I move:
That a sum not exceeding £620,144,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1992, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for the Environment, including grants to Local Authorities, grants and other expenses in connection with housing, and miscellaneous schemes, subsidies and grants including certain grants-in-aid.
I welcome this opportunity, my first as Minister for the Environment, to debate the areas of responsibility embraced by the 1992 Environment Estimate.
Because of the limited time available, and the wide range of services covered by the Estimate, I can only refer to a limited selection of the major areas within my Department's remit. However, I will try as far as possible to deal with points raised by Deputies at the end of the debate. The House has had other opportunities, of course, over the past few months to discuss major areas of my Department's responsibilities, in processing the Local Government (Planning and Development) Bill, 1991; the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992; the Housing Bill, 1992; the Roads Bill, 1991; and the Control of Dogs (Amendment) Bill. In addition, there has been a special debate in preparation for the UNCED conference and we can look forward to debates on the Electoral Bill, 1991 which is at present being discussed in the Seanad, and the Road Traffic Bill, on which drafting is well advanced.
The net estimate before the House is just over £620 million, an increase of 4 per cent over last year. The most significant increase is in the provision for national road improvement which is up by £27.48 million on 1991.
I would, of course, prefer if the provisions for the many other worthwhile services in the Estimate were higher but we have to remember that the Estimates as a whole were determined against an economic backdrop which required all public expenditure to be fundamentally examined and all possible economies to be made, without endangering the delivery of essential services. The fact that we cannot look to ever-increasing expenditure on State services presents a challenge to all of us. We must take a fresh look at established practices and devise new ways of providing improved services more effectively and at minimum cost. This responsibility must be shared by the local authorities, who provide many of the services which are funded from the Environment Estimate, and I look forward to a fruitful partnership with them in working towards this objective.
The traditional format of the Estimate has been changed this year by classifying the expenditue involved on a programme basis, as far as possible. This facilitates analysis of the sectoral implications of the Estimate rather than merely focusing either on the overall figures or on individual services or activities.
My Department's annual review of the construction industry should be completed and published shortly but I can say, even at this stage, that the signs are good.
Overall, the industry has been performing reasonably well in recent years, in contrast to the decline which marked much of the eighties. Output rose by over 25 per cent in 1989 and 1990. A levelling off in activity was apparent during 1991, but there were signs of an emerging recovery in the housing sector in the late months of the year.
The indicators for the industry this year are positive. The relevant Public Capital Programme allcations have been increased by over 10 per cent compared to the 1991 outturn and this should help to sustain strong performance in areas such as energy, transport, housing, education and health. In the light of this increase, I am confident that activity generally will show an increase on the 1991 level.
The urban renewal programme is one of the most visible achievements of the Government over the last few years. This has generated some £721 million worth of private sector development between projects completed, in progress or in planning. When the Custom House Docks development in Dublin is included, the total comes to more than £1.1 billion.
This high level of investment has generated construction jobs and, most importantly, a significant number of long term jobs. It is clear that, without the incentives offered under the urban renewal programme, most of the projects concerned would not have gone ahead.
This year's Finance Act makes provision for a final one-year extension of these incentives to 31 May 1994 for projects already underway on 31 May 1993 in designated areas. In addition, the time limit applying to the tax incentives in the Custom House Docks Area is extended by four years from 25 January 1993. These extensions will allow sufficient time for projects in the designated areas at the pre-construction stage, currently valued at about £380 million, to be undertaken, and will facilitate completion of the Custom House Docks development.
Expenditure on roads-related services accounts for almost 44 per cent of the gross estimate. The need for major investment in our road network is unquestionable, as is the link between that investment and economic development. My Department estimated in 1987-88 that investment of £9 billion was necessary, of which £3 billion related to national roads. Fortunately, we have been able, with EC assistance, to adopt an integrated five-year investment programme to meet that need. And the positive result from the recent referendum means that we can face into the negotiations for the period after 1993 with confidence that the present programme can be continued and, indeed, expanded through increased Structural Funds assistance and support from the new Cohesion Fund.
I am happy to report that the investment programme involving national primary roads projects is substantially on target. All but one of the 23 projects due to commence in the period 1989 to 1991 are now under way. Seventeen projects, with a combined cost of some £204 million, were completed during the same period, and at the end of last year, construction was under way on 14 major projects with a combined cost of £305 million.
The commitment given in the 1989 budget that £150 million would be provided over three years in discretionary grants to county councils for regional and county roads was more than fulfilled. In fact, total gains over the three years 1989-91 amounted to £182.47 million and I am maintaining the momentum this year with a continued high level of investment. I want to emphasise, however, that the State grants for non-national roads are intended to supplement, and not to replace, the expenditure on non-national roads financed by the local authorities from their own resources. It is the local authorities who have always had primary responsibility for the maintenance and improvement of these non-national roads and I look to them to sustain their own financial commitment to this essential service and to ensure that the overall resources available are used efficiently.
The past year has seen significant changes in the social housing area with the implementation of a wide range of new measures to secure decent housing for low income groups on the basis set out in the "Plan for Social Housing". The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 1992, currently before the House, provides the legislative framework for many of the policy measures announced in the plan.
The overall capital provision for housing, including both Exchequer and non-Exchequer resources, will be some £158 million in 1992, an increase of nearly 30 per cent on the 1991 outturn. This is primarily due to the expected increase in the take-up of the various new schemes, particularly the shared ownership scheme, for which a provision of £35 million has been made in 1992.
Taking into account all the new measures to provide social housing which were announced in the plan, as well as the traditional local authority housing programme and new lettings arising from vacancies, we could cater for up to 7,000 households in 1992 if local authorities make full use of the various measures and resources at their disposal.
