Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal, Alan Farrell has said the fact that Fingal County Council is to receive 28 additional housing staff is encouraging and will be vital in tackling the current demand for local authority housing in Fingal.
“28 new positions have been approved for Fingal County Council to work on the implementation of the Government’s Social Housing Strategy. The Strategy aims to deliver 35,000 additional social housing nationally over the course of the next 6 years.
“I am pleased to see that, in terms of staff allocations to local authorities; priority seems to have been given to the areas where housing lists are under the greatest strain. It is my understanding that Fingal and Dublin City have the longest local authority housing lists and the announcement of these new housing positions signifies an acknowledgement of this by the Minister and the Government with these regions receiving the greatest allocations of additional staff.
“200 housing staff positions have been approved, or approved in principle, to be allocated to local authorities across the country. Most of these posts will be for architects, engineers, housing officers, planners, surveyors and some clerical staff to assist with the implementation of the Strategy. These posts are to be filled through a mixture of recruitment and contract redeployment.
“It is estimated that the Social Housing Strategy will create roughly 29,000 jobs nationwide in construction and mixed-tenure developments. Furthermore, the Dublin Social Housing Taskforce will be established to attend to the supply challenges which currently exist in Dublin and to focus on the provision of social housing in the area. Overall, it provides the basis from which we can work to accommodate every person on the waiting list for local authority housing by 2020.
“I am pleased that the Minister has announced that 28 out of the 200 positions announced are to be allocated to Fingal County Council as it is of the utmost importance that areas, where housing lists are longest, are given the resources to adequately address the level of housing needs.”