Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position in relation to the local authorities who have accepted money in lieu of the provision of social and affordable housing under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 and that this information be provided by year and by local authority since the inception of the scheme; the steps being taken by his Department to ensure the money in lieu of provision is used as a last resort; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27582/08]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, 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 monies received by a planning authority must be used as capital for its functions under Part V or for its functions in relation to the provision of housing under the Housing Acts.

The default option for satisfying Part V remains the transfer of a proportion of the land which is the subject of the planning application. In other words, when accepting a financial contribution, the local authority does so in lieu of a percentage of land and not in lieu of housing. It must be emphasised that the legal obligation under Part V can be satisfied by way of a financial contribution only if the local authority considers it appropriate in the particular case concerned.

My Department has issued comprehensive guidelines to local authorities in relation to Part V, including advice in relation to the use of Part V funds. Since January 2007, local authorities no longer require the prior sanction of my Department for the expenditure of Part V monies 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, supplementing an authority's housing land bank, procuring additional accommodation units for the Rental Accommodation Scheme or improving the general affordability of Part V units.

So as to ensure that Part V funds are put to productive use as soon as possible after they are received, earlier this year my Department advised local authorities that where they have unused Part V funds, these would be taken into account when allocations to authorities for the main social housing programmes were being finalised.

The Government's clearly stated preferred option remains the delivery of housing units on site and the available evidence suggests that completed homes or land constitute the vast bulk of Part V agreements to date.

Detailed information on the financial contributions received under Part V in each local authority area since activity commenced in 2002 up to the end of 2007 is available on my Department's website.