Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1988 > Committee of Public Accounts > Report - Appropriation Accounts 1984

APPENDIX 10

HOUSING AT SHANNON

6 February, 1987

Clerk to the Committee,

Committee of Public Accounts,

Leinster House,

Dublin 2.

Further to my letter of 27th January 1987, I am now forwarding material on the question of the provision of housing at Shannon.

As indicated by the Accounting Officer it is intended to transfer this function to Clare County Council.

Yours sincerely,

A. McGRATH,

Accountant.

Shannon Housing

Shannon Free Airport Development Company Limited was established by statute in 1959. Its purpose at the time was to protect employment at Shannon Airport which was then threatened by overflying by newly introduced jet aircraft. SFADCo was given powers to promote the establishment of industry at Shannon by the provision of factories and grants to industry. At this early stage of the development of SFADCo it emerged that the provision of suitable housing for people working in Shannon was an integral part of industrial development. The reason for this was the relatively isolated position of Shannon. It was recognised that not everyone working in Shannon would wish to live in Shannon Town and therefore the policy was to provide sufficient housing in Shannon Town for those who wished to live there.

Therefore in 1960 SFADCo began constructing apartments and houses. Initially 137 apartments and 10 houses were built. As demand increased additional housing schemes followed. SFADCo also provided developed sites for private building. These sites were sold on the basis that the full cost of development would be repaid. The company also had the policy of allowing tenants to purchase their houses. Therefore SFADCo had a range of houses and apartments and developed sites for sale to private builders. The following shows the growth in Shannon Town over the past 20 years.

In the 1975 SFADCo rented accommodation reached a peak of 1,521 units. Since then stocks have declined by almost half to the present 818 due to sales to tenant purchasers. SFADCo has not built new houses for renting since 1983. At that time the emphasis changed to home ownership, the demand for which could be met by the private sector. New houses for renting have since been provided by Clare County Council.

SFADCo operate a graded rent scheme which is similar in most respects to the Local Authorities Differential Rent Scheme. At present the rents on SFADCo houses vary from £14.00 to £321.00 per month depending on the householders income and other circumstances. There is provision under the scheme for reduction of the rent to a minimum of £10.000 per month in cases of hardship e.g. unemployment, death or desertion of the breadwinner, pensioners etc., The average rent on SFADCo houses of £60 per month. A note giving details on the SFADCo Graded Rent Scheme is attached.

Shannon Free Airport Development Company Limited Revised Graded Rent Scheme 1987

(Applicable to Married Persons Only)

1.Terms used in this Scheme:

1.1Minimum Rent: Lowest point on rent scale below which rent may not drop except by application of Hardship Clause. Minimum rents are adjusted in line with changes in maximum rents.

1.2Maximum Rent: The sum equivalent to the economic rent, (the annual payment sufficient to repay capital cost plus administration and maintenance) with some adjustments to take account of relative standards of housing stock.

1.3Graded Rent: All rents between minimum rent and maximum rent.

2.Explanation of Graded Rent Schemes:

2.1The rent payable by each tenant will vary in relation to his/her assessable household income and the proportion used in calculating rents will vary from 1/12 to 1/7 (see item 4 below) subject to the Minimum and Maximum rents.

2.2There is provision for reduction of rent below the minimum in cases of hardship (e.g. unemployment, death or desertion of breadwinner and trainees and redundant workers being trained or re-trained for new jobs, during the period of re-training). The Company will consider each application on its merit.

13.Assessable Household Income:

3.1Definition: Household income is income from all sources (except as in 3.2.) excluding Overtime, Shift Allowance, Occasional Lump Sum Bonus and Commission of the tenant, his wife and any other household earner after deduction of income tax on basic income, less Social Welfare contributions. Income in this context will include unemployment, payrelated, and disability benefit, social welfare and social assistance benefits, AnCO training allowance and redundancy weekly payments. While in normal circumstances, the tenant is the principal earner, for the purposes of this scheme, the member of the household earning the highest income will be considered the principal earner and the assessable income for rent purposes will be calculated on that basis.

In hardship cases, however, the tenant will be eligible for rent reduction under the hardship clause referred to in 2 above.

3.2Income from the following is disregarded:

(i)Childrens Allowances payable under the Social Welfare (Childrens Allowances) Act.

(ii)Scholarships.

(iii)Allowances paid under the Boarding out of Children Regulations 1954.

(iv)Disabled persons allowance under Section 69 of the Health Act 1970.

(v)Supplementary Welfare Allowances.

(vi)Allowances or assistance received from charitable organisations.

Calculation of Rent:

Subject to the minimum and maximum rents, the rent payable will be calculated on the basis of the following scales. These will be updated in 1988 with the value for Money Table, issued by the Central Statistics Office.

Note 1: The allowance for children applies to every child of 16 years of age, or who being over 16 but under 21 is attending a full-time course of education and is wholly maintained by the tenant.

Note 2: The Principal Earners allowance will be doubled in the case of Old Age Pensioners, Deserted Wives, (receiving Deserted Wifes’ Allowance only), Widows (receiving Widows Pension only) and Social Assistance recipients.

Subsidiary Family Earner:

In addition to the basic income of the principal earner, one-seventh of the basic income or Social Welfare payments of each subsidiary earner which exceeds £1,671 per annum and does not exceed £3,288 per annum is taken into account i.e. a maximum of £1,617.

Review of Incomes:

The tenant should notify the Company immediately of any change in income. The rent will be adjusted on receipt of such notifications. The Company will in any event carry out a general review of incomes for the purpose of reassessing rents in December each year.