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Minister Kelly announces €23 million for important improvement works to Social Housing stock

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly T.D., has today (5th September 2014) announced the allocation of €23 million capital funding to 31 City and County Councils to undertake very important improvement works to social houses.

€8 million will be provided to local authorities for adaptations and extensions to social houses to meet needs of tenants with a disability or to address serious overcrowding.

Under the Social Housing Investment Programme, local authorities use suitable vacant stock to meet particular needs, however there are also situations where there is no option other than adapting or extending an existing dwelling.

The Minister has assessed the requirements for such works with each local authority and announced allocations per authority based on the level of need identified. The allocations to each local authority are at Appendix A.

In announcing this €8 million allocation, the Minister stated: “While the local authority social housing stock provides homes to almost 130,000 families, as people age their needs change. Some people require adaptations and extensions to their homes in order to continue to live independently. I’m allocating €8m this year for these necessary adaptations and extensions and I’m confident that over 300 families will have an improvement to their quality of life as a result of this investment”.

The Minister also announced that he is allocating a further €15 million to be invested in upgrading the energy efficiency of local authority homes this year. This is part of a three year jobs stimulus programme that will see the energy efficiency of 25,000 of the poorest insulated local authority homes improved.

The Minister stated: “I’m happy to be able to continue the programme of energy retrofitting of social houses. These will benefit from improved attic and wall insulation, with consequent improvements in the thermal efficiency of the homes and improved comfort levels all around”.

The energy retrofitting programme will also see lower energy bills to thousands of local authority tenants. It is also supporting hundreds of jobs in the green energy sector, in work which is labour intensive by its nature.

The Minister added: “As a result of the further €15 million for energy retrofitting works to social houses, I expect to see over 4,000 houses becoming warmer homes, with reduced fuel bills this winter”. The allocations to each local authority are at Appendix B.

Appendix A allocations to local authorities for adaptations and extensions to social houses to meet needs of tenants with a disability or to address serious overcrowding

Local Authority Allocation

Carlow €190,350

Cavan €159,585

Clare €191,278

Cork City €361,204

Cork Co Co €359,437

Donegal €162,973

Dublin City €446,161

Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown €323,532

Fingal €490,352

Galway City €102,252

Galway County €159,550

Kerry €333,364

Kildare €329,829

Kilkenny €229,412

Laois €53,957

Leitrim €38,811

Limerick €315,356

Longford €159,406

Louth €414,896

Mayo €304,088

Meath €369,822

Monaghan €83,751

Offaly €170,984

Roscommon €311,269

Sligo €109,128

South Dublin €360,873

Tipperary €445,056

Waterford €335,795

Westmeath €83,792

Wexford €200,000

Wicklow €403,628

TOTAL €7,999,891

Appendix B allocations to local authorities for energy retrofitting works to social houses

Local Authority Allocation

Carlow €100,172

Cavan €216,790

Clare €130,074

Cork City €3,492,555

Cork Co Co €334,903

Donegal €109,142

Dublin City €3,876,796

Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown €846,227

Fingal €0

Galway City €130,074

Galway County €86,716

Kerry €216,790

Kildare €467,967

Kilkenny €121,103

Laois €476,937

Leitrim €43,358

Limerick €282,574

Longford €224,265

Louth €0

Mayo €242,206

Meath €488,898

Monaghan €92,696

Offaly €86,716

Roscommon €325,932

Sligo €43,358

South Dublin €868,654

Tipperary €1,000,222

Waterford €130,074

Westmeath €209,314

Wexford €173,432

Wicklow €130,074

TOTAL €14,948,019