Paul Murphy
Question:6. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for local authority housing in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38323/15]
Other Questions
Local Authority Housing Provision
What are the Minister's plans for local authority housing in the coming year? What is the number of homes proposed to be built? Do those figures not badly contradict the notion that this will be the largest social housing programme in the history of the State, instead indicating that this is the usual approach of pretending to do something about a real crisis while being a completely inadequate response?
The Social Housing Strategy 2020 sets out clear, measurable actions and targets to increase the supply of social housing, reform delivery arrangements and meet the housing needs of all households on the housing list with flexibility to meet future demand. The strategy has been backed up by successive budgets, including this year, where social housing has been an absolute priority. Budget 2015 included a provision of almost €800 million to support a significant expansion in social housing provision, with more than 15,900 new units to be provided this year. Budget 2016 builds on the investment with an Exchequer provision of almost €811 million. In addition, local authorities will fund a range of housing services from their own resources to the value of over €112 million, bringing the total housing provision in 2016 to €923 million. The €4 billion strategy has been discussed numerous times in the House with regard to the targets in delivering 35,000 units through buying, building and leasing, with the balance of 75,000 to be delivered through the housing assistance payment, HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS.
The priority which this Government has shown to providing significant increases in the financial resources for social housing provides clear evidence of our commitment to make very substantial progress in addressing our social housing challenge. So far this year, this has allowed me to announce approximately €500 million in capital funding for local authority and approved housing body projects and I expect to make further announcements in the coming days and weeks. These projects will contribute to delivery in 2016 and when taken together with the broader range of housing programmes, I expect that over 17,000 housing units will be provided next year. In addition, preparatory work will continue in 2016 on further new innovative projects, such as advancing the provision of 500 new social housing units through a public-private partnership programme and an affordable housing pilot scheme. There are in excess of 200 sites at this time currently seeing construction for social housing projects.
Will the Minister go through those "over 17,000" houses and explain to people what they are? These are not over 17,000 local authority homes; 10,000 of them are transfers to housing assistance payment, meaning it is a simple transfer from the rent allowance scheme to HAP, with people remaining with private landlords. There are 3,000 units leased from developers and landlords, with 1,000 being transfers to RAS. From the 17,100, only 1,500 are new local authority units, approved housing body units or acquisitions. That is less than 9%, which is completely inadequate and a fraction of what would have been built in the course of the 1980s on a yearly basis, where there would have been 7,000 or 8,000 homes built. We have 130,000 families on the housing waiting list; it is a massive housing crisis. Why is there still a reliance on the private market to resolve this problem, dressing it up and pretending there is local authority investment instead of State investment to build homes?
I find the Deputy's analysis perplexing, to be honest. Given our position, it is impossible to wave a magic wand and have houses built just like that. It is impossible.
Jimmy Tully did it.
We are also building houses as quickly as we can. That is why over 200 sites are now seeing construction. The Deputy will be glad to know I will announce more in the coming days and weeks.
We must have a mixture of ways to help people find housing and these include construction and acquisition. In certain parts of the country, it clearly makes more sense to acquire vacant or empty houses. We also have one of the largest programmes to deal with voids ever seen, as there were well in excess of 2,000 voids last year. The Deputy is aware that I have told all Dublin city local authorities, including managers and councillor delegations, some of whom the Deputy probably knows, that if they can use as many voids as possible in the city, I will provide funding for that.
I am not asking the Minister for a magic wand but rather a political commitment and a decision to build homes. We do not have that. This year, the number of homes due to be built or acquired was 1,400 and next year, it is 1,500. That is our great response to this housing crisis that has put politicians under so much pressure. That is a question of supply but because of an absence of units, with people forced into the private rental market, people are trapped and forced into homelessness because of massive spiralling rents.
A magic wand is not required but a political decision is required to implement rent controls. The Minister has been blocked and even his minimal version of rent control has been stopped by Fine Gael. The Labour Party is simply going to accept that the landlord and developer profits and NAMA's rehabilitation of developers will take precedence over the right of people to have homes.
I am still perplexed.
Read the figures.
It is not a case of reading the figures as I am aware of them. They are public anyway and we put targets on our website for every local authority in the State. We have to adopt the current measures, involving HAP, RAS, etc., in order to help people who the Deputy purports to support, and in fairness, I do as well. There is a lag involved with construction and we must have measures in order to deal with that. These are the collective measures.
