Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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705. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of HAP transfers to local authority and AHB housing by local authority for each year the scheme has been in operation in that local authority in tabular form. [50534/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Consistent with the provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014, the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is considered to be a social housing support and, consequently, households are not eligible to remain on the main housing waiting list. However, acknowledging that some households who avail of HAP may still wish to continue to avail of the opportunity for a more traditional form of social housing support, Ministerial directions have issued to ensure that, should they so choose, HAP recipients can avail of a move to other forms of social housing support through a transfer list.

Furthermore, local authorities were also directed that HAP recipients who apply to go on the transfer list should get full credit for the time they spent on the waiting list and be placed on the transfer list with no less favourable terms than if they had remained on the waiting list.

The practical operation of transfer lists is a matter for each local authority to manage, on the basis of their own scheme of letting priorities. The setting of such schemes is a reserved function of the local authority and, as such, is a matter for the elected members.

Detail in relation to HAP transfers by local authority is set out in the following table:

A breakdown of transfers by year has been requested from the Shared Service Centre and, if it can be provided, it will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.

HAP was rolled out in 4 waves between September 2014 and March 2017 - the nationwide roll-out of the scheme was completed with its introduction, on 1 March 2017, to the administrative areas of Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.

My Department continues to keep the operation of the HAP scheme under review. In general, I am satisfied with the operation of the scheme and I consider it to be a key vehicle for meeting housing need and fulfilling the ambitious programme outlined under the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness.