I move:
That a sum not exceeding £8,581,450 be granted to defray the charge will will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1967, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Local Government, including Grants to Local Authorities, Grants and other expenses in connection with Housing, and Miscellaneous Grants including certain Grants-in-Aid.
The total estimate for my Department for the year 1966-67 is £8,581,450. The net increase on the provision made in the last financial year is £734,750. There is an increase of £200,000 in the contributions to loan charges on local authority housing and an increase of £110,000 in the corresponding provision for public water supply and sewerage schemes, swimming pools and other sanitary services loans. The provision for private housing, water supply and sewerage grants shows an increase of £365,000.
The Housing Act, 1966, was enacted on 12th July, 1966. The regulations and instructions for housing authorities are at present nearing completion and I hope shortly to be in a position to make the necessary commencement order bringing the Act into force.
This Act will provide the legal framework for the Government's housing policy with its target of 12,000 to 14,000 houses a year by 1970. The Act has been exhaustively discussed in this House and I do not propose to deal further with it here.
Responsibility for the National Building Advisory Council has recently been transferred to me and the Estimates for my Department now include provision for a grant in aid of £25,000. Deputies will recall that the Government announced in the White Paper on Public Capital Expenditure their intention that there should be a closer definition of the spheres of action of the State agencies dealing with the building and construction industry and that any necessary reorganisation would be effected. I am at present going into this question in detail and expect to conclude my examination of the problem in the not too distant future.
Deputies will also recall that in the White Paper it was made clear that the present shortage of capital was such that it would be unrealistic to expect that it would not be without its impact on housing and sanitary services expenditure. The primary difficulty in regard to the financing of the housing programme was the extent to which resources were committed in respect of works already in progress. Even though we were providing a record sum for housing and other services there just was not enough to ensure that commitments in respect of all the works that were coming forward would be met. This meant that in the latter half of last year and the earlier part of the present year we had to hold back sanction to certain tenders in respect of which expenditure arising in the current year could not be met from the original allocation. I am happy to be able to record that the additional moneys which were allocated by the Government and authorised by me on 26th July last have enabled me to sanction all housing tenders on hands which were otherwise in order for approval.
The net additional amount of capital provided by the Government for private and local authority housing and for sanitary services was £1½ million. This amount brings the total capital available for these purposes to £25½ million. So far as local authorities, generally, are concerned, the £1½ million will be supplemented by savings within the original £24 million which will enable at least £2.125 million more than the Budget provision to be allocated to them. The total capital available for local authority housing in 1966-67 will now be about £11¾ million. Taken against the actual expenditure of £9.9 million in 1965-66, and £6.8 million in 1964-65, this represents a substantially increased investment in the light of the existing difficult credit conditions.
The total number of houses completed by housing authorities and grant aided private enterprise in 1965-66 was slightly over 11,000 which is about twice the number provided four years ago and about 1,000 above the provisional Second Programme target figure. The upward trend in the output of local authority houses to which I referred last year continued in 1965-66 when 2,989 dwellings were completed, as compared with 2,359 in 1964-65.
The overall capital position, while still far from what I would like it to be, represents a considerable improvement on the position obtaining this time last year. I am undertaking a further urgent review of commitments, expenditure, and land acquisition, and I hope to give some further help where real difficulties exist. It is imperative that housing authorities should make the fullest possible use of the moneys which have been allocated to them. Above all, I do not want to see money which could well be used by one local authority to finance the construction of more houses lying idle because another local authority to which it was allocated is lagging behind in its planning. Where difficulties arise in connection with any scheme which suggest that the estimated expenditure will not be spent, alternative proposals for building, to absorb the full amount allocated, should be submitted to my Department immediately.
A paramount need at this time is the formulation, without further delay, of the short and long term building programmes which I asked all housing authorities to prepare. A specific statutory period for the preparation and adoption of these programmes will be laid down under the Housing Act when it is brought into force. I may say, however, at this stage that I would like housing authorities to set the end of this financial year as the deadline for completing their needs review and submitting outline building programmes to me.
Up to the present only 36 out of the 87 housing authorities have submitted the results of their surveys. Difficulties in regard to capital make it all the more imperative that we should have these programmes soon in order that we can present, on a national basis, definitive proposals to the Government for building programmes designed to absorb in full the maximum capital resources which can be made available for housing. These programmes will also ensure that, in the local authority housing field at least, the building industry will have relative stability as to the outlook for some years ahead. I would appeal to Deputies who are members of local authorities to use their authority and influence to see that the preparation of these proposals is not delayed.
Costs of local authority housing continue to rise and present us with a very serious challenge. Unless it is possible to find ways and means of reducing, or at least holding, these costs, further increases will inevitably result in a proportionate reduction of our unit output. Housing authorities generally will need to be as specific as possible in their briefing of their technical advisers in their efforts to secure the maximum number of dwellings designed to reasonable standards at a minimum cost. Far too many schemes have, in recent years, had to be entirely replanned because proposals were formulated on an over-optimistic basis in relation to available resources, and there has been a continuing tendency to submit proposals for house types which are too large or too elaborate to be economic for local authority housing. I am satisfied that while it will not be easy to secure any real progress in cost reduction, it should be possible to build local authority dwellings to the required standard at lower costs than are being achieved at present. My Department is co-operating with An Foras Forbartha and the National Building Agency in efforts to produce new house designs towards this end. The difficulties are considerable, and progress is slow. I am determined, however, to push ahead with my efforts in this direction so that specific results may be achieved within a reasonable time.
Deputies will be aware that my Department is co-operating with the Departments of Health and Social Welfare in an examination of the problems of the care of the aged. My primary concern is, of course, housing. Over the years, a substantial amount has been done by housing authorities generally in the course of their normal housing programmes in the rehousing of old people from unfit dwellings. In particular, Dublin Corporation have provided, in their housing estates, a proportion of dwellings suitable for occupation by old persons roughly equivalent to the proportion of the aged in the population generally. They have some very fine schemes of flats specifically designed for old people. A number of other housing authorities have also designed and provided small schemes specially for the aged. I am not satisfied, however, that the general approach to the rehousing of old people is sufficiently vigorous or imaginative. The co-operation between the three Departments mainly responsible in this field should help to ensure an integrated and concerted approach to the problem in every area in the future. In the meantime, I have taken some concrete measures which, I think, will contribute to the solution of the problem.
The scheme of special grants for the housing of elderly persons by private enterprise, which may often be the best way of tackling the problem because of the voluntary or philanthropic effort on which it can draw, is supplemented in the new Housing Act with a special additional grant for the accommodation of caretaker staff. The Act also provides especially for a modest type of accommodation—the "dower house" grant for elderly persons in rural areas. For housing authorities, an additional incentive is provided by way of the subsidy system. Deputies will recall that the Act provides for subsidy at the rate of 66? per cent of loan charges subject to capital limits for housing accommodation provided by them for elderly persons. This should make the provision of housing for elderly persons who are able-bodied a much more economic proposition than accommodating them in county homes or similar institutions—and, even more important—it is better for the moral and general well-being of the persons concerned than the sort of institutional treatment I have mentioned. I have also asked housing authorities in their investigation of needs and in the preparation of building programmes to provide specifically for old people in their areas. It is necessary that they should identify old persons as a particular category, and establish the extent of the building programme which will be required to meet their needs, taking into account that the number of old persons is increasing. I have asked the technical staff of my Department to see if they can design a demountable dwelling suitable for the use of old persons. The intention is that the dwelling should be a low-cost dwelling with the emphasis placed on the standard of amenity and comfort, if necessary, at the expense of floor area, that the design should be such as to enable the dwelling to be prefabricated on a prepared site to meet the needs of old persons who want to stay where they have always lived, and that services should be provided if at all possible.
