Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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756. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an update on the roll-out of the housing assistance payment scheme; the success of the scheme; the number of applicants in County Cork; the number of persons in County Cork receiving payment under the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30084/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Further to the enactment of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 on 28 July 2014, the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) has been rolled out to all categories of households in 13 local authority areas on a pilot basis , including both the Cork County and Cork City Council areas. Dublin City Council is also implementing a HAP pilot for homeless households in the Dublin region on behalf of the 4 Dublin local authorities. There are now over 2, 6 00 households nationally in receipt of the payment across the local authority areas taking part in the statutory pilot. During the legislation’s passage through the Oireachtas in July 2014 an undertaking was given that a progress report on the first phase of the HAP pilot would be prepared for the relevant Oireachtas Committee. I submitted a report to the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht at the end of April 2015, with an information session for Oireachtas members and their staff on 23 June 2015. Based on the findings of that review, the second phase of the HAP statutory pilot has recently commenced with the HAP scheme becoming operational in Donegal County Council on 25 May 2015, in Offaly County Council on 15 June 2015 and in Carlow, Clare and Tipperary County Councils and Cork City Council on 29 June 2015.

There are currently 492 households supported by HAP in the administrative area of Cork County Council where the scheme has been piloted since 15 September 2014. The scheme has recently commenced in Cork City and 2 further households are now being supported in that administrative area. I am happy with this level of progress and both local authorities have engaged very positively with the scheme. The introduction of HAP to the City Council area will assist in the success of its operation in the County Council area.

Consideration is currently being given to the sequencing of a further cohort of local authorities to commence HAP on an incremental basis later this year.