Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I would hope that the local authorities will give priority to this area. We set down some of the protocols and the others are for consultation shortly. We have the back-up in the areas of grants and Part M. I would hope that the local authorities, and local authority members, will ensure that takes place.

I understand the housing grants have been notified to local authorities this week. They are with the local authorities today, or if not, tomorrow. They have an allocation of almost €80 million for those grants for 2009.

The simple reason local authorities have not been notified of the grants until now is that we have only recently had the Revised Estimates. Having said that, I am pleased to say that we have almost €80 million available for housing grants for 2009.

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