There cannot be a one size fits all approach for all local authorities. I know the Deputy is Dublin-centric but in other parts of the country, it makes more sense to act in a different way because of the behaviour of previous administrations, particularly with regard to the privatisation of social housing. There are some cases of excess stock.
Dublin people are in homeless accommodation. They are in emergency accommodation and the Minister is responsible.
Deputy Broughan should stay quiet as others have questions to ask.
I do not like people being called Dublin-centric. What kind of nonsense is that?
Deputy Broughan should calm down. He is talking nonsense.
Perhaps we need a Dublin Minister.
A Dublin Minister.
I ask Deputy Broughan to have the manners-----
We should have a Dublin Minister.
Deputy Broughan, will you please have the manners to listen to other Deputies and let them put their questions? I have called Deputy Robert Troy.
Social and Affordable Housing Data
Robert Troy
Question:7. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the level of progress being made on social housing provision targets for 2015; the number of new social housing units that have been constructed to date; the number he expects will be constructed by the end 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38320/15]
This question is related to Question No. 4. I am asking the Minister to outline the progress that has been made on the provision of social housing. I am not asking for the targets for 2020; I want to know exactly what has been achieved in 2015. The Minister referred earlier to there being a lag-time in construction projects, which I do not dispute. However, from 2007 to 2010, 14,000 houses were built, while, by contrast, between 2010 to 2014, 1,400 houses were constructed. Therein lies part of the problem.
In April, we set social housing targets for each local authority out to 2017, along with provisional funding allocations, which will see an investment totalling €1.5 billion to meet an ambitious delivery target of some 22,900 social housing units. The investment will be in a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes designed to accommodate more than 25% of those currently on local authority housing waiting lists. In line with those targets, the Minister and I kick-started a major social housing construction programme as part of announcements of new local authority and approved housing body projects in May and July of this year. These projects will see the delivery of more than 2,900 new housing units at a value of almost €0.5 billion, covering all 31 local authorities. We expect to be in a position to announce further approvals in the coming weeks.
Given the time lag between approval and delivery of construction projects, as we have discussed, the acquisition by local authorities of properties through turn-key developments and other purchases, as well as the remediation of vacant units or voids, are important components of social housing delivery this year. In 2014, we turned around more than 2,000 voids. The target for this year was 1,000, and we expect to exceed that substantially. We have called on local authorities to come forward with their voids programmes, for which they will receive the necessary funding. I cannot make it any clearer than that.
Provisional data, largely to the end of the third quarter of 2015, indicate that a total of 1,411 units have been delivered through my Department's capital programmes, including build schemes and acquisitions and through returning voids to productive use. A further 6,213 units have been delivered under the current expenditure programmes, namely, the social housing leasing initiative, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme.
Notwithstanding the pressures in accessing accommodation in the private market for social housing purposes, I am confident, on the basis of the progress already made and given the extent to which delivery is traditionally heavily concentrated in the latter part of the year, that the overall target of delivering some 15,900 units this year will be largely achieved. That figure includes the capital and current projects to which we have referred today.
Earlier, the Minister of State indicated that 7,000 units would be delivered this year through the various methods.
New units.
Now he is saying 15,000 will be built this year.
Correct.
I ask the Minister of State to take note of the information I am seeking. Will he quantify the number of new units that will be built in 2015? Will he indicate the number of units that will be purchased this year? Will he tell us the number of voids that will be restored by year end, and will he further indicate why he has set a lesser target for 2015 in this regard than was the case for 2014, even though there are still 3,000 units lying idle? Finally, will the Minister of State quantify the number of new leasing arrangements that will be in place by the end of the year? Changing from one scheme to another is not benefiting anybody; people are staying in the same accommodation but under a different scheme.
The first point to emphasise is that we are taking a multifaceted approach on this issue. As I outlined, huge progress has been made in addressing the problem of voids. We are working closely with the approved housing bodies, with additional approvals to be given in the coming weeks. The local authorities are engaging in direct build activities and getting back to constructing homes. As the Minister indicated, there are more than 200 sites under construction around the country. I will be visiting one of them next week, in Banagher, where eight houses are ready to be occupied. Other projects are at various stages of progress in locations throughout the State.
