We were returned by the people to this House even if by an accident of birth or whatever we are not as qualified as the Deputy is in that area. I thought the Deputy's contribution was unfortunate.
As the time at my disposal is limited I intend to confine my remarks to current developments of importance with in my own area of Ministerial responsibility. Firstly, I would like to advert briefly to the token Supplementary Estimate which the House is being asked to vote for my Department.
The sum of £62,000, under subhead S, is required to pay gratuities to the former chairman and certain former ordinary members of An Bord Pleanála which are payable under the scheme entitled "An Bord Pleanála (Chairman and Members) (Superannuation) Scheme, 1984", which was made in accordance with the provisions of section 9 of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1983 and laid before each House of the Oireachtas on 15 February, 1984.
The amount of £86,000 for subhead U (Miscellaneous Services) is required to meet costs awarded in July 1981 against the Minister for the Environment in Circuit Court proceedings. These are in connection with a Water Rights Provisional Order made by the Minister in June 1980 under the Water Supplies Act, 1942, relating to the Carlow north regional water supply scheme. The circumstances of this case were exceptional in that the Minister was joined as a party in the Circuit Court proceedings. Although the court upheld the provisional order, all the petitioners' costs and those of the county council were awarded against the Minister.
The £1,000 sought for subhead E4 relates to the new £5,000 housing grant scheme for local authority tenants which was announced in the national plan. The scheme will cover certain tenants and tenant-purchasers who vacate local authority houses and build or purchase houses for their own occupation. Grant applications are processed by local authorities. The scheme operates with effect from 2 October, 1984 but no grants will mature for payment until the new year. Provision has been made in the Department's Estimates for 1985 to fund the new grant scheme which has already evoked considerable interest. Full statutory backing for this grant will be sought in a new Housing Bill which I hope to introduce in the coming session. Its inclusion in the Supplementary Estimate is of a technical nature to enable grants maturing for payment early in 1985 to be paid prior to the approval of my Department's 1985 Estimate.
The net amount sought in the Supplementary Estimate is, however, only a token £1,000 since £148,000 will be met from savings on subhead E6 — the Rent Tribunal. These savings arise primarily because of a lower than anticipated volume of work in the year and the fact that the tribunal did not as a consequence take up new accommodation.
The provisions for my Department in 1985, as shown in the recently published Estimates and public capital programme, are in accordance with the overall scheme of the national plan. Considering the constraints imposed by the overall fiscal strategy, which I believe to be a well balanced one, and the rigorous scrutiny to which spending programmes were generally subjected by the Government, my Department's provisions can in general be regarded as satisfactory. Next year's capital allocations to my Department, at £632 million, are 6 per cent up on this year's likely outturn. As regards current expenditure, the total Environment provision of £578 million shows an increase of almost 9 per cent.
In recent years environmental problems have been attracting increased attention at local, national and international level. Within the European Community a significant package of proposals has been presented by the Commission during the last year to deal with different aspects of the air pollution problem and I am happy that the Council of Environment Ministers at a meeting in Brussels last week, chaired by me, reached agreement on a number of these.
Agreement was reached on the difficult and controversial issue of lead in petrol. This is a major achievement on both health and environmental grounds. Its implementation will lead to a significant reduction of the level of lead in air and in the environment in general, especially in urban areas.
The Environment Council also made decisions on guidelines for a Community approach to the further reduction of vehicle emissions and agreed a proposal on air quality standards for nitrogen dioxide. In addition, the Council decided to establish an experimental information system on the state of the environment, with acid depositions one of the priority areas to be studied.
Lastly, the Council formally adopted a directive on the transfrontier shipment of hazardous wastes which are exported for final disposal. All of these measures are in accordance with the aims set out in the Community's third environment action programme. The agreement reached last week on these important proposals for the protection of the environment is a substantial achievement for the Irish Presidency of the European Communities.
The subject of air pollution here at home, and especially in Dublin, has been debated in this House and in the Seanad recently and has received considerable press coverage. It is true that air quality in our capital city, particularly the level of smoke, is now a greater cause for concern than in the past. There has been a deterioration, due largely to rapid urbanisation, together with a significant increase in the use of solid fuel within the domestic sector. There are also localised pockets of severe air pollution caused by industry which is unsuitably located.
