Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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94. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the original cost of each project, grant aid and projected output for each project in respect of LIHAF; the revisions to same; the date of each; the amount of grant aid paid out to each project; the delivery of housing units per project to date; the discount given to each purchaser for each of the past four years to date in 2020; the number of departmental officials by grade working on LIHAF in each of the past four years to date; the details of staff that have left the section over that time in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16183/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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.

In 2018, 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 the Council has confirmed that an element of the housing delivery that was associated with the project has taken place.

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

Initial funding was based on estimated costs at the time of application. Following site investigations planning processes, detailed design and the procurement processes, additional Exchequer funding has been approved for a number of projects detailed in the table below to support the final costs of these projects. In all cases increased funding has been matched by increased levels of funding provided by the local authority and/or developer in question.

Currently, 3 LIHAF projects have completed infrastructure construction. Of the remaining 26, up to the end of June (and excluding the discontinued Naas project), 14 projects have been approved to go to, or are already at, infrastructure construction stage. Of the remaining 12 projects, 1 is expected to have tender approval and commence construction before the end of Q4 2020. Eleven local authorities have indicated they are not yet ready to go to infrastructure tender stage which is required in order to receive approval to proceed to construction. My Department is reviewing these projects and considering requests from local authorities for extensions to the funding agreements as and when they arise.

The following table below details LIHAF projects that have received a time extension:

In terms of LIHAF funding drawdown, thus far, the actions by local authorities on most infrastructure projects have been concentrated in 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 June 2020, with approximately €39.285 million in Exchequer funds drawn down, matched by a further 25% local authority funding, bringing the total expenditure to €52.380m. The following table details the exchequer funding drawn down, broken down by local authority, up to end of June 2020.

In terms of the delivery of homes associated with LIHAF infrastructure projects, the table below details the number of completed homes up to Q4 2019. Figures in respect of Q1 2020 are currently being collated. Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 emergency, local authorities had estimated that a further 4,000 homes would be delivered in 2020. It is not yet clear what impact the pandemic will have on LIHAF delivery. The individual sales price of each home delivered following the construction of the LIHAF facilitating infrastructure is not available in my Department.

LIHAF has been administered within the Capital Infrastructure Unit of my Department since March 2019. It was previously managed under the Planning Programme Management Office section. Staff allocated to work on LIHAF also have other responsibilities beyond the management of the LIHAF programme alone.