The total 1992 capital provision for the local authority and voluntary housing programme is over £78 million, up 3 per cent on 1991. This includes £41.5 million for the completion or acquisition by local authorities of about 1,500 dwellings this year, compared to 1,180 in 1991. A further 1,000 new starts have been authorised and these, when added to the starts authorised but not actually proceeded with in previous years, should enable local authorities to commence up to 1,500 new houses in 1992.
The 1991 outturn figures on the local authority housing programme were disappointing, given the pressure on the local authority waiting lists. Fewer local authority dwellings were started last year than had been authorised and there were fewer completions than expected. I have therefore asked local authorities to ensure that the numbers of new starts and completions for which resources have been allocated this year are achieved in full.
In order to assist in this respect, my Department have reviewed the procedures relating to the approval and control of the local authority housing construction programme and I will be putting new streamlined procedures in place shortly. These will reduce submissions to the Department to the minimum, consistent only with ensuring that value for money is achieved and that overall expenditure remains within the resources allocated.
An allocation of £11 million has been made in 1992 for the capital assistance scheme for voluntary housing. This will provide some 550 units of accommodation, bringing the total provided since the scheme began in 1984 to over 2,600 units. Furthermore, £500,000 is again being made available from national lottery funds to provide communal facilities in new or existing voluntary housing projects.
The new voluntary housing rental subsidy scheme, aimed at the provision of accommodation for families, is now taking off. One project comprising nine dwellings is already completed, three projects are in progress and some 20 more are at various stages of planning. In all, about 400 dwellings are involved. I have made a capital provision of £5 million for the scheme this year.
The Local Government Act, 1991, placed local authorities in a new legislative framework, allowing them greater scope and discretion to undertake activities which they consider to be of benefit to their local communities. I am firmly committed to the continuation of a programme for the improvement of our local government system. This will involve, among other things, the removal of various statutory controls, and further measures to modernise outdated legal provisions. The special ministerial committee which is examining the complex matter of sub-county structures — on which the independent advisory expert committee failed to agree — and the related matter of the devolution of functions will complete their work well before the end of the year, so that whatever legislation is required can be brought forward early in 1993.
The report which I recently received from the London-based Institute for Fiscal Studies — IFS — on rate support grant distribution in Ireland follows directly from the work of the advisory expert committee on local government reform — the Barrington Committee — which arranged for a two-phase study on the grant distribution process. A report on Phase 1 of the IFS study was published last year as a supplement to the report of the Barrington Committee.
The Phase II report outlines equalisation models, based on various assumptions, which make it possible to compare the effects of a range of possible indicators for the distribution of the rate support grant by reference to needs and resources. I have sent the local report to local authorities for their consideration of the IFS methodology for assessing needs, and their findings generally, and I will await their views before reaching any conclusions on the report. I had asked for these views to be submitted by the end of July, but I am extending this date to the end of September in response to a request by the City and County Managers' Association. Needless to say, all of the implications will have to be very carefully considered before we can decide on the feasibility, or the desirability, of adopting one or other of the IFS options or, indeed, any other option of that kind.
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development — UNCED — which took place in Rio de Janeiro, from 3 to 12 June, was the most comprehensive international effort ever mobilised in favour of the environment. UNCED was inspired by the influential report in 1987 of the World Commission on Environment and Development — the Brundtland Report — which advocated the concept of "sustainable development", that is, development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The UNCED conference has made a major impact on public consciousness and has raised the status of environment and development issues on national and international agendas. The Earth Summit was attended by some 170 countries, with well over 100 of them being represented by Heads of State or Government.
Ireland participated fully in the UNCED process. We were represented at all of the preparatory conferences and I myself attended the final conference in New York last March. In addition, we were privileged, last January, to host the International Conference on Water and the Environment in Dublin which was mandated to contribute to the UNCED preparations.
The Taoiseach, who attended the Summit segment of the UNCED Conference, has already made a full statement in the House on the outcome and I dealt with other aspects in replying to Questions earlier this week. At this stage, therefore, I merely wish to reiterate that, in so far as national environmental policy is concerned, the implications on UNCED will be addressed through the Environment Action Programme, the next review of which should be completed in the Autumn.
Work on the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency is now under way. One of the first tasks will be the selection and appointment of the director general and other directors. It is my intention that the process leading to these appointments will be initiated soon so that the agency can start work on the very important functions assigned to it.
The provision of £710,000 in the Estimate for the agency and environmental research reflects the fact that it will be some time later in the year before the agency becomes operational. This sum is, of course, exclusive of whatever funds will be transferred to the agency as a result of the assignment or transfer of staff from other bodies for whom budgetary provision has been made separately.
The public water supply and sanitary services programme for which £72.5 million is provided this year plays a significant role in supporting the various sectors of our economy, as well as meeting the needs of local authorities. It is a programme and a service that is often taken for granted. But we have to remember that water is not a free good, nor is it in unlimited supply. All of us must become more conscious of the cost involved in supplying large quantities of clean water for all our daily needs, and adjust our actions accordingly. The capital cost of new schemes, which is met by the Exchequer, is quite considerable and we must remember that the operation and maintenance of water and sewerage schemes is also an expensive process — costing local authorities some £90 million a year.
Significant progress was made last year with the completion of 53 schemes valued at £51.3 million. In addition, tenders valued at £74 million were approved, providing the basis for the 1992 work programme.
While pressure of time precludes a full survey, my remarks today demonstrate that the functions of the Department of the Environment and of local authorities cover a broad range of activities which impinge on our daily lives. The Estimate before the House will enable the many services involved to be continued and enhanced this year, in spite of the difficult budgetary circumstances, and I commend it to the House.