I wish to emphasise my concern for existing air quality and my determination that it be improved. However, there is no easy solution. Comprehensive policies will have to be devised and action taken aimed at tackling the problem on a number of fronts. In particular, such policies will have to recognise the central role which the greater use of natural gas can play by replacing oil and solid fuels for all purposes, commercial, industrial and domestic. Work will be carried out by my Department, in consultation with the Department of Energy, in relation to the options available with a view to devising appropriate solutions as soon as possible.
On the legislative side, I am aware that the existing controls in regard to air pollution generally are in need of amendment to take account of present conditions and EC requirements. Work on preparing the necessary legislation is in hands in my Department and I hope that this will be completed next year.
The subject of local government reorganisation is one which has received much attention over the past year. It has also been the subject of much comment and speculation in the media. I have explained on various occasions the process which is in hand in this matter. I will confine myself on this occasion to confirming a few points. Reform in the local government system remains a high priority on the Government agenda. At this stage various reform possibilities have been prepared in my Department for consideration by the Government following detailed study in the light of the submissions which were made by various interests, notably the representative local government organisations. The stage has now been reached at which I would expect that definitive Government decisions can be taken in the near future so that the process of reform can be set in train. The basic aims are to strengthen the local government system, to make it more effective in promoting the welfare of local communities and as efficient as possible in the delivery of the services for which it has responsibility.
No one would deny that local government reforms, if they are to be effective, must be accompanied by corresponding reforms on the financial side. The farm tax announced in the national plan is an important step on the road to the greater financial independence of local authorities. My Department are at present working on the legislation that will be necessary to implement the farm tax. I hope to bring this legislation before the House in the next session so that the tax can be introduced in 1986 as proposed in the plan. I am open to the possibility of further changes which would be effective in strengthening local authority financing and in redressing the imbalance between central and local funding of current services, and this subject will continue to have attention in the period ahead.
While on this subject I want to refer to the statement recently attributed to Deputy Molloy speaking on behalf of Fianna Fáil who, we are told, are going to find it possible to repeal the Local Government (Financial Provisions) (No. 2) Act, 1983, and to introduce "new radical legislation" which apparently will greatly reduce the need for local authority charges. It is interesting to compare this newly contrived promise with the following extract from The Way Forward published just two years ago: I quote from page 96, paragraph 2 of that document;
In view of the increasing investment in sanitary services, it will be necessary to consider imposing realistic charges both on individual users of sanitary services and developers so as to recoup part of the cost. This matter will be examined in the context of legislation to empower local authorities to charge for services generally.
On this whole question Fianna Fáil are trying to have it both ways. I think the people are entitled to know where they really stand. If charges are to be abolished where do Fianna Fáil propose that the £50 million now accruing to local authorities from them will come from? Would they increase the rates of PAYE or VAT? Alternatively, do they propose cutbacks in employment, services or road maintenance? How would Deputy Molloy square this with his incessant demands for more expenditure on county roads especially in Galway?
The increased concern at Government and at local authority level to continue the improvement of the fire service is reflected in the vastly increased resources now being devoted to it. In terms of manpower, 43 new local authority posts have been sanctioned since 1982 by my Department for fire prevention work and Dublin Corporation now have a staff of 19 officers engaged full-time on fire prevention duties. Increased staffing levels generally have enabled the number of fire safety inspections carried out on premises to be increased greatly. Provisional figures available for 1983 show that 14,000 fire safety inspections were carried out compared to 7,800 in 1980, reflecting the new emphasis on fire prevention.
Spending by local authorities on the fire service has grown rapidly in recent years and is now in the region of £40 million. There has been notable progress in the construction of new fire stations and the purchase of fire-fighting equipment as a result of the increased capital made available by the Government. The provision of £7.5 million for capital spending on fire services this year is three times the 1981 level. Eighty new fire appliances and other modern equipment have been purchased and over 30 stations have been built or reconstructed since 1978. Fifteen new projects are at present in course of construction at Bray, Blanchardstown, Bantry, Carrick-on-Suir, Cappoquin, Clonmel, Dunmore East, Ennistymon, Leixlip, Limerick city, Midleton, Tinahely, Tullow, Westport and the O'Brien Institute at Marino. In addition this year loan finance was made available for the purchase of 21 new fire appliances and other emergency equipment. The year also saw the completion of new and improved fire brigade facilities at five locations, including new stations at Athlone and Phibsboro.
