Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Acting Chairman and the Ceann Comhairle and his staff for allowing me to raise this subject on the Adjournment. I compliment the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, on coming into the House to reply to my query. I wish him well in his new ministerial office. I have no doubt that his previous knowledge of local authorities will stand him in good stead. What a pity more people will not come from that quarter in the future.

The matter I wish to raise concerns site development costs amounting to around €130,000 for the subsidised private sites at Easton Mews, Leixlip, County Kildare which were previously the subject of a contract between the voluntary housing group Respond and the current Easton Mews construction company on foot of a provision made by Kildare County Council wherein a decision was made that the Easton Mews development costs would be met by Respond directly or through a figure retained by the council for this purpose. I want to know if the Minister of State will outline the relevant details of the contract or arrangement entered into by Kildare County Council, Respond and the construction company, including the terms of any agreements, contracts or indentures that might in any way affect the development costs to the purchasers of the serviced sites at Easton Mews. This is part of a scheme, whereby the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government encourages people on local authority housing lists to avail of private sites at a cost. It includes clawbacks and other obstacles to ensure houses go to the proper people.

Respond decided to develop the whole site. Some 122 houses are within its responsibility, having been built by the same builder in accordance with its wishes. The builder also contracted to construct 27 houses on private sites. Despite the fact that the sites were originally sold to the recipients at a cost of €15,000 per site, it now transpires that an extra cost of €5,000 is about to be imposed upon them. This is a huge burden on persons on a council housing list. They also have to meet additional costs such as legal fees, apart from the fact that they have borrowed the maximum amount by way of a shared ownership, annuity or even private loan.

This scheme of houses is very modern in terms of fuel efficiency. It is a highly rated development. Kildare county councillors are adamant that a sum of money was set aside to cover the development cost of the site. On behalf of the site recipients, the quantity surveyor set out the costs involved and what precisely had to be done. I have been informed by the local authority that a submission was made to the Department in the past few days. This is a very serious issue. If the submission has been forwarded to the Minister's office for approval, I urge him to approve it forthwith. To the local authority €130,000 is a small amount, but it is huge to the 27 recipients who are now at the stage where they cannot move forwards or backwards, unless the Minister gives approval.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise to Deputy Durkan for any unintended confusion caused last week. Disallowance was sought based on my Department's understanding that this was a contractual issue between the voluntary body and builder concerned. The Department was not aware at the time of the mixed-tenure nature of the development.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I take the opportunity to acknowledge the significant contribution being made by the voluntary and co-operative housing sector in delivering on social housing need. To date, some 20,000 units of accommodation have been provided by the sector to meet the needs of low income families and special needs groups. The development in Leixlip, County Kildare, comprises 61 social units and 45 voluntary units, of which 17 are funded under the capital assistance scheme and 28 under the loan subsidy scheme. There are a further 27 private sites, subsidised under my Department's low cost sites scheme, while the development also includes the provision of some community facilities.

The voluntary housing body, Respond, was engaged to develop the scheme on behalf of Kildare County Council. The individuals allocated the 27 private sites grouped together to form Easton Mews Limited in order to develop the sites. The contractor for the whole development, including the development of the private sites, is MDY Construction Limited. The current approved funding is over €17 million, comprising approximately €9.3 million for the social housing, €6.6 million for the voluntary housing and €1.2 million for the private sites.

The contract between Respond and the contractor is substantially complete at this stage. The footpaths and the final surface dressing of access roads were the last items to be provided under the contract and the final account for the completed scheme is being examined by Respond. At this point, the outstanding matters relate to the apportionment of the final account costs between the different elements of the development.

My Department's role in the implementation of voluntary housing projects relates primarily to the provision of funds for individual projects. There is over €500,000 of approved funding available for recoupment from my Department for the voluntary development on receipt of the appropriate claims from Kildare County Council. The administration of the scheme and the certification that individual projects meet the terms of the scheme are the responsibility of the relevant local authority. The terms of the contract between the voluntary housing body and the chosen contractor are matters for the parties themselves. My Department is not privy either to these terms or any provisions in the contract regarding site development works or access roads. Therefore, I am not in a position to give details of the contractual arrangements in this case.

On 2 October 2007 Kildare County Council submitted a revised budget application seeking additional funding in respect of the 27 private sites. This application is being examined by the Department and the authority has been asked to clarify a number of matters. The application will be dealt with as soon as possible on receipt of the clarification sought.