There are many complex factors to be borne in mind in deciding an approach to the problem of rehousing the aged. In general, old people like to stay in the same environment to which they have been used all their lives. It is too often a grievous shock to them to be up-rooted and to have to go either to an institution or to a new housing scheme which may be far removed from their normal surroundings. The demountable dwelling will meet the case of people, living in isolation from towns and communities, on sites where a continuing need for rehousing is unlikely to arise. In villages and communities it is better to provide for old people as a proportion of normal housing schemes.
A good approach would be to allocate, say, 10 per cent of any major sized scheme to old persons' dwellings so that they could live with their neighbours and with other members of the community without any sense of being kept apart. At the same time, given the right set of circumstances, much can be said for providing small specially designed schemes with communal services close to churches, shops, parks and so on. The work being done by charitable and philanthropic organisations in providing accommodation for elderly persons continues to be encouraged by the grants available both from the State and the local authorities. A number of major schemes involving the provision of over 200 dwelling units are in course of construction, while tentative proposals for several others are being investigated. While the results so far have been encouraging, there is, however, ample scope for further activity in this field.
In so far as private housing generally is concerned, the shortage of capital also made itself felt even though the total amount of capital to be provided for private housing from all sources this year will be more than last year. Expenditure on house purchase loans and supplementary grants issued by housing authorities in 1965-66 amounted to over £6 million as compared with £4.6 million in 1964-65. An increased sum of £6.5 million was provided in the original allocation notified last March to housing authorities. The recent decision of the Government to make additional money available for housing capital purposes enabled a further £½ million to be allocated, bringing the total provision of capital for these purposes this year to £7 million.
As in the case of local authority housing, the rapid expansion of private house building in recent years caused a heavy build-up of commitments which made it impossible in the areas of high demand to meet in full the requirements of the expanding programme. The position for local authorities was made more difficult by a large-scale shift to them of applicants for house purchase loans who were experiencing difficulty in having their requirements met by the commercial agencies. I encouraged the housing authorities concerned to approach the forward allocation of loans in the most liberal way possible. Notwithstanding their co-operation in this respect, there was a heavy backlog of applications in a number of areas which had a serious effect on the demand for new loans and which has given rise in recent months to a falling off in the number of new applicants. In allocating the additional moneys which were made available by the Government in July last, particular attention was paid to maintaining building activity in the private sector in these areas and to the need to restore confidence in the industry. The position in Dublin county caused me special concern and an increase of £170,000 was made in the county council's allocation for house purchase loans. This, together with a continuance of deficit spending on the same general basis as last year should enable payments amounting to close on £1 million to be made by the council this year as compared with a little over £½ million last year. They are now in a relatively satisfactory position to deal with current applications.
Dublin Corporation also agreed to work on the basis of carrying forward a debit balance at the end of this year similar to that which obtained at the end of last year. This decision, taken in conjunction with an additional allocation made to them in August, has enabled them to deal with all new house applications on hands while leaving a fairly substantial sum in reserve to meet payments on foot of further applications which may be made during the balance of this financial year.
A special investigation was also made on my instructions in the Limerick city area in response to allegations of a crisis there in the building industry. I am glad that it was possible, with the full co-operation of the housing authorities, public representatives, building contractors, and the trade unions, to work out a solution which should guarantee the continuance of a reasonable level of building in the city. Additional allocations were also made in Cork city and county and in a number of other areas where special difficulties had arisen.
It is hoped that the measures taken will result in a general restoration of confidence to builders and their clients which will enable a maximum level of building to be achieved consistent with available resources. In certain areas many people felt that details of commitments published by local authorities related to cases which had already matured for payment. Misinterpretation of this factor caused a lot of unnecessary uneasiness and greatly exaggerated current difficulties. The way the situation in Limerick city was tackled, with goodwill by all the interests concerned, was an example of a mature approach to the very real difficulties we have encountered.
I am asking housing authorities for up-to-date particulars of the level of their commitments and expenditure this year. I hope that the opportunity will be taken by them to carry out a careful re-appraisal of the situation and that they will bear in mind that most of the allocations now being made in respect of new applications will not mature for payment, in any event, until next year. They have already been told that they can assume the same general level of capital allocations for the coming financial year as those notified to them last March.
While the amount of capital provided by the State for private housing through local authorities is very substantial it should be borne in mind that the bulk of the capital for house purchase loans has come, and will continue to come, from private agencies such as the building societies and life assurance companies. In my Estimate speech last year I referred to the very substantial growth which had taken place in the volume of capital which the commercial agencies were advancing for house purchase. They, too, have felt the effects of the credit shortage and while they have not been able to maintain the rate of growth in housing investment which they had achieved up to 1964 they have been able to keep their total advances at the impressive level of £11 to £12 million. I have no doubt that, according as the credit position eases, the upward trend in their activities, which was so marked last year, will again be resumed. Because of the vital role which these agencies full in the building and construction industry, and, indeed, in the national economy itself, I am following their activities and progress with constant interest. I intend to continue, and to extend, the exchange of views and periodic consultations with the building societies which I initiated last year.
Problems also face us in the field of general housing administration. There has been a tendency to allow the more urgent problem of the building of houses to divert attention from the need for proper supervision and management of existing housing estates. The efficient conservation of more than 100,000 rented local authority dwellings is a continuing problem. In the new Housing Act, State subsidy may be made conditional on the proper maintenance of dwellings. I should like to remind housing authorities that it is my intention to use these powers for the purpose of ensuring that reasonable standards of maintenance are applied by all authorities. Skimping on maintenance, while it may seem to offer saving in the short-term, would prove a false economy, indeed, in the long run.
Questions of maintenance naturally give rise to the thorny problem of rents. Attempts have been made to misrepresent the renting policy which I have recommended to housing authorities. I emphasise again that my primary concern in seeking a rationalisation of rents is to ensure that the housing needs of the very poor will be met, and that they are not forced to live in unfit conditions because of their inability to pay rent. The additional cost of meeting this problem squarely will be substantial, and taxpayers and ratepayers are already carrying a heavy and increasing burden. It seems to me that the sensible way out of the difficulty is the adoption of a renting structure for housing estates as a whole based on ability to pay and related to the standard of accommodation and amenity provided. It is only just and equitable that well-off families who have enjoyed subsidised housing accommodation for many years, and who wish to continue to live in subsidised local authority houses, should be required to pay a rent commensurate with their income. I am not advocating rent increases for all classes of tenants. What I am saying is that the poorer sections of the community must be housed at rents they can afford. This can only be achieved either by equitable adjustment of the rents of the better-off families or by an increase in the contribution from rates. Unless this problem is tackled with resolution by housing authorities, they will find themselves in an impossible position in meeting their obligation to rehouse those families who are at present without decent accommodation or who are paying rents far higher than they can afford.
