Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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228. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will consider issuing a circular to local authorities advising them that a degree of prioritisation be given to retained fighters who are also social housing applicants in order that they can be housed within the required 1.5 km radius of their local fire station; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52579/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Ultimately, decisions on the qualification of households for social housing support, the most appropriate form of such support, and the allocation of that support are a matter solely for the local authority concerned in accordance with the provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations.

This includes decisions on the prioritisation of social housing support for qualifying retained firefighters, which may have regard to the Department’s ‘Keeping Communities Safe’ policy and target appliance mobilising times, the local authority’s own requirements on the time and distance a retained firefighter must reside or work from their assigned stations, and flexibility available within these to provide for local circumstances.