We can look forward to a continuance of this remarkable progress in the years ahead. Next year alone the Government are making available £10.24 million for fire service capital purposes and in the period of the national plan it is projected that capital expenditure on the fire service will total £33.5 million. These will enable a further 50 fire stations to be constructed together with the purchase of the necessary new equipment.
The Fire Services Council were set up last year with a wide range of functions, particularly in the matters of training, education related to fire safety, the preparation of standards, guidelines and codes of practice. In the short time since the council were established they have made remarkable progress particularly in the area of training. The council have a programme of 15 central training courses this year and a further 20 are planned for 1985. In order to avail of the most up-to-date expertise and facilities, many of these courses are being run in the UK and in Denmark. These courses are in addition to the on-going training being carried out locally by individual fire authorities. I have asked the council to review overall training needs and facilities and in particular to examine the question of establishing a national fire service training centre. An international consultant has been engaged and has reported to the council on this question and I am looking forward to the council's recommendations.
I should mention here that Dublin Corporation are providing a very extensive training facility at the O'Brien Institute in Marino. My Department are making necessary capital funds available for the reconstruction and other works and I would like to take this opportunity to compliment the corporation for undertaking this major investment. The training centre is already in use and I am sure will lead to a significant improvement in the level of skills and effectiveness of the staff of our largest fire authority. A number of third level courses in fire engineering have already been held and others are being organised. The Fire Services Council are examining the means of providing a full programme for fire safety engineering courses at third level. Education and training are interlinked and both will be tackled in an integrated manner so that the best results can be achieved.
My Department are now finalising extensive guidelines and a draft model plan for issue to local authorities to assist them in planning to cope with large scale emergencies, such as major fires or explosions.
I have already indicated that I intend to bring before the House in the coming session a new Housing Bill. This will be a major item of legislation which will validate many housing schemes introduced in recent years and also set up new arrangements for the provision, letting and management of local authority housing, in accordance with the commitment given in paragraph 5.88 of the national plan. A major purpose of the new legislation will be to provide statutory recognition of the housing needs of particular categories of persons including the homeless, the aged, the disabled, travellers and single parent families.
This time last year, in contributing to the Adjournment Debate, I commented upon the encouraging performance in 1983 of the local authority house building programme. Building activity under this programme in the current year has expanded further with the result that completions will be significantly higher than in 1983, probably in the region of 7,000 houses. This increased level of activity has also had considerable impact on the employment generated by the programme, with the latest available figures showing that average monthly employment this year has exceeded 6,800, which compares very favourably with the monthly average of 6,400 last year.
The Government's objective for the local authority housing programme, as set out in the national plan, is to provide accommodation for 9,000 households annually. This will be achieved by building a minimum of 6,000 houses and by seeking to ensure that a further 3,000 houses from existing local authority stock are available for reletting each year. The net effect is that about 27,000 households who are in need of housing will be accommodated by local authorities over the period of the plan.
In 1984 it is estimated that the rental income on over 100,000 local authority dewllings will be some £30 million less than the costs of maintaining and managing the housing stock and will make no contribution at all towards the cost of providing the houses. The average Exchequer subsidy towards the cost of providing each new local authority house is now about £85 a week whereas the average rent payable by new tenants is £11 weekly. However, while rent reviews are essential if we are to be able to maintain an adequate building programme for those in need, I can assure the House that the principle of income-related rents will continue to apply so that the burden on those with low incomes and those with large families can be minimised. Negotiations with the National Association of Tenants Organisations on the terms of a new rents scheme are at present in progress. I am hopeful that the discussions will lead to a scheme that will strike the right balance between the need to increase the rental income of local authorities and the ability of the tenants to pay.
