James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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471. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if funding for the proposed ring road is dependent on a particular route being selected as part of the Part 8 process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19743/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The purpose of the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is to relieve critical infrastructural blockages for key sites to activate housing delivery. Funding awarded under LIHAF is done on a matched funding basis, where a grant is given for 75% of the costs of the infrastructure and the local authority match funds that grant for the remaining 25%.

In October 2016, Kildare County Council submitted a proposal for funding for enabling infrastructure in Naas. Following a detailed assessment period, a grant agreement was signed in October 2017 and I approved €6m funding for the project consisting of €4.5 million in Exchequer funding and €1.5 million in matched funding from the Local Authority.

The grant agreement specifies the value of the grant to be awarded for the funding of public infrastructure, that it must be spent on a relief road to enable housing delivery, and that there is an associated housing activation target that must be met by the end of 2021.

The exact route of the proposed road is a matter for Kildare County Council and the Part 8 process to determine. As such processes are the reserved function of local authorities, this is not a matter in which I have a role.

However, I note that should a particular route prove more costly than initially estimated, it is not possible to increase the grant that has been awarded, and any extra cost would need to be met by the Council. Similarly, the timelines set for the completion of the infrastructure and for housing activation must continue to be capable of being met. It is a key requirement under LIHAF that this infrastructure must activate housing supply by 2021 at the latest.