Housing (Financial and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1932

Contributions by Minister to annual loan charges of local authorities.

6.—(1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and subject to the prescribed regulations, make out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas—

(a) during such period, not exceeding thirty-five years, as the Minister may determine, a contribution towards the annual loan charges incurred by a local authority in respect of money borrowed by them for the provision under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 1890 to 1931, of houses to which this section applies—

(i) not exceeding sixty-six and two-thirds per centum of such annual loan charges, where the Minister is satisfied that such houses have been provided for the accommodation of persons displaced by any operations of such local authority under the said Acts; and

(ii) not exceeding thirty-three and one-third per centum of such annual loan charges in any other case;

(b) during such period, not exceeding thirty-five years, as the Minister may determine, a contribution not exceeding sixty per centum of the annual loan charges incurred by a local authority in respect of money borrowed by them for the provision under the Labourers Acts, 1883 to 1931, of cottages or other housing accommodation to which this section applies for agricultural labourers.

(2) This section applies only to houses, cottages, and housing accommodation the erection or provision of which was or shall be commenced on or after the 1st day of April, 1931.

(3) The Minister shall not make any contribution under this section towards the expenses incurred by local authorities in the provision of houses in respect of which grants have been made by him under the Housing Acts, 1925 to 1930.

(4) For the purposes of this section, the amount of any money borrowed by a local authority for the provision of houses, cottages or other housing accommodation to which this section applies shall be deemed not to exceed an amount calculated in the prescribed manner, and the amount of the annual loan charges in respect of such money (limited as aforesaid) shall be deemed not to exceed the sums (including interest charges) which would have been payable by the local authority in any local financial year in repayment of such money (limited as aforesaid) with interest to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, if such money had been borrowed from such Commissioners.

(5) The regulations made by the Minister for the purposes of this section shall provide that in the allocation of any houses in respect of the provision of which a contribution is made under this section preference shall be given, wherever practicable, to families living in one-roomed dwellings where either—

(a) one or more members of the family is or are suffering from tuberculosis; or

(b) one or more members of the family, exclusive of the parents, has or have attained the age of sixteen years; or

(c) the dwelling has been condemned as being unfit for human habitation.