Under another new scheme announced in the national plan, capital allocations, subsidisable at rates of up to 80 per cent, will be made available to local authorities to assist them in funding major works of a structural nature to rented dwellings in certain housing schemes which were built in the late sixties and early seventies under low cost housing arrangements. These disastrous arrangements left us a legacy of poor housing, discontented tenants and, now, much extra expense on remedial works. Certain remedial works to older houses will also come within the terms of the new scheme. Capital for the scheme will be subject to some limitations and depending on the number of applications received, it may be necessary to deal with proposals on a priority basis related to need. The arrangements I have outlined will extend to any tenant purchase houses in such schemes but the subsidy for these houses will meet 40 per cent of the loan charges and tenant purchasers will be required to meet half the costs of the work to their houses by way of a lump sum or an increased or extended annuity payment. I have been very much aware from my work in my constituency of the acute need for special measures to upgrade some of the schemes in question. I am especially pleased that the Government saw fit to accept the proposals that I put forward for this purpose.
On the private housing side I am glad to report that the level of demand for the £1,000 grant and the mortgage subsidy continues to be quite buoyant. I have recently increased the 1984 provision for new house grants to £11.5 million by transferring half a million pounds within the Vote to facilitate the payment of grants falling due and to avoid delays to applicants. Under the mortgage subsidy's scheme, 30,000 claims costing £20 million are being processed this year.
The Housing Finance Agency have experienced an unprecedented demand for loans in 1984 and as a result I have recently authorised increases in their capital allocation for 1984 totalling £9 million, bringing the total provision to £72 million. The local authority loan scheme also continues to play an important role in providing mortgage finance for those on lower incomes who benefit from the fixed interest rate. The continued importance of this scheme is reflected in the provision of £88 million in the 1985 Public Capital Programme. The impact of the increases in the loan and income limits which became effective in February last is now being seen in a much increased level of approvals. In the six months to 30 September 1984 approvals amounted to more than £38 million compared with £27 million in the preceding six months.
The availability of mortgage finance is a vital factor affecting both the housing programme and the building industry generally. I am pleased to say that in 1984 the amount made available for the purchase and construction of private housing through the commercial lending agencies such as the building societies, banks and insurance companies and from public sources, through the local authority and Housing Finance Agency loan schemes, has been satisfactory. It is likely that the total of £563 million advanced by the main lending agencies in 1983 will be exceeded in the present year. The building societies' share of these record advances in 1984 will be of the order of £400 million.
The recent increases in interest rates announced by the associated banks led to speculation about a possible increase in building society mortgage rates. I met with representatives of the Irish Building Societies Association on 4 December and expressed to them my concern about the additional burden which such an increase would impose on existing borrowers and about the implications for the housing programme, the building industry generally and potential house purchasers. I welcome the announcement this week by the association that the major building societies have decided not to increase interest rates for the present but to keep the situation under review. This will be good news indeed for house purchasers as well as for the other interests I have mentioned. It not only postpones an increase but gives some grounds for hope that, depending on interest rate trends and the inflow of funds to societies in the immediate future, it may be possible to avoid any increase in mortgage rates altogether.
One aspect of the national plan which received an almost universal welcome was the decision to substantially increase State investment in road construction in the period 1985 to 1987. The allocation for road improvements in 1984 is £101.65 million. This will increase to £125 million in 1985, £140 million in 1986 and £155 million in 1987 — a total expenditure programme of £420 million under the plan.
The last few weeks have also seen the publication of the study on the Newry-Dundalk Road, which was jointly commissioned by the Irish and United Kingdom Governments. The study, which was jointly undertaken by An Foras Forbartha and the UK Transport and Roads Research Laboratory, recommended the construction of a new road between Balbriggan, County Louth, and Killeen Bridge, County Armagh, through Glendooey and linking up with the proposed western by-pass of Dundalk. On 28 November I discussed the report with Mr. Chris Patten, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary responsible for the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment, and we accepted the consultant's technical and environmental appraisal of the road link. We also decided that further information on financial and technical issues, including cost sharing, would be considered before the end of the year.
For many years the Governments have been asked to indicate medium term expenditure provisions in order to facilitate planning for the future. I think we have been able to do this with our Capital Programme.
It is now just a year since I became Minister for the Environment. My Department carry responsibility for some very large public spending programmes and for a very broad range of functions which in one way or another affect the lives of all citizens. It is difficult to make spectacular progress at once across such a broad spectrum of Government but I am satisfied that the past year has been one in which my Department have got down to tackling some of the fundamental problems involved. On the whole, it has been a period of solid achievement. In some areas the fruits of our endeavours are already manifest — for example, in some of the provisions of the national plan. In other areas solid groundwork has been laid for much needed reforms.