Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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548. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the status of the purchase of social housing (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5303/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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Information on social housing units constructed and acquired in respect of all local authorities and approved housing bodies and funded by direct capital investment by my Department, is published on my Department’s website at the following link: .

Data up to Quarter 3 of 2015 is currently published, including a breakdown across the different categories of delivery for all local authorities. Data for the full 2015 calendar year will be published shortly.

Details in relation to further social housing projects that I have approved, including for Kerry, are also on my Department’s website at the following links:

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These new projects that are now in development, to a total national value of almost €680 million for over 3,900 social housing new builds and acquisitions, follow from substantial announcements I made in May 2015, in July 2015 and in January 2016. These mean that there is now a strong pipeline of new social housing construction, acquisition and turnkey approvals in place, including some €20 million for 122 new units for Kerry.

With regard to land in the ownership of Kerry County Council that is suitable for social housing, the Housing Agency, in consultation with my Department and local authorities, is updating data and developing a detailed database and GIS map of all local authority owned lands, as well as the Land Aggregation Scheme lands, showing their location, size, boundaries and other information. This map will be up-dated over the course of the Social Housing Strategy to record the development and use of these lands.

In addition, in 2014, my Department, in conjunction with local authority planning departments, carried out a national survey of all lands zoned for residential development in statutory local authority development plans and local area plans across Ireland. This exercise, the Residential Land Availability Study determined the location and quantity of lands, including those in the Kerry County Council area, that may be regarded as being undeveloped and available for residential development purposes at 31 March 2014. The Residential Land Availability Study is available on my Department’s website at the following link:

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