Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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142. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 422 of 21 March 2017, if the pre-2014 figures include spending by local authorities from their own revenues on capital housing projects; and if not, the estimated amount each local authority spent from their own resources on capital housing projects for each year. [22374/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The data provided in response to Question No. 422 of 21 March 2017 in respect of the period 2004 to 2014, relates to direct exchequer funding by my Department to local authorities.  The data for 2015 and 2016 also includes amounts self-funded by certain local authorities from surplus Local Property Tax (LPT) receipts.

Local retention of LPT commenced in 2015.  Some local authorities received higher levels of funding in 2015 and 2016 from the Local Government Fund as a result of local retention of 80% of LPT when compared to the level of funding they previously received from General Purpose Grants.  The Government decided that these local authorities would use this surplus funding in two ways, with a portion available for their own discretionary purposes and the remainder, if any, to fund some local services in the Housing and Roads areas for which they previously received Central Government funding.

Local authorities may also decide to fund certain capital projects from within their own resources, in line with the authority's agreed budget.  The amounts expended annually are primarily a matter for the local authority concerned and that particular data is not readily available within my Department.