Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 15: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has instructed local authorities on the way to spend the revenue raised from Part V building levies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8274/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The vast bulk of the delivery to date under Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2006 has been in the form of completed homes, land and individual sites. Financial settlements account for only a small share of the delivery and any such moneys received by a planning authority must be used as capital for its functions under Part V or for its functions with regard to the provision of housing under the Housing Acts.

My Department has issued comprehensive guidelines to local authorities on the operation of Part V, including advice on the use of Part V funds. Generally, I favour prioritisation of the funds for the provision of additional social and affordable housing units. Since January 2007, local authorities no longer require the prior sanction of my Department for the expenditure of Part V moneys in certain cases. This delegated sanction set out a number of purposes for which the funds could be utilised, including the purchase of completed turnkey units, acquisition of sites, supplementation of an authority's housing land bank, procuring of additional accommodation units for the rental accommodation scheme and improvements in the general affordability of Part V units.

While I do not propose to remove the discretion available to authorities in the use of such funds, I am determined to ensure that the funds are put to productive use as soon as possible after they have been received. In that regard, my Department has recently advised local authorities that where they have unused Part V funds, these will be taken into account when allocations to authorities for the main social housing programmes are being finalised following a round of meetings with housing authorities which are currently under way. Thereafter, I will continue to keep the issue under review.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Minister indicated previously that there were between €70 million and €80 million of unspent Part V moneys among local authorities. I am glad the Minister has issued guidelines to local authorities on how to spend this money. The Minister has partly answered my question, but I ask him to clarify one point. The Minister intends to subtract Part V moneys brought in by local authorities from their capital allocations. The net outcome is that they will not be better off but there will be a line ball situation in terms of their Estimates for 2009 and beyond. Is that what the Minister is saying?

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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At present, local authorities have €78 million in Part V funds, plus €11.4 million in withering levies, which allow an additional five years on planning applications. This is a once-off payment. Thus, the total is about €90 million, of which about €11.2 million had been spent up to the end of 2006. My understanding is that a fair amount of money was spent in 2007. Unfortunately I do not have the final figures for 2007 but I will make the Deputy aware of these.

The Deputy is quite right in his interpretation. Local authorities must either use the funds or have them assimilated into the social housing allocation. While I do not want to lay down a hard and fast rule, if local authorities have unspent money arising from Part V, they must make plans to spend the money for social and affordable housing and present plans to the Department. If the Department is satisfied, the local authority will receive its normal allocation as per the Estimates. I am giving a timely warning that unless local authorities use the money it will be assimilated into the overall package.