Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. I am anxious that all counties can participate in the affordable housing fund. They can do so should relevant schemes be brought forward. I asked all local authorities, including Mayo County Council, to prepare housing delivery action plans, which they have done. Each authority was asked to assess the level of housing demand with affordability constraint projected for their area using a common tool, namely, the housing need and demand assessment tool. Local authorities with a strong and identified affordable housing need were asked to prepare affordable delivery action plans and were set five-year affordable delivery targets.

An identified level of affordable housing need arises where, of the projected housing need in the county, more than 5% of new households would not qualify. The level of affordability constrained need in Mayo is assessed at below 5% although, in fairness, we have not constrained it to being county-wide. I understand there are localised affordability issues, particularly in Westport and also potentially in Ballina. We are happy to consider those issues. Where local authorities have localised affordability measures, as is the case in the two towns to which I referred, they can still apply to the Department for funding to develop affordable housing schemes if they can demonstrate that an affordable scheme is needed to address those localised affordability challenges and they can meet the criteria for the fund. I am confident that can be done.

I will come back in on the Deputy’s supplementary question to specifically inform him of the interaction between my Department and Mayo County Council. We are engaging with it right now - we did so as recently as yesterday - regarding the potential development of affordable housing schemes in Mayo. We have offered assistance to the county council, as we do to all local authorities if they are bringing in schemes that are specific to particular areas within the county. The county he represents is a large one and there may not be an affordability constraint in the context of the whole county but, within it, there may be such a constraint. Those are the ones we want to ensure come into the scheme.

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