I am glad to say that the response to my recommendations to housing authorities in this connection up to the present is encouraging and proposals are in train in many areas for the adoption of rent structures on the lines recommended. I am, in particular, impressed by the fact that the Association of Municipal Authorities at their recent annual conference passed a motion, by a large majority, favouring the introduction of the differential rent system to all local authority houses within the next five years.
Progress with the vesting of labourers' cottages continues. At the 31st March last, 63,198 cottages had been vested, representing 72.5 per cent of the total number of cottages provided. County councils had a further 7,034 applications for vesting on hands which had not then been dealt with. There has been a delay in many counties in dealing with vesting applications because of the capital shortage which precluded me from giving general approval to loans for the repair of cottages in view of the more urgent claim of the cottage building programmes on available capital resources. While the capital shortage continues, loans for cottage repairs must take a relatively low order of urgency. County councils who have a substantial programme of cottage repairs which cannot be deferred for the time being will need to make appropriate revenue provision in the coming year for this purpose.
The overall local authority housing situation in our larger cities continues to be a cause for concern and every effort has been made by me to lessen as far as possible the inevitable impact of the capital situation on the tempo of the efforts of housing authorities concerned to deal with this problem. Dublin Corporation continued to make satisfactory progress in meeting the needs of the very large numbers on their waiting list. A total of 1,619 families were rehoused in 1965-66, vacancies accounting for 488 of these Capital expenditure by the Corporation on local authority housing, including the Ballymun scheme in 1965-66 was just short of £5 million. The provision for the current financial year is £6.365 million.
Apart from the Ballymun scheme of 3,021 dwellings, the Corporation had 987 dwellings in progress at the end of last August and it is expected that work will be commenced before the end of next March on further schemes, totalling 269 dwellings, in addition to 90 flats on which work was started on Constitution Hill on 2nd September. It is expected that, excluding the Ballymun scheme, the number of completions in the Corporation's own housing schemes this year will show a decline on last year's figures. When, however, account is taken of the estimated completions in the Ballymun scheme and the vacancies arising in the normal way in their housing estate, not less than 2,000 dwellings should become available for the rehousing of families on the approved waiting list. I understand that a comprehensive review of this list will be carried out by the housing authority in the near future. According to the latest available review there were 4,907 approved applicants on the list.
The Ballymun housing project is now proceeding at the pace which I forecast when the contract was signed in February of last year and an unplanned virgin site was designated for planning and development. Factories are producing more than 1,000 dwellings a year and the corresponding rate of construction now reached will enable the 3,021 dwellings to be completed within the contract period. This has been achieved against the background of the most intensive and extensive programme of planning and development ever undertaken in this country.
I have inspected in every detail the present stage of site operations and contract management. It is an exhilarating exercise for anyone to do so, not merely because of the physical expression by volume of our hopes for housing in Dublin but also because of the character of the housing and its attractive environmental setting.
Production of the two storey houses has reached a rate of almost two houses a day, against the original intention of one a day. My optimism that the first of these houses would be available for occupation during 1965, based on the programme drawn up by the contractors and backed by their enthusiasm and energy, was to my regret not matched by the circumstances of 1965. I am aware, however, that the integrated nature of the contract would, with good management, enable the many and complex aspects of its organisation to be kept in line with the overall contract programme and this is borne out by the stage now reached. The first block of flats completed meets my expectations and I am not surprised that it has been the subject of admiration by the many Irish and foreign technical and non-technical people who have examined it. Its standard can hold its own in any company of housing accommodation at home or abroad and, assuming the rest of the flats measure up at least to this standard, the Corporation can be certain that it is offering to its tenants a standard of housing of which they can be proud. It is my intention to provide a shopping and community centre in association with the housing project and I have, by public advertisement, invited property developers who are interested in undertaking the shopping and community centre project to submit brief particulars of their capacity to do so. A number of expressions of interest have been submitted in response to the advertisement and I am having them examined.
My plans for supplementing the housing programmes of the Cork and Limerick city housing authorities by a special joint housing project have been impeded by developments in the capital situation. The project is still under review by the Government by whom a decision will be given to go ahead when the capital situation so allows.
The continuing demand for private housing grants of all types necessitated an increase of £365,000 in the voted provision for the financial year 1966-67. The spectacular growth in the number of new houses being provided by private enterprise, which has been a feature of the housing drive during the past few years, was maintained in 1965/66 when a total of 7,377 new houses was completed. The number of grant allocations for the same year was 7,829. The difficulties already referred to in regard to obtaining house purchase loans have been reflected in a decline in allocations of new house grants from 3,463 in the first five months of the last financial year to 2,212 in the same period this year. I feel, however, that this trend will be checked by the additional capital which the Government have recently made available. It is too early, as yet, to gauge the effect of these extra capital allocations, but I am keeping the position under close review.
The scheme of increased grants to farmers and certain other classes has rapidly become an important factor in the campaign to satisfy the needs of rural dwellers for an adequate standard of housing. A total of 844 such grants, valued at £366,369, was allocated in 1965-66 in addition to a further 548 grants, already allocated at the normal rate, which were revised upwards. The introduction of the grants for the provision of dower houses, to which I have already referred, should also help to meet the special housing needs of the farming community.
Reconstruction work on existing houses is proceeding without diminution, with an annual completion rate of over 8,000 dwellings. In addition to providing a livelihood for many small builders and their employees throughout the country, this type of work is proving invaluable in our efforts to preserve the national stock of housing. I am happy to report also that during the past year county councils have become more aware of the value of the work that can be achieved with the aid of the grants for essential repairs to houses which are nearing the end of their useful lives, and, with very few exceptions, they are now operating schemes of this nature. Generally, councils are contributing a grant of equal amount to the State grant. Some are meeting the entire balance, or a considerable portion of the total cost and, in addition, others are undertaking the actual works of repair. A total of 1,341 of these State grants was allocated in the year ended 31st March, 1966. While I am on the subject I would like to express the wish that local authorities will avail themselves to the fullest extent of the grants provided under the new Act for the execution of certain improvement works to their own houses.
The campaign which I initiated some years ago for the improvement of houses by the installation of piped water and sewerage facilities is continuing with satisfactory results. The development of private group schemes and individual schemes assisted by State and local authority grants has increased to the extent that over 6,800 installations were completed last year. The rapid growth in this type of work is illustrated by the fact that the corresponding figure five years ago was a little over 2,000. Further headway has been made in the promotion of group water supply schemes to the extent that designs of schemes involving 2,185 houses were received last year. In the first quarter of the current year designs covering close on 800 houses in group schemes were received.
The pace of the Government's programme for the provision by local authorities of public piped water and sewerage services has naturally had to be adjusted in the light of the capital position. The good progress made has resulted in the build-up in most areas of sufficient serviced land to meet immediate needs for both housing and industrial purposes. In the prevailing circumstances it was necessary to curtail to some extent the pace of development of the more long term major sanitary services projects. The capital allocation for new sanitary services works is being mainly devoted to urgent schemes, particularly those required to provide services for housing and industrial needs. In 1965-66, issues from the Local Loans Fund to sanitary authorities amounted to £2.8 million, while these authorities borrowed a further £.841 million from other sources. A sum of £2.5 million was originally allocated towards capital expenditure on sanitary services in the current financial year. In July last, a further allocation of £.67 million was made, making a total provision of £3.17 million for these works which should ensure a fair level of activity in this sector in the current year.