The data show that by the third quarter of this year, more than 1,400 units had been delivered under the capital programme, including the build schemes. In addition to that, we have acquisitions and void restorations, as well as the progress being made under the HAP scheme and the RAS. The overall target for delivery across the country this year is 15,900 units, which includes the provision under current and capital spending, public private partnerships and every scheme we can access to provide homes for those who need them. I assure the Deputy that this issue is being treated with the highest priority by the Government. We are lifting every stone that can be lifted to ensure people are accommodated. We are working with every collaborator, including the social housing bodies, the private sector and the local authority, to ensure we deliver as many units as possible.
I am aware of the multifaceted nature of the approach to this issue. I am simply asking that the Minister of State give me the figures for units delivered under the various schemes. He is talking about a target of 15,000 units this year but, at the same time, he acknowledges that only 1,400 were delivered by the end of the third quarter. I ask again that he quantify how many houses have been delivered to date under the various schemes. If the figure at the end of quarter three was 1,400, how does he expect to bring the total up to 15,000 in one quarter, bearing in mind that only €39 million of the allocated funding that was announced has been drawn down to date? Is the Minister of State satisfied that his target, under the multifaceted approach he has outlined, will be achieved by the end of the fourth quarter? I do not see how it can be in the light of the figures we have been given this morning.
I repeat for the third time today that more than 7,500 units had been delivered by quarter three. We are now in quarter four. Funding has been allocated and the local authorities have been active in preparing their various plans for delivery, whether on voids, acquisitions or construction. We expect the final figure to be more than 15,000.
Will the Minister of State quantify what has been done under the various schemes?
It is traditional that local authorities will work in the fourth quarter to spend their budget allocations. I agree that the targets we have set for them are ambitious. We expect them to be delivered because the local authorities are the housing authorities and the drivers of progress. They know where the need is and can prioritise the projects that are put forward to the Department. We are dependent on the local authorities to deliver on the ambitious targets we have given them and ensure the funding that has been allocated is used to accommodate the people on the housing list.
The Minister of State did not answer my question.
Homelessness Strategy
Thomas P. Broughan
Question:8. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will report to Dáil Éireann on the implementation plan for the State's response to homelessness and the Government's action plan on homelessness; if he will outline the Government's achievements under both plans; if he will say how much remains to be achieved before the end of this Dáil; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31708/15]
We on the north side of Dublin have seen very few of the new units to which the Minister of State referred. Reference was made earlier to the 3,600 individuals on the Wexford housing list. We have almost double that number in Dublin Bay North. Among the 750 families in emergency accommodation are 1,600 children. The Minister has published the draft planning and development (urgent social housing supply) policy directive 2015, which deal with section 179 of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2015 and Part 8 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 to 2015. Why was that not done 18 months ago?
I am fully committed to dealing with homelessness. It is my top priority. I do not say that in any kind of glib way; I genuinely mean it. There is a necessity to focus on providing suitable emergency accommodation for families. The greatest concern is in respect of rough sleepers, which is particularly an issue in Dublin and other cities. Yesterday, I launched the Be Winter Ready programme, assisted by the excellent work of Cathal Morgan and his team in the Dublin Region Homeless Executive.
We have brought forward a number of comprehensive action plans to tackle homelessness. If the Deputy looks into it, he will see that virtually all of those plans have been executed and substantial progress has been made on their objectives. Progress updates on all the action plans are brought on a monthly basis to the Cabinet sub-committee on social policy and public service reform. Given the huge amount of work that is ongoing on a weekly and daily basis, I will not go through the 50 different actions.
Many of them have been successful. The ministerial direction, which I presume the Deputy supported, in respect of the 50% increase in the allocations policy for people who are homeless or vulnerable has also been successful. I refer to the public awareness campaigns, the work being done by Threshold and the possibility of increasing rent supplement payments. Intercepting people who vulnerable is also working well. The changes to the housing assistance payment, HAP, in respect of homeless families in Dublin were necessary measures. Many different measures are required to meet the needs of people who are becoming homeless. Everybody who is homeless has complex needs, either at a personal level or from an economic point of view.
Housing is their first need.
Deputy Broughan, on your feet, please.
We are putting together measures across a whole range of areas.
I thank the Minister for his reply. The first need of people is housing. When will the Minister make an announcement in the House about rent certainty? When I called four years ago for rent controls that request was met with howls of protest from Fianna Fáil and, later on, from Fine Gael. The work of those two parties down through the years in relation to development and rent has been representative of landlord interests. That is the problem.
Rubbish.
That is the problem about the-----
That is rubbish and Deputy Broughan knows it.
