Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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142. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans for new council housing units to be built in counties Cavan and Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35305/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The development of new social housing in counties Cavan and Monaghan is, in the first instance, a matter for the respective local authorities. Both local authorities were notified in April 2015 of social housing targets and provisional funding allocations out to end-2017; these are available on my Department’s website at the following link:. Together these two local authorities have a target of 445 social housing units for the period out to 2017, supported by an allocation of €24 million, to be invested in a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes.

Both authorities have made proposals in respect of new social housing delivery via capital-funded programmes, which have been approved by my Department, as set out in announcements made in May 2015, July 2015 and January 2016. These announcements included over 56 units of accommodation in respect of Cavan and Monaghan, supported by investment of some € 6.3 million, details of which are available on my Department’s website at the following links:

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Since then, 79 additional units have been approved for Cavan and Monaghan and added to their pipeline, as set out below.

Given the projects that are already in the pipeline for both local authorities and the measures that are set out in Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, I anticipate a ramping up in social housing construction activity over the next year. While these construction projects are being advanced, acquisitions of new and second-hand houses and apartments remain an effective means of meeting immediate social housing need. This year, the two local authorities are looking to purchase around 70 housing units for social housing purposes. They have also continued to receive substantial support from my Department to remediate vacant social homes and make them available to those on the waiting list, with some 86 such housing units between those remediated in 2015 and targeted in 2016.

Support is also provided by my Department to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) under the Capital Advance Leasing Facility for the delivery of new social housing. This funding approach is being used to support the acquisition and construction of 55 units by three AHBs in Cavan and Monaghan. Delivery is contingent on AHBs securing the balance of funding required from either private finance or other borrowings. If successful, it is anticipated that these 55 units will be delivered by the end of 2017. Locations include Kingscourt, Clones and Carrickmacross.