Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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348. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the building of affordable houses in Galway city and county will be approved; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23801/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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This Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that affordable, quality housing solutions are available to everyone in Irish society and this is reflected in the Programme for Government "Our Shared Future".

Under the Serviced Sites Fund, €310 million has been allocated to provide infrastructure to support the delivery of more affordable homes on local authority lands. With a maximum of €50,000 funding available per home, at least 6,200 more affordable homes, to buy or rent, can be facilitated. To date, Serviced Sites Funding of €127 million has been approved in principle in support of 35 projects in 14 local authority areas, which will assist in the delivery of almost 3,200 affordable homes.

All Serviced Sites Fund proposals are assessed on the basis of economic analyses submitted by local authorities, which are required to verify local affordability challenges, project viability, and the ability to deliver affordable homes with at least a 10% discount on open market values.

Two of the aforementioned 35 projects are located in Galway; Merlin Park Lands in Galway City and Raheen, Athenry in Galway County. Cumulatively they will assist in the delivery of 103 affordable homes;73 in Merlin Park Lands and 30 in Raheen, Athenry. My officials have been in regular contact with officials from both the City and County Councils and I also understand that they intend to submit further applications for funding support to deliver affordable homes on other sites in their areas under an SSF Call for Proposals which I plan to issue to local authorities in the near future.

In terms of affordable housing more generally, I will outline my detailed plans in the Autumn, taking account of progress to date under the SSF, other measures and the input of key delivery partners.