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

The affordable housing fund is available to assist all local authorities in bringing forward affordable housing schemes. Following the publication of the Government's Housing for All plan last September, I asked local authorities to prepare housing delivery action plans. Each local authority, including Clare County Council, was asked to assess the level of housing demand with affordability constraint projected for their area based on the housing need and demand assessment, and to plan accordingly. Clare County Council submitted an initial draft plan to my Department in December last and that plan was published in July. It is there for everyone to see.

The local authorities with the highest level of affordable housing need were asked to prepare affordable delivery plans as part of their overall plans and were set five-year affordable delivery targets. Clare does not at this stage have a specific target, as the average price levels are still well below the national median but I understand there may be some localised affordability issues within Clare specifically where there are localised challenges. If the affordability challenge is not met across the county, we allow that to be taken in specific areas. For Clare, funding can be made available to develop a scheme in line with the affordable housing fund. My officials met Clare County Council in July and two potential schemes were outlined for affordable housing in Clare. That is being worked through between my Department and Clare County Council. I welcome that because we have the funding to support it.

I have made changes to the affordable housing fund specifically to allow us to vary the subvention. One significant change is to allow that subvention, which means the State taking a stake in that home, to vary from €100,000 up to €150,000. The affordable housing fund has the resources to support local authorities such as Clare County Council. As I said, there are two schemes being worked on right now with the local authority. The council has yet to send in a submission. The last meeting between representatives of the council and my officials was in July of this year.

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