That is the reality of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael - the iron alliance.
Sorry, Deputy, this is Question Time. Would you put your question?
When can we expect an announcement on rent certainty? The Minister will be aware that Senator Aideen Hayden has done a lot of work with Threshold on this matter. When will he make an announcement on it?
The Minister did not respond to my question about the draft planning and development (urgent social housing supply) directive, which I read very carefully. Is that a direction to the county and city councils to get their act together and start delivering? Is that what that document is saying in relation to Part 8 and section 179 of the relevant planning legislation? The Minister should have issued that directive 18 months ago. On modular homes-----
Sorry, Deputy, please allow the Minister to respond. I will let you back in.
I have firm conversations with all local authorities on a regular basis. I met with them only a couple of weeks ago and a couple of weeks prior to that. I met with all of the CEOs and, where necessary, their directors of housing. The Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, and, where necessary, the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, and I have met with the local authorities, to whom we emphasised that this is our number one priority. Provision of social housing and facilitating private housing where necessary, particularly in areas where there are real issues, is the number one priority. I cannot make it any clearer than that. I accept that we need to build houses. I am doing everything I can to have houses built. There is a planning process in place for a reason and it has to be adhered to.
In relation to the directive which the Minister issued, which I am sure the Ceann Comhairle has also read, what are the implications of it? Approximately 18 months ago, on the final sitting day prior to the Dáil going into recess, we had a debate on housing policy, at which time the Minister could have taken the line of equipping the local authorities with the capital funding needed to launch a social housing programme. That is what the Minister's predecessor, the late Jimmy Tully, did when in office. As stated by Fintan O'Toole, during the poorest decades tens of thousands of local authorities homes were built. Like the Minister and, I am sure, other Members, I lived in a local authority home. They sustained our families. This is not being done now because of the influence of Fine Gael in government and the previous influence of Fianna Fáil in ending the social housing programme.
I attended the modular housing exhibition in the North Strand. The impression is being given that use of this housing is a stop-gap measure to address the needs of people in emergency housing accommodation. I was informed at that exhibition that these units have a life span of 60 years. Are we, in terms of the proposed use of this housing, creating another problem? We need tens of thousands of bricks and mortar homes. These homes were needed up to 18 months ago but, unfortunately, the Government has not delivered them.
We needed them 15 years ago.
There were needed 20 or 25 years ago.
Where was the Deputy then?
I was calling for them then too.
We are over time on this question. We must move on.
Wind Energy Guidelines
Anthony Lawlor
Question:9. Deputy Anthony Lawlor asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when the wind energy development guidelines will be published. [38228/15]
Two years, along with 7,500 other people, I made a submission in relation to the wind energy guidelines. When will those guidelines be delivered?
I responded earlier to a similar question. In December 2013, my Department published proposed draft revisions to the noise, setback and shadow flicker aspects of the 2006 wind energy development guidelines. The draft revisions proposed the setting of a more stringent day and night noise limit of 40 decibels for future wind energy developments, a mandatory minimum setback of 500 m between a wind turbine and the nearest dwelling for amenity considerations, and the elimination of shadow flicker between wind turbines and neighbouring dwellings.
A public consultation process was initiated on these proposed draft revisions to the guidelines, which ran until 21 February 2014. My Department received submissions from 7,500 organisations and members of the public, including the Deputy, during this public consultation process. It is intended that the revisions to the 2006 wind energy development guidelines will be finalised as soon as possible. In this regard, account must be taken of the extensive response to the public consultation in framing the final guidelines. I can assure the Deputy that this had a large influence on the work that is being undertaken. Further work is also advancing to develop technical appendices to assist planning authorities with the practical application of the noise measurement aspects of the wind guidelines. There are many technical issues surrounding the development and expansion of these types of turbines. My Department is advancing work on the guidelines in conjunction with the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.
The revisions to the wind energy development guidelines 2006, when finalised, will be issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. Planning authorities and, where applicable, An Bord Pleanála are required to have regard to guidelines issued under section 28 in the performance of their functions under the Planning Acts.
I have been asking this question for the past eight months, in response to which I continually get the same waffle from the Department. When will these guidelines be published? The 7,500 people who made submissions on the guidelines have been led up the garden path for the past 18 months. We need this decision to be made now. The aim of the Strategy for Renewable Energy 2012-2020 is to ensure best practice, planning and permitted procedures and coherence between environmental and renewable energy objectives. The strategy refers to willing public acceptance around environmental and other impacts and securing benefits for local communities. None of this has happened. A year and nine months later, the 7,500 people who made submissions on the guidelines are still waiting for them to be published. When will a decision be made to publish those guidelines?
