Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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292. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of pre-2011 RAS tenants who are on the Galway County Council special transfer list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9240/24]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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293. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of pre-2011 RAS tenants who are on the Galway City Council special transfer list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9241/24]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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294. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there are separate special transfer lists for pre-2011 and post-2011 RAS tenants in Galway City Council, or if these tenants are all on the same special transfer list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9242/24]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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295. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there are separate special transfer lists for pre-2011 and post-2011 RAS tenants in Galway County Council, or if these tenants are all on the same special transfer list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9243/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 292 to 295, inclusive, together.

Under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is considered a form of social housing support. In line with the Act, all new RAS tenants from 1 April 2011 are considered to have their housing need met and therefore they cannot remain on the main social housing waiting list. However, such tenants can be provided with the option of being placed on the transfer list, similar to tenants in local authority housing.

To address the expectations of RAS tenants before this date, guidance from the Housing Agency in 2011 recommended a special transfer process for those tenants to access other social housing support.

The oversight and management of housing waiting lists, including the allocation and transfer of tenancies, is a matter for the relevant local authority in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, and associated regulations.

The Act requires local authorities to create a system for prioritising households in need of social housing and those seeking a transfer to alternative local authority accommodation. I have no statutory function in the decision making or processing of transfer applications in local authority dwellings.