Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 470: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the extent to which funding has been sought from his Department by Kildare County Council and other local authorities in County Kildare in 2008 in the context of the capital housing programme; the degree to which he proposes to allocate funding under this heading to the local authorities concerned before the end of 2008 having particular regard to the fact that more than 4,000 families are already on the housing waiting lists; the extent to which he expects this waiting list to be reduced in 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21169/08]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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A total of €51,450,000 has been allocated to the local authorities in Kildare for the supply of social housing in 2008, which is broken down as follows:

In addition, a further €13m has been allocated under the Capital Loan and Subsidy Scheme to support activity by the Voluntary and Co-operative Housing sector in County Kildare in 2008. These allocations took into account the housing need figures for the housing authorities in question and the discussions between the authorities and my Department in the context of the recently concluded round of Housing Action Plan meetings with housing authorities generally.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 471: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the extent to which he has received communication from Kildare County Council for specific funding under various headings in 2008; his proposals to meet such requirements in full; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21170/08]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 472: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the extent to which his Department gave financial commitments to Kildare County Council under various headings prior to the last general election; the degree to which such commitments have been delivered or are expected to be before the end of 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21172/08]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 475: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he expects to be in a position to offer extra funding to Kildare County Council in 2008 with particular reference to the need to offset reductions in income arising from the downturn in the construction industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21175/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 471, 472 and 475 together.

I am providing some €999.2m in general purpose grants from the Local Government Fund to local authorities for 2008. These grants are my contribution to meet the difference between the cost to local authorities of providing an acceptable level of day-to-day services and the income available to them from local sources and from specific grants. The amount being made available for these grants this year represents an increase of some €51.5m or 5.4% over the amount provided for 2007 and continues the trend of providing additional general funding to local authorities through the Local Government Fund.

Kildare County Council's general purpose grant allocation for 2008 is €28,176,862, an increase of 6.42% over the 2007 allocation and is above the national average increase for 2008. General purpose grants to Kildare County Council have increased by some 224% since 1997, which is also well above the national average increase of 195% in the same period. There are no additional resources available to me to increase general purpose funding to local authorities this year. I am satisfied that the general purpose grant allocation I have provided to the Council for 2008, together with the income available to it from other sources, will enable it to provide an acceptable level of services to its customers.