Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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1369. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when local authorities will be provided with the affordable housing regulations regarding eligibility and other matters in view of the fact that some local authorities will soon be advertising their affordable housing schemes to the public, for example, Dun Emer, Lusk, Fingal, County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6640/20]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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In relation to the site referred to in Lusk, County Dublin, I can confirm that Fingal County Council has received approval in principle from my Department for Serviced Site Funding (SSF) of €1.5 million to assist its delivery of 39 affordable homes.  The latest information from Fingal County Council indicates that a contractor has yet to be appointed to construct these homes and it anticipates that delivery of the first homes will begin in 2021.

Homes delivered under the SSF are subject to the provisions of Part 5 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, which was commenced in June 2018.  This legislation now provides the statutory basis for the delivery of affordable housing for purchase in the State. Regulations in respect of the making of Schemes of Priority, advertising and application procedures were signed on 12 March 2019, and these were issued to local authorities on 22 March 2019.  The purpose of a Scheme of Priority is to set out the affordable purchase arrangements at local authority level.  This includes the methodology that will be applied by local authorities to determine the order of priority to be accorded to eligible households where the demand for such affordable dwellings exceeds the number available.  

In line with the legal requirements of the Affordable Dwelling Purchase Arrangements, further regulations will be put in place including the form of charging orders, the length of the charged period and the minimum repayment that can be made during the charged period.   When the operational procedures for the scheme are finalised, and before dwellings are made available for purchase under the scheme, a programme of communication will be undertaken by my Department and local authorities.