the precise form the scheme should take, having regard to the requirements of the relevant legislation. The Department does not have information on the composition of the various schemes operated by local authorities. It does not have details of affordable housing schemes where a lottery was used for allocation purposes.