Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Conway for raising this matter. The Senator is right that the Minister gave a commitment on Armagh House and that certainly will be honoured.

My Department issued funding approval in principle to Kerry County Council in July 2016 for the development of Armagh House, Killarney, included under the capital assistance scheme. The Department had first granted pre-tender approval under the capital assistance scheme in March 2007 for the purposes of the building and its development as accommodation for homeless persons. The acquisition costs of €960,000 for the building were paid to the council in December 2009 and, while the purchase was completed, there were concerns about the adaptability of the building for the provision of good-quality homeless accommodation. In particular, the small nature of the rooms and fire issues raised challenges for the reuse of the building. The project, therefore, did not advance and in intervening years there was limited opportunity to advance it due to a lack of funding availability.

A new proposal involving the demolition of the existing property and building of six high-quality units was submitted and funding approval in principle issued in July 2016. Initial designs and costings were provided by the council and my Department has recently requested additional information. On receipt of this additional information, I expect my Department will be in a position to approve the project to advance to the next stage, which will involve the preparation of detailed pre-tender designs and costings. With the new approach now being followed by the approved housing bodies and the council, it is hoped that the project can be advanced quickly, particularly given that funding is now in place to support it. The Minister was very clear that the funding is there for this. His is a strong and genuine commitment. We know that both Clúid and Kerry County Council are actively working on the matter so the project should advance to tender as soon as possible.

I assure Senator Conway that my Department and the Minister will continue to engage actively with the council and Clúid and that there will be no undue delay in dealing with further information on the project once it is received. I stress that it is important that the information comes in as quickly as possible in order that we can progress the application.

The Senator is right that homelessness does not just occur in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick, although that might seem to be the case as a result of reports in the media. The Minister and I have travelled around the country in order to meet local authorities and discuss their plans to tackle and prevent homelessness. Some councils are in a position to deal with a homelessness situation very quickly, getting a person into permanent accommodation over a weekend. Others are not as they are under pressure regarding availability of space.

We are working with all local authorities to provide solutions in order to ensure that people do not spend long in a homeless situation. Our commitment is that there will be nobody living in hotels from next July onwards. That is a commitment we will meet and honour because it will prove that we are doing our work under the Action Plan for Housing. The funding has increased across the board for homeless services in every county and region. We must compliment all those who are working in the homeless services to provide solutions on a daily basis through our local authorities and approved housing bodies. They are doing a great service and we will be matching that with funding.

In respect of rural resettlement, I did give a strong opinion and commitment on this matter to the Senator a couple of months ago. We are working hard on it. There have been numerous meetings with the various groups, including the one the Senator mentioned, and the Department, in an effort to try to ascertain how best to proceed. My Department is also working in conjunction with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to provide funding for these schemes. Rural resettlement makes sense. It gives people the option if they be on a waiting list in a city such as Dublin but would rather live in a rural area. If the accommodation is there as well as the demand, it makes sense to match the two together. That is what we are going to try to do.