Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

The information I have received from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is that 56 have been accommodated, with up to 256 being accommodated by the end of the year. I do not have a breakdown of whether that is one scheme or a number of schemes. I can get that information for the Deputy. Given how small the number is, I assume it is a small number of schemes as opposed to 256 individually rented houses.

With regard to staff, obviously the pressure will move to the local authority as the scheme proceeds. I expect the rate of transfers to accelerate significantly over the coming months, particularly through the voluntary housing sector. New template contract arrangements have recently been put in place to enable local authorities to engage additional landlord accommodation capacity under the scheme through a variety of mechanisms. As these additional units start to come on stream, the rate of transfer of people to the scheme should accelerate. Clearly, if there are staffing and resource implications, both Departments will have to address them.

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