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

I thank the Deputy for his question. I am happy to advise the Deputy that both Cork City Council and South Dublin County Council will be delivering affordable purchase homes this year. Cork City Council has advised that 117 affordable purchase homes will be delivered in the Boherboy Road in Cork City. The first two phases of this development involving 37 homes will be delivered this year and Cork City Council has advised my Department, and we have been working with it, that this scheme will be advertised for applications to purchase in July, literally within the next few days. Cork City Council has also confirmed that it will deliver a further 36 affordable homes this year at Cluain Chaoin in Tower in two phases via advance purchase arrangements which I have also put in place. This is good because we are delivering more affordable homes on top of what the councils are delivering themselves.

I understand we have approved the national regulations on the scheme of priority and have published these, as the Deputy will see, on affordable purchase. Each local authority has to then adopt them. The scheme of priority in respect of phase 1 of this development is to be presented to Cork City Council on Monday, 11 July 2022 and, if adopted, the scheme will be advertised in July. There are no other impediments to those homes.

South Dublin County Council has advised that it will deliver 16 affordable purchase homes in Kilcarbery Grange, Clondalkin, also by way of an advance purchase arrangement. These units have been allocated to applicants but there was a slight delay in some of the documentation required. There was an issue there and it has been worked out and my senior officials have met the director of services for housing. I understand that they are doing so again tomorrow. That will be resolved. The absence of the national regulations at one stage may have caused some delay but they are now in place. This will allow us to ramp up our delivery of the affordable homes.

Finally, both of these developments are being supported by almost €8 million in funding under the Government's affordable housing fund.

I also advise and mention to the Deputy that the first home scheme to support affordable purchases of new homes in the private market will operate nationwide and will open in July.

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