Irish Minister of State, Tony Killeen has confirmed that two remedial work schemes have been approved for local authority housing stock in Ennis and Scarriff.

€26m is being provided by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, towards schemes around the country including housing units in the Clare County capital as well as at the Connaught Road in Scarriff.

"The remedial work schemes are being given the go ahead under the Department’s Housing Capital Programme and are being supported by significant Exchequer funding," the Minister said.

"They are designed to improve the physical fabric and energy efficiency of housing in the estates concerned, as well as improvements to the local environs."

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Mr Killeen explained that the remedial works programme provides support for local authorities to significantly improve estates by upgrading the layout, addressing issues of anti-social behaviour, improving the housing fabric, and where possible addressing issues of social exclusion.

He continued: "Despite the contraction in the overall Government capital programme, I am delighted that the Department has secured an increase in Exchequer funding to provide a total of €195m for Estate Regeneration and Remedial Works in the 2010 Estimates with a further €45m provided for energy efficiency retrofitting of existing local authority housing. In addition to the schemes announced today, the 2010 funding will allow the Department to continue to support some 55 remedial works projects already underway around the country.

"Remedial works projects not only improve the physical fabric of local communities, but are also highly labour intensive and offer opportunities to stimulate local employment throughout the country. Despite these difficult times it is vitally important that we continue to invest in our communities, to preserve the neighbourhoods in which families were reared and to add to the quality of local housing options available for the next generation, with a focus on the many newly formed family units who are now seeking social housing appropriate to their needs."

(NS/GK)