I thank the Deputy for his supplementary question. This is an important issue and one in which I have taken a direct interest. The Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, and I have done a great deal of work on the matter. It is a technical area. I can assure the Deputy that virtually all of the work has been completed. Further work on the setback distance from a technical point of view remains to be completed. Once that work has been completed the guidelines, if supported by my Government colleagues in Fine Gael, will be published. They will be brought forward as quickly as possible within that framework.
We must be cognisant of the fact that I am the Minister with responsibility for planning. Through that process, I will issue guidelines that are best for planning. There are other Departments who have an interest in this issue for other reasons, including from an energy point of view in the context of our 2020 targets.
The Minister is a straight talker. Perhaps he would give me a straight answer to my question. I put the question to him in a manner which required him to respond with a likely date for publication of the guidelines rather than make a statement on the matter. As I said earlier, 7,500 people made submissions on the guidelines and they are waiting for them to be published. Current planning applications before An Bord Pleanála are being made on the basis of the 2006 guidelines. We have been waiting 18 months for the new guidelines. Can the Minister give a definite date for when they will be published?
It is a matter for Government when the guidelines will be published.
The Deputy may want to refer that issue to his party leader and Taoiseach. When I talk about getting the mix right, I ask the Deputy to trust that I have executed all my work in relation to this topic. The majority of it is all done but there is a little technical issue that needs to be dealt with. When we speak about getting the balance right as regards ensuring that our requirements under the 2020 process are met, that is important too. My main focus is on planning and I have very definitive views on this issue as regards turbine heights, locations and so on.
Are they published?
They have to come through Government. They cannot unilaterally come through me; they have to come through Government. In relation to that mix, we have to ensure that every sector is covered and protected going into the future from an energy and a climate change point of view, particularly the agricultural sector, in which the Deputy has a keen interest, as have I.
NAMA Social Housing Provision
Anthony Lawlor
Question:10. Deputy Anthony Lawlor asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will contact each local authority to encourage them to engage with the National Asset Management Agency on lands within their portfolios which have planning permission granted or which are zoned and which could be used for social housing; his views on whether such a process would help to alleviate the current housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38229/15]
This question has arisen because there is much heated discussion taking place in regard to NAMA. What engagement has the Minister had with NAMA and local authorities given that NAMA has large tracts of land which have planning permission? It is incumbent on us to ensure local authorities have an opportunity to purchase these sites.
The Government has enabled and facilitated NAMA in playing an important role in the delivery of housing supply generally and social housing in particular. In that context NAMA affords public bodies first option on the acquisition of land and property required for demonstrable public purposes. NAMA is also funding the construction of new residential properties to help meet demand in the major urban centres. Last year, NAMA funded nearly 50% of new housing output in Dublin despite having less than one third of residentially zoned development land in Dublin. Since the start of 2014, NAMA has funded the construction of more than 2,000 new houses and apartments in the greater Dublin area.
In budget 2016, the Minister for Finance announced that NAMA, having carried out a review of residentially zoned sites under the control of its debtors and receivers, is aiming to fund the delivery of a target 20,000 additional new homes before the end of 2020. This is in addition to NAMA's ongoing and central role in facilitating the delivery of new commercial and residential space in the Dublin dockland’s strategic development zone. Residential developments funded by NAMA are subject to the same planning and regulatory requirements as all other developments and this includes policy relating to social housing delivery as set out in local authority housing strategies in line with Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000.
