Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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33. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the efforts being made to have approved housing bodies reclassified as off-balance sheet. [8453/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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My Department is continuing its work on the issue of reclassification, by Eurostat, of the majority of Tier 3 Approved Housing Bodies as part of the Government sector for accounting purposes.  It is engaging with the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, with technical support from the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) and the Housing Agency (HA), in order to ensure that AHBs can continue to fulfil their full potential in the delivery of the targets set out in the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan.

The Department has also had constructive discussions with the AHB representative bodies. The sector itself has engaged its own research on the matter, and has put forward its own proposals. My Department is evaluating these proposals as part of its ongoing consideration of the issue and with regard to their potential wider implications.  The Department is also examining measures that could be taken to develop the AHB sector to enable reclassification in the longer term.  

Notwithstanding the decision by Eurostat, the Government continues to see a central role for the voluntary housing sector in contributing to delivery of social housing under Rebuilding Ireland. It is committed to using all mechanisms and schemes, including through the AHB sector, to ensure that we maintain the momentum towards meeting the ambitious 50,000 social housing target under the Action Plan.