Subhead E.2 of the Vote includes a sum of £140,000 in respect of recoupment of supplementary grants for water supply installations to farmers who would have been eligible for the scheme of domestic grants which was hitherto operated by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. This recoupment is designed to ensure that no additional burden will arise on the rates as a result of my Department taking over this scheme.
A total of £895,000 is provided in Subhead F in respect of State contributions to loan charges incurred by local authorities on Sanitary Services Works for the year 1966-67. This shows an increase of £110,000 over the amount paid to sanitary authorities in 1965-66.
Last year I referred to hotel fires which have claimed several lives and caused extensive damage to property, with consequent loss of business and employment. Since then my Department has published a set of standards which are intended to cover the minimum essential requirements necessary to safeguard from fire the lives of occupants of hotels. The recommendations cover the structural alterations which may be required to improve fire resistance in hotels; the fire-fighting equipment and warning systems which should be provided; general fire precautions and the responsibility of hotel managements, particularly in regard to evacuation and fire-fighting arrangements. I hope that all hotel managements will co-operate in providing adequate fire protection, and I am sure that local fire brigade authorities will be more than willing to give advice on the best possible ways of providing the appropriate fire protection for any particular premises.
The Fire Standards for Public Buildings and Institutions have also been revised and should be available for issue to interested bodies shortly.
There is one other aspect of the question of fire to which I would like to refer. During last year I had the privilege of addressing the inaugural meeting of the Fire Protection Association of Ireland. The establishment of this Association was made possible by the co-operation of the Fire Offices Committee of Insurance Companies and my Department. This Association, which, incidentally, is a non-profit making body, will devote its entire resources to bringing before the public through the media of press, radio and television, the hazards of fire and the best methods of combating these hazards. The Association's aim is to create a greater public awareness of the dangers of accidental fire and a more widespread public knowledge of how best to avoid it. I might mention that already the Association has some 320 members. There are, however, many other people in the country who would find it to their benefit to become members of this Association and I would appeal to them to do so without further delay.
The low-cost basic indoor swimming pool which I had designed some time ago evoked much interest among local authorities and bodies interested in promoting a better standard of swimming and life-saving in the country. My aim in having this pool designed was to put indoor swimming facilities within the reach of the small local authorities and associations who might previously have considered that swimming pools were beyond their financial resources. I also wished to encourage the larger authorities to think in terms of a number of pools throughout their area rather than one elaborate pool. My contention in this connection is that the maximum number of our children should be given the opportunity of becoming good swimmers before we embark on the building of pools suitable for international competitions.
I was very pleased to have the privilege of opening the first pool of a type similar to the basic pool which was completed in Longford recently, and I am perfectly satisfied, from what I saw there, that the facilities provided would be a boon to the people of any area.
Proposals are before my Department for the provision of pools in other areas including proposals for much needed swimming facilities in Dublin city. While I am more than anxious to press ahead with all swimming pool projects, and hope indeed to see a swimming pool in every town in the country, it will be obvious that the swimming pool programme had to be adjusted in the light of the general financial situation. I hope, nevertheless, that local authorities and other interested groups will continue with their planning of pools so that they will be ready to proceed as soon as the necessary capital becomes available.
New pools have been opened recently in Dublin at St. Mary's School and Home for the Blind, Merrion, at the Marian College, Ballsbridge, and at Lahinch, County Clare. These pools have been provided with the aid of substantial contributions from the local authorities, towards which subsidy from my Department is payable at the rate of 50 per cent of loan charges on capital borrowing.
I should like to take this opportunity to bring to notice that copies of a 12 minute colour film "To Save a Life" are available, free of charge, to interested bodies, from the National Film Institute. This film, which was awarded a Diploma at the recent International Film Festival at Milan, was sponsored by my Department in order to bring home to the public the tremendous value of proper training in lifesaving. I feel, however, that greater use could be made of it.
The provision of two itinerant camping sites in counties Kildare and Limerick is a small beginning in the implementing of Government policy on itinerants. I am disappointed at the slow progress made in this matter by local authorities generally. I am aware that some authorities are agreeable to provide sites but are meeting with difficulties in acquiring the necessary land. In too many cases, however, it seems to me that local authorities have made no real attempt to grapple with the problem. A certain amount of this local hesitation may stem from a lack of understanding of the comprehensive aims of the itinerant rehabilitation policy, which envisaged arrangements for the education of the children, the training of young adults for employment, and the provision of help and encouragement to itinerant families to avail of the facilities provided.
These matters will each be the responsibility of the appropriate authorities dealing with social welfare, education, employment, etc. The most important link between the itinerant and these various bodies, will, however, be the local voluntary helpers who cannot achieve any worthwhile results unless they have a permanent base from which to work. This is why I am asking local authorities to provide camping sites as the first step in the programme for the rehabilitation and absorption of itinerants into the general community.
I would like to emphasise that the idea of camping sites for itinerants is not an untried policy, but is one which has been put into operation with remarkable success in other countries. I would ask every Deputy to seek to have this work of providing camping sites pushed ahead in his area and to have a positive and constructive approach adopted to the itinerant problem, which I have no doubt can be solved, at little financial cost, if only a reasonable amount of goodwill and forbearance could be brought to its examination.
I am glad to note the many signs of increasing interest in the welfare of itinerants among local voluntary groups and persons concerned with social work and I want to express my personal appreciation of the work being done by all these people. I am confident that worthwhile results in regard to rehabilitation will follow quickly on the provision of a reasonable number of camping sites and I again appeal to all local authorities to expedite the provision of these sites.
The Road Traffic Bill was introduced before the Summer Recess in the hope that it would be circulated in good time before the Dáil resumed. Some difficulties have arisen in connection with the drafting, and it has not been possible to issue the Bill as arranged. However, it should be available very shortly. The Bill will implement in general the recommendations of the Commission on Drunk Driving and will contain many other important provisions. I shall refer to some of these provisions in my later remarks.
The Bill is only one of the measures designed to deal with the twin subjects of traffic flow and road safety. Legislation, regulations, research, education, construction works, enforcement, are the chief weapons used, and they are all used, to the fullest effect possible.
The road accident problem continues to be No. 1 priority. The number of casualties rose in 1965 and the position so far for 1966 is that, while the total number of accidents has gone down, there is an increase in fatalities but not for recent months. Indeed, when one considers over a period the statistics in relation to the increasing number of motor vehicles the picture shown is that we have in fact substantially reduced the incidence of accidents. Nevertheless, we are entering a phase of motorisation which is critical in this matter of road casualties. As I have repeatedly said, I personally will not be satisfied until the toll of the roads is reduced to the absolute minimum, and I am confident that this can be achieved. I shall now outline some of the work of my Department in this field.
Regulations amending the speed limits on the arterial and some other heavily trafficked routes were made in June and July, 1965. These regulations removed certain anomalies in respect of these routes and ensured a more uniform application of speed limits. The review was confined to these particular routes to enable the regulations to be made at an early date. A review of all other routes is now being carried out and when it is completed and the necessary amending regulations made there should be a more uniform application of speed limits to all roads. The position in 14 counties has been examined and in order to ensure that the proposed amendments come into operation as soon as possible, I have decided to make separate sets of regulations in respect of particular counties or groups of counties. Accordingly, it should be possible to bring the amendments proposed in respect of a substantial number of counties into force before the end of the year; the regulations for County Carlow and for Limerick city and county have already been made. I should mention that an analysis of our road accident statistics for recent years indicates that the introduction of the speed limits in 1963 must have contributed to a substantial reduction in accidents, with continuing effect.