Given the vital importance of ensuring that for social and economic reasons new residential supply is delivered as quickly as possible, NAMA will work closely with local authorities and with utilities to ensure that all relevant bodies co-operate effectively to deliver the programme. In the context of social housing delivery in particular, NAMA has had ongoing engagement since December 2011 with my Department and the housing agency in identifying properties that might potentially be suitable for social housing purposes. To the end of September 2015, a total of 1,600 NAMA residential properties have been delivered for social housing use, comprising 1,241 completed properties and a further 359 that have been contracted and where completion work is ongoing. A further 486 properties are considered as being active transactions whereby terms are agreed or active negotiation is ongoing by all parties concerned. An additional 440 properties are to be further appraised. Overall, I expect that in excess of 2,000 units for social housing purposes will be secured from the engagement with NAMA.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply. The issue that concerns me most is that local authorities in their engagement with NAMA may also be waiting for the developers who are working with NAMA to deliver on the 10% social and affordable housing. However, both Deputy Bernard Durkan, who is well known in the Kildare area, and I, are aware of a number of sites in NAMA that have planning permission and that the local authorities appear reluctant to engage with NAMA on the purchase of. While the announcements made by the Minister in recent months are welcome, they concern sites that do not have planning permission and we have to go through the Part 8 process, whereas I am identifying sites that have planning permission and are in NAMA and could be taken up straight away and built on for social and affordable housing, as in the past. This would enable individuals on the housing list to get housing or those who are in a position to do so to purchase houses through a local tenant purchase scheme.
As announced on budget day, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, has asked NAMA to carry out an analysis of development sites controlled by its debtors and receivers with a view to identifying the scope for residential delivery for the period up to 2020. It is important to note that its target of 20,000 residential units by the end of 2020 estimates that 90% of that will be in the greater Dublin area, which includes Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. Given the vital importance of ensuring that for social and economic reasons new residential supply is delivered as quickly as is feasible, NAMA will work closely with local authorities and the utilities to ensure all the relevant bodies co-operate effectively to deliver on this programme.
Just a quick-----
If the Deputy does not mind, I want to call Deputy Mulherin, as she has been sitting here for an hour and the Deputy's time is up.
I accept that. Will the Minister of State communicate with the local authorities on this issue?
Yes, I am sure he will.
I am aware of Deputy Mulherin's question.
Sorry, will the Minister of State please reply to Deputy Lawlor? Is it yes or no?
There is ongoing engagement. We will incur further deeper engagement because it is in everyone's interest that we deliver as many housing units as possible.
Water and Sewerage Schemes Funding
Michelle Mulherin
Question:11. Deputy Michelle Mulherin asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when he plans to implement the recommendations of the national rural water services committee and provide a special funding mechanism to grant aid new group water schemes which were in the pipeline for delivery in certain disadvantaged rural areas but which lost out upon the cessation of CLÁR funding and which, under current funding rules, are not viable for delivery because of funding shortfalls, leaving affected households without a proper water supply and in limbo for a number of years, and in the case of County Mayo, the current rules mean that none of the 2015 grants of €400,000 from his Department can be spent. [37237/15]
I have raised this issue on a number of occasions. I understand it is progressing. Can provision be made for the 235 families and households in County Mayo in seven areas - Massbrook, Aghaloonteen, Downpatrick Head, Carracastle, Kilmurray, Tonacrick and Fermoyle - who have water they can neither drink, bathe in nor wash clothes in?
This question concerns the CLÁR areas. I have taken up this issue on numerous occasions in respect of former CLÁR funding in these areas. I have written to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to try to get some progress and finality on it and I await a reply. I expect to have a reply, which I hope will be favourable, in the coming days.
As my question states, a budget of €400,000 under the rural water block grant has been provided to create new rural group water schemes but we cannot spend one red cent of it in County Mayo and we could not spend any money this year due to the current rules. I commend the fact that the Minister and his predecessor charged the national rural water services committee to look at this issue. It is a question of funding. I wish to make two final points. It is quantifiable in the sense that these schemes have been in limbo since the cessation of CLÁR funding so this will not be a future multi-annual commitment. There is a quantifiable number of schemes and these people are willing to pay for water. Does that not mean something? These people have spent thousands of euro trying to drill wells and pay for group water schemes, and they have companies in place. One scheme has spent €36,000 of the local people's own money and they are still without a water supply. It makes ridiculous much of what we see here where people can turn a tap and get water which they can drink, bathe in and are not afraid to give to their children or people who are sick and take it all for granted. On the last occasion I told the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, that a lady telephoned me to say she was sick and cannot have anything whatsoever to do with the water. She asked if I would tell the Minister she had a cheque to pay for the water and asked if he would do something for her once and for all. This is a critical issue and it will be ridiculous if Mayo County Council has to send back money.
I concur. These are the people we need to support actively and look at ways in which this can be done. There is a working group in place. If we can make some changes in order to help facilitate those people, about whom the Deputy is quite rightly passionate, I will do so. I think we have made progress on it. The issue has been referred from my Department to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Our work has been concluded. When I have news on that I will contact the Deputy directly.
Written Answers follow Adjournment.