Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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280. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if funding will be made available through the LIHAF from budget 2018 to progress the port access northern cross route project in Drogheda; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44526/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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A LIHAF call for proposals was issued to all local authorities in August 2016. It was open to all local authorities to apply for funding towards the capital cost of public infrastructure, which, when provided, would secure the early delivery of additional housing at considerable scale and more affordable price points, with developments in excess of 500 units in the Dublin area, or in excess of 200 units in areas outside Dublin.

21 local authorities submitted a total of 74 proposals in October 2016. On 28 March 2017, I announced funding for 34 projects under LIHAF. The total cost of these projects is €226.5 million, of which €169.7 million is to be funded under LIHAF with local authorities funding the remaining €56.8 million. These public infrastructure projects will be key to the delivery of 23,000 housing units over the next four years, with a longer term projection of up to 70,000 units as the selected sites are fully built out. 

Louth County Council submitted three projects for consideration under LIHAF. LIHAF funding was approved for an access road in Newtown, Drogheda in the amount of €1.22m and an access road in Mount Avenue, Dundalk in the amount of €3.3m.  However, while the Port Access Northern Cross Route (PANCR) in Drogheda was one of a number of proposals that was assessed as meriting funding, it was not possible to include the project in the March 2017 approvals, within the overall level of funding available.  

As part of Budget 2018, I announced an additional €50 million funding which will be available, from 2019 on, for a second call under LIHAF and which will again be subject to matching funding at 25% by local authorities.  This will facilitate more infrastructure to unlock further sites and activate more housing supply.  A further call for proposals under LIHAF is likely early in 2018 and it will be open to all local authorities, including Louth County Council, to submit new projects or resubmit previously unsuccessful projects, such as the Port Access Northern Cross Route project in Drogheda, for consideration at that time.