Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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170. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of officials permanently assigned to the LIHAF section by grade in each of the years 2016 to 2019 and to date in 2020. [30130/20]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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171. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of officials permanently assigned to the capital infrastructure unit; and the breakdown of staff by grade in each of the years 2016 to 2019 and to date in 2020. [30131/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 170 and 171 together.

The Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) and the Capital Infrastructure and Affordability Unit fall within the Housing Delivery Division of my Department, which is one of the core business areas of 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.

There have been several reconfigurations of my Department's structure during the period 2016 to 2020 with a view to more efficient and effective delivery of key Housing programmes. This has seen responsibility for LIHAF move between units to where it currently sits as part of the Capital Infrastructure and Affordability team, which has 14 staff. As a result of the changes in Departmental structures over the period, it is not possible to give an exact breakdown of staff dealing specifically with LIHAF as these staff would have been assigned other Housing programmes and schemes and would not have worked solely on that programme. As well as the team in the LIHAF Unit, my Department's professional and technical staff and staff in the Planning Division would all input into the Unit and the LIHAF programme as and when necessary.