Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

For the record, we would all agree with Deputy McGrath, and we think there is great potential to use approved housing bodies and housing associations throughout the country. That is why they have been allocated up to €1 billion of the spend of the €5.5 billion to make this happen. There is great opportunity in Tipperary and in many other counties to tap into and work with approved housing bodies, exactly as the Deputy says. That is something we are very strongly supporting and encouraging. Our message to all local authorities is to strengthen that relationship at management level and also at local authority representative level, and for the councils to feel part of that and closer to the approved housing bodies.

In the status report to the end of 2016 for social housing construction projects, which was recently published and is on the website, there are 16 projects of various scale for the Tipperary County Council area, either recently completed or being advanced. Three of these are being advanced by approved housing bodies to deliver 20 units of accommodation at Fethard, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir. Further projects are being added to this list on an ongoing basis, as they are developed by local authorities and approved housing bodies. Funding is in place for all of these projects and I am keen that they are advanced as soon as possible.

Since 2012, almost €3 million has been provided to 12 approved housing bodies for Tipperary projects under our Department’s capital assistance scheme, to build or acquire houses and apartments as part of sheltered housing projects, with 29 units delivered. Under my Department’s social housing current expenditure programme, two approved housing bodies are managing seven leased units in Tipperary. There are also approvals in place with two approved housing bodies, via the capital advance leasing facility, for 54 new social units in Tipperary across four projects.

Approved housing bodies have an important role to play under Rebuilding Ireland, with the capacity to contribute around a third of the 47,000 new social housing units targeted over the period to 2021, using a range of delivery methods. As with all local authorities, we would encourage Tipperary County Council to work constructively with the range of local and national approved housing bodies that operate in the county. More progress on this by the local authority can result in better social housing delivery. For example, the repair and leasing scheme, rolled out on a national basis in February, offers a significant opportunity for collaboration with approved housing bodies to maximise the potential impact of the scheme. We hope to see Tipperary County Council working with approved housing bodies on this and other social housing programmes to further improve delivery. I cannot stress enough-----

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