Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 501: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the length of the waiting list in Cork city and county for local authority housing; the number of unoccupied local authority houses in this area; and the number of people who received an offer of a local authority house in 2008 and to date in 2009 in Cork City and County. [27858/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The number of households on a local authority's waiting list continuously fluctuates as households on the list are allocated housing and new households apply for housing support. My Department does not hold information in relation to the numbers currently on waiting lists in local authorities.

A statutory assessment of housing need is carried out every three years by all housing authorities in accordance with the terms of the Housing Act 1988. The last assessment took place in 2008 and indicated that there were 56,249 households in need of social housing support. In Cork, the assessment showed that there were 6,589 households in need of social housing support; 3,725 households in the Cork County Council area (including Town Councils), and 2,864 in Cork City Council's area.

Further information regarding the assessments is available on my Department's website at www.environ.ie, including a breakdown of the net need figure by housing authority. Information in relation to vacant local authority houses is a Local Authority Service Indicator and reports on these indicators are available on the Local Government Management Service Board's website, www.lgmsb.ie. The latest available figures relate to 2007; the 2008 figures will be available shortly. Data in relation to the number of offers of accommodation made by individual local authorities are not collected by my Department.