During the year a number of Deputies maintained interest in the compulsory use of seat belts in motor vehicles. As I have explained on a number of occasions, any regulations on the compulsory fitting of seat belts must be preceded by a requirement that the vehicles concerned be equipped with proper anchorage points complying with a specified standard. I have made such regulations providing for the compulsory fitting of anchorages, to a specified standard, for seat belts in the front seats of passenger cars and station wagons registered on or after 1st July, 1965, and having seating passenger accommodation for not more than eight persons exclusive of the driver. Furthermore, control of the sale of seat belts is essential to ensure that only seat belts of a proper standard are offered for sale and fitted to vehicles and the Road Traffic Bill will contain a provision for this purpose.
The introduction of regular vehicle tests under the Road Traffic Act, 1961, would be a large scale operation calling for highly trained staff and possibly the establishment of testing stations on a country-wide basis. The planning of regular vehicle tests is proceeding but consideration is being given to the introduction first of a system of spot-checks on vehicles in use on the public roads. This method would give us experience, build up know-how and instil in drivers more regard for vehicle maintenance. I propose, in the Road Traffic Bill, to seek powers for this purpose.
The scheme of driving tests has now been in operation for 2½ years and the growth in the rate of applications for tests has been much as anticipated. Applications received in my Department are currently arriving at about 700 per week; within the coming year this rate of applications is expected to reach 1,000 per week. Arrangements are in train for the recruitment of additional staff to deal with the increased numbers of tests.
More than 35,000 tests have been carried out and of this number approximately 49 per cent have resulted in failure of the applicants. It has been said that the standard of driving expected from applicants for test is too high and that driver testers are too rigid in the application of that standard. I do not agree. The growth in traffic on our roads means that a good standard of driving is essential, not only to avoid accidents but also to keep traffic moving as smoothly as possible. The driving test must give a headline in this respect.
An improvement in the position in relation to failure in the driving test must depend to a large degree on the efforts made by applicants. These efforts must be well guided; in other words, good tuition and adequate practice are essential before a person can hope to pass the test. As a step towards ensuring that tuition given for reward reaches an acceptable standard, I propose in the Road Traffic Bill to seek powers to enable my Department to exercise control over the giving of such tuition.
Driving tests, in a sense, form part of a broad programme to educate and train the users of our roads in better road behaviour. The more specific work of education in the schools falls within the activities of the Minister for Education. For some time, of course, many of the schools have given attention to road safety, and they have also participated fully in the various campaigns. I am glad to say that the subject Civics which has now been introduced as a regular feature into the secondary schools' curricula, will include instruction on road safety. My Department and the Department of Education work in close co-operation in this matter.
This brings me to my Department's work in the field of general road safety propaganda. This was continued during 1965-66 and leaflets and films on road safety were produced. Local authorities have been most generous in their co-operation as also have the Garda authorities, the schools, Radio Telefís Éireann, cinema managements, the press and many voluntary bodies.
Major events in the promotion of road safety during 1965-66 were the special Whit and December campaigns. I am convinced that these campaigns were worthwhile if only because they keep the cause of road safety before the public mind and it is my intention that they will continue to be held from time to time. Public participation is essential in any such campaign and I am pleased to be able to say that the number of people taking an active part in the promotion of road safety continues to expand most encouragingly and that many permanent local committees have come into being as a result of these campaigns.
In 1966-67 a Summer Safety Week was held during the period 8th to 14th May. The emphasis during this week was on the need for safety among cyclists and pedestrians. Next December I shall be sponsoring another nationwide road safety campaign and I appeal to all Deputies to give it their full support. Additional road safety literature and some new films in colour will be released shortly. In addition, arrangements have been made with Radio Telefís Éireann for the production and the regular presentation of road safety material on television.
My Department is working closely with the Safety First Association of Ireland. Over the last few years, with financial backing from the Department, the Association has gradually extended its activities and area of operation. In 1963 at my request they introduced a pilot road safety officer service in the south-west and north-west of the country and appointed two officers in those areas. A further three officers have since been appointed and the service now covers some 18 counties. The fruits of the service are already beginning to show in the increasing number of road safety committees and in the greater local interest being manifested in road safety. During campaign times the local authorities work in close co-operation with the road safety officers so as to achieve the best possible results. I would appeal to local authorities to continue this close co-operation, and to the public at large, to give the road safety officers every possible assistance.
An examination of the present condition of certain arterial routes carried out by the road authorities concerned has shown a striking co-relation between deficiency in traffic capacity and accident incidence. This reinforces us in the belief that the improvement to proper standards of critical sections of the arterial system, which carries a high proportion of our traffic, should result, not merely in better traffic flow, but also in a reduction of the accident rate.
This study also revealed the existence of obvious "black spots" on the routes concerned. Accordingly, road authorities have been specially reminded of what they can do in this regard. It is obvious that the improvement to full standards of all our heavily-trafficked routes can take place only gradually, and that considerable sectors of the system will have to wait their turn. The road authorities have been asked to look at such sectors and see what can be done immediately by way of minor works to eliminate "black spots". They have been told that these works can be financed from the Road Improvement Grants.
The Garda Síochána provide the road authorities with particulars of all accidents coming to their notice. Improvements are currently being effected in the system of reporting. Likewise my Department are co-operating with the Department of Justice and the Garda in a study of enforcement on a major route.
The road accident problem is, therefore, being attacked from every angle and this is the way to deal with it.
I come now to measures to improve traffic flow and control, which of course also have a substantial road safety content. During the year I gave consent to 11 sets of local traffic and parking bye-laws. Nine off-street car parks were provided with the aid of grants from the Road Fund and from the Employment and Emergency Schemes Vote. Approval was also given to the provision of a number of sets of traffic lights and pedestrian lights.
It is proposed shortly to effect a further amendment of the Traffic Signs Regulations, the main purpose of the amendment being the redimensioning of roadway markings such as centre and lane lines to make them more suitable for present-day traffic and speeds.
In Dublin, the close co-operation between the Department, the Corporation, the Garda and CIE continued, and meetings to consider traffic problems were held from time to time. The one-way street system of the central city area was extended with consequential improvement of traffic flow. The system has been consolidated recently in a set of temporary rules which will be incorporated in bye-laws as soon as possible. The provision of integrated systems of traffic lights in the central city area is also in hands.
With the improvement of conditions in the central city area, the nerve-centres of congestion have shifted to the suburban radial routes where more difficult traffic management problems arise. The corporation have have had a traffic management study carried out on one of these routes by a consultant and his recommendations will be brought into operation in stages during the coming months. Approval has been given to the carrying out of similar studies on the other radial routes and these should be completed within the next two years. The recommendations arising from the first study include the provision of one-way circuses, integrated traffic signal systems, improved roadway markings, etc. Suitable provision has been made for pedestrians, and traffic flow and road safety should be improved.
Pending the completion of these other studies, it is intended to experiment with a "clearway" system on a number of radial routes. These "clear-ways" will operate only during peak hours, and while no doubt they will cause some inconvenience to certain categories of road users during these periods they will, if successful, permit the heavy volumes of peak-hour traffic, particularly bus traffic which carries the majority of workers to and from the central city, to operate with greater speed and comfort. Details of this experimental scheme will be announced in due course.
