Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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225. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the level of funding provided to Cavan County Council in 2018 for social housing programmes including construction, acquisition and upgrading of social housing; his plans to increase this level of funding for 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52587/18]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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226. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the level of funding provided to Monaghan County Council in 2018 for social housing programmes including construction, acquisition and upgrading of social housing; his plans to increase this level of funding for 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52588/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 225 and 226 together.

The Government’s Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is firmly focused on increasing supply to meet social housing needs under a range of programmes in all counties, including Cavan and Monaghan, with 50,000 social homes to be delivered through build, acquisition and leasing in the period to 2021, as well as meeting the housing needs of an additional 87,000 households through the Housing Assistance Payment scheme and the Rental Accommodation Scheme. The Action Plan is supported by over €6 billion in funding, which means that local authorities have the financial support available to them to deliver on their local targets. 

There is no precise amount of funding notified to individual local authorities for their social housing programmes on an annual basis. Instead, my Department provides funding for individual projects as they are advanced by the authorities against their social housing delivery targets. Earlier this year, I wrote to all local authorities, including Cavan and Monaghan, setting out their individual social housing targets for 2018 across all delivery streams, including build, and details are available on the Rebuilding Ireland website at the following link:

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The final position regarding the funding provided to Cavan and Monaghan County Council for 2018, will not be known until after the end of the year, when all project activity is completed and validated.

In relation to funding to be provided for 2019 for housing activities in Cavan and Monaghan, this will once again relate directly to the level of projects that are advanced by the authorities against their social housing delivery targets. I will issue 2019 targets for all local authorities, including Cavan and Monaghan, in the new year based on the increased national social housing targets for 2019. An overall housing budget of almost €2.4 billion is available in 2019 to support delivery by local authorities and others against these targets. I look forward to their good progress and have assured them that the funding is in place and available to support their delivery.