Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on the proposals to protect the most vulnerable citizens here as outlined in correspondence (details supplied). [14810/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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My Department's commitment to supporting the voluntary and co-operative housing sector as part of our overall approach to meeting housing need remains strong and I welcome the valuable contribution made by the sector in recent years in helping to meet the ambitious targets for social housing set out under Towards 2016.

Under the social housing investment programme (SHIP) local authorities have traditionally met social housing needs mainly through the construction of housing in local authority estates. In recent years the supply channels have been expanded to include an increased number of acquisitions, in particular under Part V agreements, and through arrangements with private landlords under the Rental Accommodation Scheme. At the same time there has also been a significant expansion in the volume of accommodation provided by voluntary and co-operative housing bodies.

As part of a further restructuring of the SHIP, I recently announced new arrangements for the delivery of social housing under which housing authorities may enter into long-term leases of private dwellings as a means of meeting housing need. The new leasing initiative, under which authorities will procure properties on long term leases of 10 to 20 years, is designed further to widen the sources of supply and thereby help create a flexible range of delivery mechanisms for local authorities to meet social housing needs.

The use of leasing arrangements will allow for a substantial increase in the number of households who will have their housing needs met compared with what would otherwise be possible were the €20 million to be provided for the initiative in 2009 to be used to fund additional build/acquisition programmes. It is expected that through this measure at least 2,000 additional homes will be procured this year, and I certainly see potential for voluntary and cooperative housing bodies to play a role under the initiative.

In relation to Building Energy Rating (BER) Certificates, the European Communities (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations 2006 - 2008, which transposed the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings into Irish Law, require a building of any class which is offered for sale or letting since 1 January 2009 to have a BER Certificate, unless otherwise exempted by the Regulations.

Article 10 of the Directive requires Member States to ensure that the certification of buildings is carried out in an independent manner. For this reason Sustainable Energy Ireland's mandatory Code of Practice for Registered BER Assessors specifically prohibits a registered BER assessor from undertaking a BER assessment on a building which is owned by the assessor or by a connected person (defined to include employment relationships). Consequently, a registered BER assessor who is employed by a voluntary housing agency may not undertake a BER assessment for a building owned by the agency. It should however be noted that the Regulations do not prevent BER assessors from conducting BER assessments for other parties, including assessors from other voluntary housing agencies.