The traffic studies I have mentioned relate to traffic management, the purpose of which is to make the best use of an existing street system pending its major improvement. The more general type of traffic study is primarily designed to assist in the rational planning of street improvements and I shall deal with it later, but I should mention that, in various urban centres where it has been initiated, it is designed to afford advice on traffic management also.
Despite the difficult circumstances prevailing this year, it has been possible to maintain Road Fund grants generally at the same level as last year. The total programmes of the road authorities for the upkeep and improvement of the road system, of which the Road Fund bears the greater share, will exceed £15 million. Our road problems are heavy indeed and, as is the way all over the world, resources are and will continue to be extremely limited in relation to these problems. Accordingly, every effort must be made to get the maximum return from every £ spent. Substantial results have already been achieved by the local authorities in the matter of road costs, and here I wish to pay tribute to them and their staffs. But more can be done, and I have exhorted them again to consider the employment of the most effective methods, such as the use of contractors for appropriate schemes, modern survey methods, and so on. An Foras Forbartha should be able to play a valuable part in our efforts to secure greater returns from what we spend, and indeed it has already in hands a number of useful studies.
This stress on economy is a far cry from the time when road works were considered merely as a device to provide employment. They still have an employment factor, a valuable one, the more so because a great quantity of the material used is produced in Ireland. But in our time we have come to realise that an efficient road system is part of the apparatus of production and that in itself is of high economic value, particularly as the greater part of our transport of goods and passengers is conducted by road and transport costs are a sizeable item in the costs of production and the cost of living.
We must, therefore, ensure that the improvements to be effected to our road system will follow rational lines. To this end a number of studies are in progress in my Department. One is an analysis of the present and future capacity of each section of the arterial road grid. The other is designed to afford a sound basis for the re-classification of the road system. This latter involves a considerable number of factors and will be a complex undertaking, but it is being pushed ahead as fast as staff resources permit.
When one comes to the replanning of the street systems of cities and towns, the problem demands individual and specialist treatment in the case of the larger cities and towns and those with particularly difficult situations. For the remainder of our towns, it seems that the local authorities themselves will be able to cope with the problem, with the help that An Foras Forbartha proposes to give.
All the work being done on road and street planning will be harmonised with that being done on physical planning at various levels. All along the line there is a feed-back process between the two studies. In particular the traffic surveys for the cities and towns are an integral part of the work of physical planning.
While there has been a substantial, apparently temporary, drop in the rate of new motor vehicles registered, the volume of traffic continues to increase.
As regards the changes in motor tax law effected by this year's Finance Act, I think it only right to remind the House that, while it became necessary to draw extra revenue from motor vehicles for general Exchequer purposes, the full income of the Road Fund from 1965 rates of taxation has been preserved for roads purposes.
During the past financial year I introduced new arrangements for the licensing of motor vehicles. These enable a vehicle to be taxed for any period of 12 calendar months and provide for a reduction in the surcharge for quarterly and part-quarterly licences. It will be some time before the new system shows its full effects, but it should help to ease the problem of the peak period for licensing.
I shall mention later the general activities of An Foras Forbartha and indeed some of the specific items with which it is concerned. As the national centre for road research, it has already commissioned a number of urgently required studies in this field. During the year, the first meetings of the Roads and Road Traffic Committee of the Institute's Consultative Council were held. The committee established three working groups to consider research into road construction, road traffic and road safety respectively. It has recommended the first phases of continuing programmes of research in these three fields and these programmes have been or are being put in hands. The general approach of the committee is entirely sensible. Care is being taken to avoid duplication with work done abroad; indeed, a substantial part of the work of An Foras in road research will be devoted to examining the applicability to our conditions of studies conducted abroad, and, of course, the dissemination of the knowledge obtained. Furthermore, attention will be concentrated on fields where the research is likely to produce early and significant results of a practical nature, such as the more efficient execution of our annual road works programme, improvement in traffic flow and conditions generally, and the reduction of road accidents. I wish to pay a tribute to the work-manlike way in which An Foras with their advisory groups have got down to this important work.
I think it is particularly true in the case of roads and traffic that the interests involved are so many and the problems so urgent that it is only by a real team effort that we can get results. My Department is fully alive to this and I am glad to say that all the other interests concerned— Government Departments, local authorities, semi-State bodies, voluntary groups and trade interests—have fully matched the Department's wish for co-operation by their own generous response.
I come now to planning and the programme initiated under the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963. Considerable progress has been made at local, regional and national levels. My request that planning authorities should draft provisional development plans in which the main planning problems and possible solutions would be set down without detailed surveys has met with a gratifying response. These provisional plans have helped to get the drafting of the statutory development plans under way. The 1st October, 1967, remains the deadline for the making of these plans and I am satisfied that this is a realisable objective. The plans must include certain minimum provisions, but it is not envisaged that they will be very elaborate or detailed. Planning is a continuing process to be elaborated as knowledge and experience build up. Under the Act, development plans must be reviewed at least once every five years but they may be reviewed in whole or in part as often as may be necessary. We are, therefore, aiming at relatively modest plans initially; such plans are within the scope of all planning authorities.
One of the big problems is the scarcity of trained planning personnel. We are learning to live with this shortage but we are not reconciled to it. We have been relying heavily on a part-time day and evening course in Bolton Street College of Technology to bring about some improvement in the supply of personnel. On the wider front, I asked the Education Committee of An Foras Forbartha to examine the need for trained planners and the existing and required training and educational facilities and to let me have its views and recommendations. The Committee was widely representative of planning and educational and other interests, including universities. The Committee has completed its examination and has submitted a valuable report, the implementation of which will involve a medium to long-term programme, including participation by the universities in the training of planners. Already the commencement of a post-graduate course in University College, Dublin, in 1966-67, has been announced. In the meantime, local responsibility for the preparation of development plans is being carried very largely by architects and engineers who have no formal training in planning. They are to be commended on the manner in which they have brought their specialist skills to bear on planning problems and on the intelligent use they have made of the available help and advice.
During the year, an agreement was entered into for aerial surveys, at State expense, of built-up areas of 1,000 population and over. These surveys will give local planning authorities up-to-date photographs and maps of their areas for planning purposes. A number of further seminars were held by An Foras Forbartha and my Department as part of the programme to help local planning staff in preparing development plans. Notwithstanding the available aids, progress in some areas has been less than satisfactory. I appeal to the planning authorities in those areas to remedy this situation.
The value and benefit of the development plan in the promotion and accommodation of economic activity is no longer in doubt. Each planning authority owe it to themselves and to their area to avail themselves of this machinery to make their areas more attractive to industrial and tourist development and better places in which to live and work. The making of the development plan is a benefit to be availed of but it is also a statutory duty, binding equally on all planning authorities. I cannot hold out any prospect of special treatment or concessions for areas which through indifference or culpable failure to make adequate arrangements, fall behind in those arrangements.
While it is envisaged that in due course a comprehensive survey will be made through the development plans of public access facilities at beaches, lakeshores and other recreation areas, the protection of existing rights of way can be secured in advance of the preparation of plans. There have been disturbing reports in the press and otherwise of interference with those facilities in some areas. I hold the view that the long established tradition of free public access to and enjoyment of the sea and seashore must be safe-guarded with the utmost vigour and by every legitimate means against the commercial inroads of the few. I am thinking first and foremost of the unique place of the seaside in the normal holiday and recreational life of our own people. In addition, the development of tourism is dependent in no small degree on preserving existing access and user facilities at the sea and other places of public resort and this is a factor of special importance in the economic life of many areas.
