Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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148. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the policy in place within Galway County Council and local authorities in the decision-making process for short-listed eligible applicants for social housing in which there is a conflict of interest between officials and applicants. [17267/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible.

Further to this, the allocation of social housing support is a matter for individual housing authorities in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated regulations. While the 2009 Act provides the Minister with limited powers to issue directions and guidance to authorities as to the performance of their housing functions, Section 6 of the 2009 Act specifically precludes the Minister from intervening in individual housing cases.

The governance structure established by the Chief Executive in Galway County Council for decision making in relation to the allocation of social housing to short-listed eligible applicants, means that all decision making rests with an Allocations Committee. The Allocations Committee is comprised of senior staff, drawn from various disciplines within the Housing Unit, including the Senior Executive Officer/Administrative Officer, Housing Liaison Officers, Traveller Liaison Officer and Social Workers, as appropriate. In the event that a conflict of interest arises it is declared and the Committee is aware of the conflict of interest in collectively reaching a decision.

Galway County Council has a complaints procedure in place should an individual be dissatisfied with any aspect of a service provided by the local authority. Details of this procedure are available on the Galway County Council website.

It is important to note that Part 15 of the Local Government Act 2001, sets out the ethical framework applicable to the local government sector, including providing a statutory basis for a code of conduct that has been issued to all local authority employees. In the ordinary course of events, it would be a matter for the relevant local authority, in the first instance, to investigate any allegations of malpractice regarding the operation of its housing allocation system. Subject to the outcome of any such investigation, it would then be for the local authority to consider what further action, either internally or by way of referring the matter to other relevant appropriate authorities, may be required.