Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter, as it affords me an opportunity to restate to the Seanad the Government's commitment to meeting the housing needs of persons and families with special needs. Despite the current funding constraints, we continue to prioritise funding for voluntary and co-operative housing projects across the country. In fact, it has been a goal to ensure as far as possible that cuts in funding do not affect the delivery of special needs housing by the voluntary sector. Accordingly, we have provided for an increase in the annual funding provision, from €110 million in the 2009 Estimates to €145 million this year. This is testament to the proud record of the voluntary and co-operative housing sector in the provision of accommodation for people with special needs and low income families in the past two decades.

Since the inception of voluntary housing programmes in the 1980s, more than 21,000 homes have been provided for households in need in all areas of the country. This represents a considerable success story by any measure of social housing delivery and it is my intention to expand substantially on this output in the coming years.

Under a new social housing reform agenda, the voluntary and co-operative housing programme has been refocused primarily to address the housing needs of individuals and groups with special needs under the capital assistance scheme. This scheme provides funding of up to 100% of the approved costs of accommodation for older people, homeless people, people with disabilities and other special needs, returning emigrants and victims of domestic violence. Already this year, the Government has announced a programme of 64 new projects that will deliver more than 900 new accommodation units for these groups over the next two years. The projects were identified for inclusion in the programme following consideration of the value for money bona fides of each proposal, the relative priority afforded to the projects by local authorities and the competing demands across all local authorities.

This brings me to the project raised by Senator Bradford, namely, a project involving 20 housing units for older people at Killavullen, County Cork. I wish to make clear that this project has not been refused and it remains under consideration by Cork County Council in the context of the overall pipeline of projects designed to provide new accommodation for households with special needs. The project was not, however, included in the recent announcement for the 2010 capital assistance scheme programme, primarily because it was not afforded a sufficiently high priority by the county council for its 2010 programme.

That said, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has recently indicated to the council that it should continue its appraisal of the project to ensure it is ready to progress under a future call for proposals. Local authorities are charged with overseeing the delivery of such projects and in particular with ensuring they meet an identified housing need, contribute to sustainable communities objectives and provide value for money for the Exchequer investment.

I re-emphasise the Government's commitment to supporting the voluntary and co-operative housing sector as part of our overall approach to meeting housing need. It will continue to work closely with local authorities and the sector to ensure it can continue to delivery high quality, sustainable, voluntary housing projects where they are most needed and to those in greatest need.