Local planning authorities will need to make full use of the wide range of powers which the Act confers. These include power to preserve existing rights-of-way and to create new rights by agreement or compulsorily, as well as to provide the full range of parking and other public facilities appropriate at beaches and other places of public resort. I have written to all local planning authorities underlining their responsibilities and powers in this matter and have asked them to assess the position in their areas and take appropriate action wherever necessary. I now appeal again to all planning authorities to address themselves to this problem before it becomes more widespread and serious and to make it clear to all concerned that interference with public access or other similar rights and facilities will not be condoned.
The regional planning programme is progressing. During the past year preliminary reports on the Dublin region and on the Limerick/Shannon/Ennis area of the Limerick region were received from the consultants and published. I hope to publish final reports and advisory regional plans for those two regions in the present year. In the remaining seven regions, arrangements are in hands for suitable planning studies to be undertaken by An Foras Forbartha in association with the United Nations. These studies will be of considerable assistance to local planning authorities. They will facilitate co-ordination of local development plans and will help to show where the best opportunities for economic and social expansion exist in each case. These locations will be the centres for widespread regional development. The Government have accepted that such centres to be identified in the course of the regional planning programme can be an effective means of promoting the spread of economic activities. As already announced, industrial estates are to be set up by An Foras Tionscal in development centres. Factories will be constructed for renting and public funds will be provided where necessary for the purpose. It has already been decided that such estates should be established at Galway and Waterford.
Regional development centres are intended to stimulate regional development, not to monopolise it. All areas can aspire to a share in the benefits of economic growth. Surrounding areas will benefit from the demand for goods and services generated at primary centres. It is envisaged that secondary centres will also contribute to economic and social growth. Almost every town has some central function whether it be industrial, marketing, tourist, shopping or social, and the regional and local development plans will help to clarify the functions and capacities of towns and enable them to be developed. In rural areas, the development plans will show the measures proposed to improve living conditions, for example, by developing water and sewerage services and improving roads, and to increase economic activity through measures for the development of tourist and recreation facilities.
It is important that all planning authorities should realise the important role they now have to play in the economic and social life of the country. To their traditional responsibilities of housing, roads and services is added responsibility for preparing, in their development plan, a development programme for their area. With this responsibility go opportunities not only to impose a good planning pattern on development but to provide incentives to bring to their areas investment and employment opportunities which would not otherwise arise.
At the national level of the planning programme the aim is to evolve a national development strategy based in large measure on the regional studies. I have set up a Regional Development Committee representing the Departments concerned to assist in this aim and to advise on regional planning questions generally, including the industrial estate programme. This committee is working in close association with An Foras Tionscal and the local authorities concerned on the provision of sites for the industrial estates in Galway and Waterford and will also advise on such consequential development measures as may be considered necessary in these and other centres.
The provision under Subhead I for a grant-in-aid to An Foras Forbartha relates to the physical planning and the building and construction activities of An Foras. The road research activities of An Foras are financed from the Road Fund and I have already referred to them when dealing with roads. The increase of £23,000 in the grant-in-aid provides for certain commitments carried over from the last financial year which was the first full year of operation of An Foras, a more accurate assessment in the light of the first year's experience of annual costs and a slight increase in activities.
The financial year just ended was the first full year of operation by An Foras and it has produced in that time work of high quality and of practical value. It has been enabled to do this by the specialist assistance of United Nations personnel, by the assistance of the numerous professional, vocational and other bodies concerned with its activities and by the ability and hard work of its staff. I have expressed on many occasions throughout the year my appreciation of its work with which I am constantly in touch, and I should like on this occasion again to thank the United Nations and the professional and other persons who have generously assisted An Foras.
The six major planning seminars and conferences which have been held in the past 18 months were attended by representatives of local and central bodies, professional institutes and the universities. At these seminars principles and methods to be used in the preparation of development plans were explained and exemplified.
During the past year, to exemplify good planning methods by practical example, An Foras has produced in co-operation with the local authority in each case draft provisional development plans for Galway city and Galway county, a model urban renewal project for New Ross and a model tourist-amenity study for Donegal county which is regarded as a major contribution to tourist-amenity development. It is hoped that arrangements will be made shortly for the appointment of United Nations consultants to An Foras who will prepare a development plan for Galway city which will provide a model for the planning of a growth centre.
An Foras is also carrying out with the aid of consultants, a study on behalf of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance, of the planning problems of the Killarney Valley, including the Bourn Vincent Memorial Park. It has also financed a pilot study in labour mobility in the Galway region by the Department of Social Science of University College, Dublin. My Department has at all times worked in close co-operation with An Foras and has made a substantial contribution to the programmes of the various seminars and conferences which have been held.
In its construction activity, An Foras has undertaken at my request the drafting of new national building regulations to replace obsolete and inadequate local bye-laws and this task is nearing completion. All major interests in the construction industry will have the opportunity of examining and commenting upon a draft of the regulations. The progress made has been due to the voluntary work of the numerous professional persons who have assisted An Foras in this project. A survey has just been completed, under a United Nations specialist, of organisation and management in the building industry and I understand that its conclusions indicate a wide measure of agreement on the steps that the professions, the contractors and the trade unions should now take to improve further the efficiency of the industry.
I have asked An Foras to give special attention to urgent housing problems. A pilot design for rural cottages has been prepared and is now being studied. I should like to see rationalisation including dimensional co-ordination and greater standardisation of components in housing, and An Foras has been asked to undertake the necessary research. The question of dimensional co-ordination for the building industry as a whole is being examined. An Foras has carried out a number of economic studies of the construction industry including studies of seasonality and the relationships between variations in output of materials and in total output in the industry, and a series of lectures on management for the industry were also held.
The number of planning appeals under consideration on 1st April, 1965, was 632. The number of new appeals lodged in the year ended 31st March, 1966, was 1,344, compared with 887 in the preceding year, and 585 in 1963-64. The increase in the number of new appeals reflects increased pressure for development of all types rather than the adoption of more restrictive policies by planning authorities. Returns from planning authorities indicate that a total number of 19,888 applications for planning permission were decided by them in the year ended 31st March, 1966. Of these, about 10 per cent were refused. The fact that almost 90 per cent of all applications received were granted suggests that, in general, the control powers given to planning authorities are being exercised in a reasonable manner.
The number of appeals disposed of during the year ended 31st March, 1966, was 1,075, of which 738 were formally determined by me. Of the remaining 337 cases, 186 were withdrawn as a result of agreement between the parties or for other reasons and 151 were late or invalid. Of the appeals formally determined in the year, 171 were allowed and 219 were allowed subject to conditions. The decision of the planning authority was confirmed in 348 cases.
The number of appeals awaiting attention at the end of March, 1966, was 901. The rapid increase in the number of new appeals and their increasing complexity have led to considerable delays in clearing them. I am by no means complacent about the difficulties and annoyances which these delays cause and all possible steps are being taken and will continue to be taken to reduce them to a minimum. There will, however, always be cases which because of the difficulties and complexities involved will take time to clear.
