Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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124. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which he has received applications in his Department for funding from Kildare County Council to complete development works in unfinished housing estates; the number of such applications received; the extent to which he expects to be in a position to respond to such applications in the short and medium term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12383/14]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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125. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the full extent of the funding allocated in the budget toward the completion of works at various unfinished housing estates as yet not taken in charge by their respective local authorities; the extent to which provision has been made to address the issue in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12384/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 and 125 together.

Budget 2014 contains a special provision, in the form of a targeted €10 million Special Resolution Fund (SRF), to further assist in addressing the legacy of unfinished housing developments. The SRF has been introduced to encourage the resolution of the remaining tranche of unfinished developments identified in the National Housing Development Survey 2013 and, particularly, those developments not likely to be resolved in the normal way through solely developer/owner/funder action because of the presence of specific financial barriers. It is envisaged that the SRF should be particularly targeted to address the remaining unfinished developments with residents living in them and, in particular, any developments that local authorities identified, for the purposes of the Local Property Tax waiver, as in a seriously problematic condition.

In December 2013, my Department wrote to local authorities seeking proposals for funding support under the SRF and the deadline for receipt of applications was 28 February 2014. There has been a significant level of interest across local authorities. Kildare County Council submitted an SRF application in respect of 4 housing developments. My Department is currently evaluating all SRF proposals and I anticipate that funding allocations will be approved in the very near future. I hope that the SRF will enable very substantial progress to be made in resolving as many of the remaining unfinished developments as possible.