Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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113. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the total number of staff employed in each local authority housing department, by employment type, including architects, engineers, clerical staff, maintenance staff and so on, in tabular form. [8704/22]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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114. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of unfilled vacancies in local authority housing departments, by employment type, in each local authority. [8705/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 113 and 114 together.

Under Section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible.

My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector, including the monitoring of local government sector employment levels. To this end, my Department gathers aggregate quarterly data on staff numbers in each local authority on a whole time equivalent basis. 

However, granular data, in terms of the total number of staff employed in each local authority housing departments, by employment type including architects, engineers, clerical staff, maintenance staff and the number of unfilled vacancies in the housing department of each local authority, is routinely collected. The relevant information should be available from each local authority.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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115. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the requests from all local authorities for additional housing department staff on foot of the announced new positions, by employment type and local authority, in tabular form. [8706/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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As part of the measures to support institutional capacity, Housing for All commits to strengthen the capacity of local authorities to initiate, design, plan, develop and manage housing projects and recognises that this requires the resourcing of the housing services of local authorities.  Last year, my Department worked closely with local authorities, through the County and City Management Association (CCMA) and the Housing Delivery Coordination Office, to identify capacity constraints and additional staffing resources required to deliver the social housing delivery targets set out in Housing for All.  Following this analysis, I approved over 200 new posts for local authorities.

The requests from all local authorities for additional housing department staff on foot of the announced new positions are detailed in the following tables, showing the data as at 14 February.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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116. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the proposed decarbonisation zone in Westside, Galway city; the engagement he or his Department has had with Galway City Council with regard to their proposal; when a decision will be made in respect of the proposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8760/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department issued a circular in February 2021 asking each local authority to identify a decarbonising zone and to provide a broad outline of the main projects that could be implemented in the decarbonising zone plus an indication as to the potential outcomes deliverable in terms of reductions in carbon emissions.

Galway City Council identified the Westside area of the city as its proposed decarbonising zone.

The development of decarbonising zone plans are subject to the publication of statutory guidance under Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 under the remit of the Minister of  Environment, Climate and Communications.

That Department will oversee the further development of decarbonising zones by the local authority who will be tasked with developing implementation plans for the decarbonising zones as part of their individual Local Authority Climate Action Plans. It is intended that guidelines for the implementation of decarbonising zones will be incorporated into statutory guidelines on the development of Local Authority Climate Action Plans by end of Q2 2022.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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117. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the local authority decarbonisation zones; the number of local authorities that have submitted their proposals to his Department to date; the details of the plans approved to date including the location of the decarbonisation zones and the responsible local authority in tabular form; the timeline for the roll-out of each decarbonisation zone; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8761/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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To date, 29 of 31 local authorities have submitted plans  for decarbonising zones. The projects proposed fall into a range of climate change areas including green mobility, renewable energy, and adaptation. A list of the proposed decarbonising zones is set out in the table below.  Two local authorities, Dun Laoghaire, Rathdown County Council and Fingal County Council, have yet to identify a decarbonising zone for their area.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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118. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the position regarding moneys approved by his Department to LIHAF or other instruments to deal with urgently required infrastructures such as roads, bridges and traffic realignments in Maynooth, County Kildare; the extent to which works have commenced or have been completed or remain outstanding; the level of expenditure to date; the extent of progress on the works involved; the extent of works still outstanding; the costs associated therewith; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8812/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is a scheme which funds the building of public infrastructure by local authorities. Its objective is to provide public off-site infrastructure to relieve critical infrastructure blockages to housing delivery. This enables the accelerated delivery of housing on key development sites in Dublin and in urban areas of high demand. LIHAF was designed to specifically address the issue of housing supply, a crucial factor in terms of moderating house prices. Infrastructure being funded under LIHAF includes access roads, distributor roads, link roads, road improvements, roundabouts, bridges and parks.

In 2017, grant agreements for 30 approved projects were signed between my Department and local authorities. One such project is at Maynooth, Co. Kildare. Kildare County Council were approved grant funding for the construction of the Maynooth Eastern Relief Road (MERR) and a bridge crossing a railway and the Royal Canal. The total approved grant funding for this project is €14.5m with €10.88m (75%) being funded by my Department and the remaining 25% being funded by Kildare County Council. To date, Kildare County Council have drawn down €770,000 in exchequer funding for project costs associated with this LIHAF project.

I understand that detailed design of the MERR is at an advanced stage and developers are currently engaged in the planning process for the delivery of housing units on LIHAF lands. Kildare County Council are liaising with a diverse number of stakeholders including my Department to advance the MERR project.