The new procedure under the 1963 Act makes provision for the oral hearing of appeals and, although the majority of the appellants continue to deal with their appeals by way of written representations, many appellants have already availed themselves of the new procedure and it has operated satisfactorily. The procedure is as informal as possible so as to reduce expense for appellants and for the planning authorities, and to enable planning issues in a case to be discussed in an open and frank manner. Since the Act came into operation in October, 1964, requests for oral hearing of appeals were received in 368 cases. Hearings have already been held or arranged in 197 cases, and in 49 cases the requests for oral hearing were withdrawn.
The provision in subhead G for grants for the clearance of derelict sites and for works of public amenity and for making safe dangerous places at £55,000 shows an increase of £8,000 on the sum voted last year for the same services. The allocation of 643 derelict site grants totalling £36,179 represented a small decrease in numbers and value over the 1964-65 record. However, derelict sites continue to mar the appearance of towns, villages and countryside on far too great a scale and I would exhort all local authorities to increase their efforts to have them cleared. This is an important and obvious aspect of the responsibility of planning authorities to make their areas more attractive for residents and visitors, whether tourists or prospective investors. The eradication of decay and blemish is not the least factor in creating conditions favourable to industrial and commercial expansion, but there are many areas in which this task is not being faced realistically. Adequate powers are available in the Derelict Sites Act and I hope to see these powers being used much more widely and energetically in the future. Derelict structures which impair amenity in built-up areas or in locations which tourists and visitors are likely to frequent should receive priority treatment.
Under the Planning and Development Act, planning authorities have a wide responsibility in relation to the development of visual and recreational amenities. High quality projects of this nature can have a beneficial effect quite out of proportion to the cost and effort involved in providing them. Both tourists and industrialists tend to be attracted to those areas which are bright and attractive and which possess satisfactory amenities. Schemes put forward for amenity grant consideration show great variety in importance and public benefit and it is proposed for the future that the percentage amount of grant allocated should be determined on the merits in each case. Schemes which are imaginative and well-planned and which have a high public benefit will receive maximum assistance. During 1965-66, 17 schemes were approved and grants totalling £13,886 were allocated.
The steps taken in the previous year to speed up consideration of compulsory acquisition proposals have proved helpful. At the beginning of the year 52 proposals for the acquisition of land and water rights were under consideration. During the year, 58 cases were finally disposed of and 61 new proposals were received leaving a total of 55 cases under consideration as at 31st March, 1966. I am still not satisfied, however, that greater progress cannot be made in reducing the time taken to deal with these proposals and I am having this matter again examined thoroughly.
The Estimate includes an amount of £14,750 for grants to An Chomhairle Leabharlanna. Of this amount, £2,500 represents the State contribution towards current expenses and the balance, £12,250, is to provide grants to library authorities of up to 50 per cent of the loan charges on projects such as the erection or reconstruction of library premises, major book purchase schemes and the purchase of mobile library and book transport vehicles. Grants paid by An Chomhairle to local authorities out of moneys provided from my Department's Vote amounted to £9,682 in 1965-66. The scheme of grants for library development was introduced late in 1961 and, though an impressive number of projects are at various stages of planning in many areas, only a few local authorities have so far had the satisfaction of seeing their plans come to fruition with the aid of the grants. I hope that the next few years will see a considerable advance in the important work of improving our public library facilities.
The Combined Purchasing Scheme continues to afford a valuable service to local authorities by enabling them to purchase their requirements of a wide range of commodities on favourable terms and conditions through official contractors. In the latest completed contract year, ended 30th June, 1965, the value of the purchases by local authorities through the combined purchasing scheme has been assessed at almost £4½ million, representing an increase of some 3½ per cent as compared with the preceding 12 months.
In recent years, an effort has been made to encourage applications for appointment as official contractors from manufacturers or suppliers whose scale of activity may not be such as to enable them to undertake to supply the requirements of local authorities throughout the country but who might have the capacity to supply over a smaller area. Accordingly, for the purposes of the scheme, there are now five areas of supply, namely, the Dublin and Cork city areas and three rural areas, instead of the single residual rural area formerly in operation. This arrangement is now approaching its third year and will be subject to review as occasion may require.
The total revenue expenditure of local authorities, excluding vocational education committees, committees of agriculture and harbour authorities, in 1966-67 is estimated to be £97.28 million, an increase of about £9.88 million on the figure for 1965-66. This increase falls mainly under the headings of Health and Housing and is due, in the main, to the higher standards and wider range of services demanded by the public. The total expenditure is financed from three main sources of revenue — State Grants, Rates and Miscellaneous Receipts.
In 1966-67, it is estimated that grants will amount to £49.29 million or 51 per cent of the total expenditure as compared with 39.2 per cent in 1938-39, 42.6 per cent in 1956-57 and 47.4 per cent in 1963-64. In 1966-67 rates will amount to about £32.78 million and will meet about 33 per cent of total expenditure as against 52.3 per cent in 1938-39, 39.7 per cent in 1956-57 and 35.6 per cent in 1963-64. Miscellaneous receipts such as rents and purchase annuities for local authority houses, repayments by borrowers of house purchase and repair loans, fees from hospital patients, et cetera, will come to about £15.52 million in 1966-67 or about 16 per cent of expenditure.
The figures I have just quoted illustrate the remarkable rise in the proportion of local expenditure which is being met by State funds and the corresponding decline in rates as a main source of local revenue. Indeed, these are the most significant features of local finance in the past 25 years. While it is true that rates have been increasing year by year, the striking fact is that since 1938-39, grants have increased by more than twice as much as have the rates.
The fact that the rates in the £ struck by local authorities generally increase each year gives rise to considerable criticism of this form of taxation. Indeed, there often seems to be a widespread belief that local rates have been increasing at a much faster rate than other forms of taxation. This, of course, is not so: rates, as a proportion of total taxation fell from 19 per cent in 1938-39 to an estimated 11.8 per cent in 1965-66, due mainly to the large increase in State subventions of local authorities.
As the property valuations on which rates are based increase only marginally from year to year, any increase in local expenditure is bound to be reflected in the rate poundage, thus emphasising that the ratepayers' liability is being increased. This is in marked contrast with the position which obtains in the case of income tax and other important forms of taxation which have a built-in buoyancy factor.
During the past year, the Government decided to make available to the public a summarised version of the first interim report of an inter-departmental committee which has been examining the entire system of local finance and taxation. In June last, when dealing with the Local Government (Reduction of Valuation) Bill, 1966, I referred to the fact that this was done in the belief that it would bring about a better understanding of how the valuation system works and would evoke suggestions for the improvement of or for practical alternatives to the present system. I expressed my disappointment that no serious worthwhile suggestions had been prompted by the publication of the report, even from those who have never been hesitant in proclaiming their dissatisfaction with the existing arrangements, and I invited such suggestions.
I repeat that invitation to persons or bodies to send me any views on our system of local taxation. The committee are, at present, reviewing other important aspects of local finance, including the possibility of providing alternative sources of local revenue and the difficult question of adjusting the relative burden of local taxation as between one area and another.
Capital expenditure by local authorities in 1965-66 totalled £24.113 million, an increase of £5.94 million on the amount spent in the preceding financial year. Local authorities continue to obtain the bulk of their capital requirements from the Local Loans Fund. Taking credit for amounts held by them in their sinking funds, the total net indebtedness of the authorities at 31st March, 1966, was estimated to be £195.25 million—a rise of £17.27 million over the corresponding figure at the end of 1964-65.
