Vol. 1041 No. 5
7. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has a plan and budget to manage and maintain the social housing stock over time to ensure that the housing stock is kept in good condition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33200/23]
We talk a lot about all the houses we are building in this country. We talk about all the social housing we are building. I see it in Galway East, in Tuam and other places where housing estates are being built.
It is good. We are beginning to see the fruits of the labour. A concern I have is how we manage this housing stock so as to keep this costly asset in a condition to last for the next 40 or 50 years.
It is a very pertinent question. The management and maintenance of the local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, implementation of a planned maintenance programme - which will be important and on which I will expand - and carrying out responsive repairs, is a matter for each individual local authority, and in the main they do that job very well. The quality varies from county to county.
Local authorities and elected members have a very important role to play in this regard by making adequate budgetary provision for housing repairs and cyclical maintenance by utilising the housing rental income available to them as part of the annual budgetary process. Local authorities are working to transition from a largely response and voids-based approach to housing stock management and maintenance - which is important as by the end of this year we will have brought back about 8,500 void properties since the Government came into office - to a planned maintenance approach, which we have committed to in Housing for All. This will require the completion of stock condition surveys by all local authorities and the subsequent development of strategic and informed work programmes.
My Department will continue to support local authorities in their work in this area. We have ring-fenced €5 million to support local authorities' transition to the planned maintenance approach in 2023. That will be a more proactive way of doing it. Much of our social housing stock is now with approved housing bodies too. We welcome that. They have their own maintenance programmes. While the transition is ongoing, we continue to provide voids funding under the 2023 programme to support the refurbishment and re-letting this year of a minimum of 2,300 vacant social homes, with funding of over €31 million available right now for voids and planned maintenance. If a local authority believes it can do more or has older voids, I want it to send submissions and we will not be found wanting in funding additional void work.
Furthermore, €87 million is available for energy-efficiency work in 2023. This programme will see a major plank of additional funding being made available to local authorities for planned maintenance works into the future.
With all of that investment, the Minister is proving the point I am making. I do not believe the local authorities are equipped to take this on. The other aspect is tenants’ behaviour and how the tenants are being managed. In Galway, I think we have four housing liaison officers in the entire county. We are increasing our stock of houses. I have seen first-hand where houses built in the 1980s were demolished three years ago because they fell into disrepair. I see housing estates where standards have dropped in terms of the tenants’ ability to take responsibility. When something starts to happen, standards drop and then the estate becomes not a nice one to live in. This is happening whether we like it or not. As well as planned maintenance, we need planned management of the tenancies and people on the ground who can manage them and call to them so that, if any issues arise, whether relationships between neighbours, a broken window or whatever it is, they are nipped in the bud before it becomes a lower standard.
The Deputy is right that estate management is really important. On Monday, I was in Galway city and county. We have approved in the housing Department alone 300 additional staff in our local authorities this year. Those posts are being filled. I was talking to the chief executive of the housing team in Galway city. Like any other sector, it is taking longer to find and employ people but those posts have been approved.
Since the Government came into office, the budgets the Deputy has rightly supported have put about €150 million into voids in our local authorities. The planned maintenance approach is important but where we get submissions from a local authority seeking additional staffing, particularly around estate management, they will be assessed positively. As we build up our housing stock, as we are seeing across the country, it will lead to more stock, more work required on maintenance and estate management to deal with issues which arise, as they do from time to time, from the very beginning and make sure we are building not just homes but communities.
Absolutely. That last piece is effectively about prevention. Rather than trying to cure a problem, we prevent it. I agree there is much investment going in. That is where my concern would be. Look at some of the housing bodies. Clúid, for instance, did developments maybe 20 years ago, including one in Tuam, St. Jarlath’s Court. There is a manager full time on site. How can they afford to do it while the county council cannot afford to do it and their staff are run off their feet firefighting all the time? That building is in the same pristine condition as when it was handed over to them in 2000. I was involved in the construction of it. I can go in there and see it is completely clean, decoration is done, they have a plan and all of that, internally and externally. It is a credit to them but we need to be able to replicate that in the local authorities.
