Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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388. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the circumstances in which a section 183 vote is required by local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18265/22]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Local authorities are independent statutory bodies with their own democratically elected councils and management structures. It is a matter for each individual local authority to decide on the utilisation of its assets, including its land bank.

Under section 211 of the Planning and Development 2000 a local authority may propose to dispose of land no longer required by it for its statutory functions or in order to secure the best use of that land for the proper planning and sustainable development of its functional area.

Section 183 of the Local Government Act 2001 provides inter alia thata prior notice of any proposed land disposal be sent to each of the elected members of the local authority. Details must also be provided of the person to whom the land is to be sold and any conditions relating to the sale.

At the next relevant meeting of the Council the elected members may decide whether or not the sale shall proceed and any conditions to be applied shall be set out in the members’ resolution. This is a reserved function of the elected members.

The provisions of section 183 do not generally apply to the sale of dwellings under the Housing Acts except -

1. where a dwelling is proposed to be sold to another housing authority; or

2. where an unoccupied dwelling is proposed to be sold to any person.