Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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1025. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the length of time that applications for HAP from Fingal County Council took to be processed, from application to payment, for each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58385/25]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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1026. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is aware that HAP tenants moving from one local authority to another are subject to delays in processing their applications (details supplied); his plans to address this and to facilitate seamless transition from one local authority to another; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58386/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1025 and 1026 together.

The administration of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme is a matter for the relevant local authority and HAP application processing times may vary across local authorities.

Once a HAP application has been received and confirmed as valid by the relevant local authority, it is entered on the system by the local authority and then submitted for processing and payment by the HAP Shared Service Centre (HAP SSC). Payments are made to landlords on the last Wednesday of each month.

If there are delays at the processing stage within a local authority, payment to the landlord will be backdated to the date on which a complete and valid application form was received by the local authority. The landlord is therefore not penalised for any delay.

The HAP application form comes in two parts, Section A to be completed by the applicant tenant and Section B to be completed by the landlord or agent. An application for HAP will only be accepted by the local authority when both Section A and Section B are completed, signed and returned, along with the required supporting documentation. Any delay in tenants and landlords supplying this information will impact on the processing time of the HAP application.

The latest data available for HAP processing times covers the period up to end Q2 2025. The table below shows the average processing time (in days) across all local authorities for each of the last five years.

Since 1 March 2024, tenants and landlords can apply for HAP via an online portal www.hap.ie/apply/. It is expected that the introduction of this online application form will provide efficiencies for tenants, landlords and local authorities.

Guidelines on inter-authority movement were issued to local authorities to facilitate the movement of HAP households from one local authority area to another in cases where a HAP tenant wishes to access rented accommodation, with HAP support, in another local authority area. Inter authority movement is, however, subject to certain conditions, such as the relevant Social Housing Income Eligibility Bands and confirmation that the applicant's income is below the threshold in the new local authority.

HAP tenants that avail of inter-authority movement continue to be dealt with by their originating local authority. However, the rent limits applicable are those that apply in the local authority where the property is situated. The originating local authority will engage with the relevant new local authority to facilitate eligible requests for inter-authority movement.

My Department and local authorities are aware of the importance of minimising HAP processing times and the critical need to keep this under review at a local level.