Housing Act, 1966

Chapter IV

Contributions by Minister to Certain Annual Loan Charges

Contributions by Minister to certain annual loan charges of housing authorities.

44.—(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) of this section and to such regulations as may be made by him for the purposes of this section, the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, during such period not exceeding fifty years as the Minister may determine, a contribution towards the annual loan charges incurred by a housing authority in respect of money borrowed by them for—

(a) the provision under this Act of dwellings in respect of which a grant under section 15 of this Act has not been made, or

(b) the provision of sites for building purposes, provided that the Minister is satisfied that the work of developing the site commenced on or after the 1st day of July, 1965.

(2) In the case of dwellings mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, the following provisions shall apply as respects a contribution under subsection (1) of this section, other than a special contribution:

(a) the contribution shall not exceed sixty-six and two-thirds per cent. of such annual loan charges in case the Minister is satisfied that the dwellings are provided—

(i) after the commencement of this section, for the accommodation of elderly persons,

(ii) for the accommodation of persons displaced, whether before or after the commencement of this section, or to be displaced—

(I) by any of the operations of a housing authority under this Act,

(II) under section 77 of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963 , (including, in particular, any operations under an arrangement for the development of land made or carried out by a housing authority with a person or body under subsection (3) of the said section 77) or

(III) under section 3 of the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act, 1964 ,

(iii) for the accommodation of persons displaced by the collapse or destruction of their former houses,

(iv) for the accommodation of persons living in overcrowded conditions,

(v) for the accommodation of persons who are in need of housing on medical, compassionate or other similar grounds if the circumstances of the persons would not permit them to be otherwise housed,

(b) the contribution shall not exceed thirty-three and one-third per cent. of such annual loan charges in any other case.

(3) In the case of sites for building purposes provided under this Act, a contribution under subsection (1) of this section shall not exceed thirty-three and one-third per cent. of such annual loan charges.

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of the power to make regulations for the purposes of this section, any such regulations may provide for all or any of the following conditions in respect of dwellings, sites for building purposes or other land, irrespective of whether or not a contribution towards annual loan charges is made under or by virtue of this Chapter in respect of the dwellings, sites or other land:

(a) conditions as to the rents of dwellings;

(b) conditions as to building standards;

(c) conditions for requiring contributions from the municipal or county rate (as may be appropriate) towards the costs incurred by a housing authority in respect of their housing services;

(d) conditions as to the maintenance of dwellings;

(e) conditions as to the sale or lease under this Act of dwellings or other land;

(f) conditions as to the development of sites for building purposes;

provided that regulations making provision for conditions mentioned in paragraph (e) of this subsection shall be made only after consultation with the Minister for Finance.

(5) Where before the commencement of this section a contribution was made or could, in the opinion of the Minister, have been made under an enactment repealed by this Act towards the annual loan charges in respect of money borrowed by a housing authority for the provision of dwellings, a contribution to those charges shall not be made under this section, but the contribution so made or which in the Minister's opinion could have been so made together with any further contribution which but for the repeal would fall to be made by the Minister under the enactment may, subject to subsections (6) and (7) of this section, be made by the Minister as if this Act had not been enacted.

(6) A contribution made by virtue of subsection (5) of this section may, if the Minister thinks fit, be so made subject to conditions including all or any of the conditions mentioned in paragraphs (a), (c), (d) or (e) of subsection (4) of this section.

(7) Every contribution to annual loan charges under or by virtue of this section may be made by the Minister either direct to the housing authority or on their behalf to the person from whom was borrowed the money in respect of which such loan charges were incurred.

(8) For the purposes of this section, the amount of any money borrowed by a housing authority for the provision of dwellings or of sites for building purposes shall be deemed not to exceed an amount calculated in the manner prescribed by regulations made by the Minister for the purposes of this section and a particular method of calculation may be prescribed in relation to dwellings or sites in a particular area or of a particular type, or dwellings requiring extra expenditure because of their location, site, design or form of construction.

(9) In this section, “a special contribution” means a contribution under subsection (1) of this section made by the Minister towards the annual loan charges incurred by a housing authority who are the council of a county in respect of a dwelling as respects which he is satisfied that it is a dwelling provided by the authority on or after the 1st day of October, 1963, in a rural area for the accommodation of a person who derives his livelihood or a substantial proportion thereof from the pursuit of agriculture and who occupies land the rateable valuation or the aggregate of the rateable valuations of which (exclusive of any buildings thereon) does not exceed five pounds.