Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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1340. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the capital expenditure on the LIHAF from 1 January to 31 December 2019 by his Department; the amount by each subhead; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5877/20]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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As an initiative of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is primarily designed to fund the provision of public off-site infrastructure to relieve critical infrastructure blockages and enable housing developments to be built on key sites at scale.

30 projects received final LIHAF approval with an overall budget of €195.7m, of which €146.8m will be Exchequer funded, with the remainder funded via local authorities. Of the 30 projects, Kildare County Council has confirmed that its project on the Naas Inner Relief Road will not now progress, although an element of the housing delivery that was associated with the project has taken place.

Details of the approvals by local authority area, budget allocation, project description and projected housing delivery are available at www.rebuildingireland.ie/LIHAF.

Currently, 3 LIHAF projects have completed infrastructure construction. Of the remaining 26, up to the end of April (and excluding the Naas project), 14 projects have been approved to go to, or are already at, infrastructure construction stage. Of the remaining 12 projects, 3 are expected to have tenders approved and go to construction before the end of Q3 2020. Nine are not yet ready to go to infrastructure tender stage; my Department is reviewing these projects and considering requests from local authorities for extensions to the funding agreements as and when they arise. 

In terms of LIHAF funding drawdown, thus far, most infrastructure projects have been at the design, planning and procurement stages, and the bulk of expenditure will arise during the construction phase. This is reflected in the level of expenditure to end Q1 2020, with approximately €37.731 million in Exchequer funds drawn down (matched by a further 25% local authority funding bringing the total expenditure to €50.308m). Drawdown of LIHAF Exchequer grant funding from my Department commenced with €1.604m in 2017, a further €6.815m in 2018, €22.244m in 2019 and approximately €7.068m to end Q1 2020. 

The following table details the Exchequer funding (75%) drawn down for each project in 2019.