I agree. We see fantastic developments across the country, not least in the Deputy's county. We support the ongoing maintenance of those financially. Estate management is crucial. Some local authorities for a number of years effectively got out of that role and are now getting back into it. I have met estate management teams across the country. That engagement with householders in our social housing estates is important and it has to be ongoing. It cannot just be if an issue arises. It is about managing the tenancies, the mix of demographics in estates and catering for the needs of the new residents of these estates. I have seen that done pretty well. The Deputy’s point is well made. The more new social homes we build, the more requirements there will be to have the human resources behind that to manage the estates. We are committed to doing that.
9. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on the impact of the ending of the eviction ban on the latest homelessness figures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33183/23]
The latest figures show there are 12,441 people in emergency accommodation, including an incredible 3,699 children. That is more people than live in Rush, Portmarnock or Skerries in the Minister’s constituency. When these figures came out, the Minister effectively said to the media that they vindicated the decision to end the eviction ban; however, since the ban ended, the figures have risen month after month and are likely to continue to do so as a consequence of that decision.
That is not what I said but I might get an opportunity to come back on that in supplementaries. The Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Act 2022 was a time-limited intervention which provided for a stay on eviction notices up to 31 March 2023 and deferred tenancy terminations running to 18 June. It was on a phased basis. The purpose of it was to protect renters during that specific period, provide additional protection, allow local authorities the time to bring further emergency accommodation into operation - which we did - and provide the space for more permanent accommodation. Some 6,000 social homes were completed in quarter 4 of last year.
The staggering of the ending of the ban, coupled with new measures aimed at preventing homelessness, appears to have been effective in terms of preventing any drastic increase in entries into homelessness. My Department has been closely monitoring the rate of new entries into homelessness since the scheduled ending of the ban and the rate of increase remains lower than in the period immediately prior to its introduction. That is important to note. For instance, in March 2023, when the moratorium was still fully in effect, there was an increase of 246 individuals in emergency accommodation. It is no consolation to them and I am not playing with figures but the reality is that the June increase was 182. There was a larger increase during the last month of the moratorium than there was last month.
The reason is that we have been able to exit more people into permanent social homes from emergency accommodation as we are building more social homes. I will cover that in more detail in my supplementary response. As I mentioned in a response to a previous question, we had to be careful because any further intervention in the private rental sector would have had the effect of more and more properties being lost in that sector and making the situation worse, which I think most people understand.
That is cold comfort to the 12,441 people who are homeless now. The Minister made the point, which is true, that the staggered nature of the ending of the eviction ban has had an impact. It meant we did not have the tsunami in one fell swoop. That is true, but we in the Opposition never said it would come in one fell swoop. I am not an expert in tsunamis, but I get the impression they build and build, a qualitative point is reached and then they overwhelm people. That is what I am experiencing in terms of people coming into my constituency clinics with eviction notices coming up in the next six or nine months. Almost 5,000 eviction notices were issued in the first quarter of this year. This is going to get worse and worse and the decision to end the eviction ban will be a direct cause. The Minister is ignoring the increase, or the very likely increase, in hidden homeless; increased numbers of people are in cars and couch-surfing and so on.
I assure the Deputy that I am not ignoring anything. I did not get to some of the other measures we have brought in, including the tenant in situ purchase scheme, which we have rolled out and extended since January as a mitigation measure. I have set a target of a minimum of 1,500 homes. This involves converting housing assistance payment, HAP, and rental accommodation scheme, RAS, tenancies to permanent social homes. We will exceed that quite substantially this year and I want to continue it into next year. It is a really good way of securing tenancies and bringing additional homes into social housing use. I remind the Deputy that he did not just seek the extension of the moratorium - he wanted a permanent extension of it, effectively. He should be honest with people about what that would do to the private rented sector in relation to capacity and stock. Would it not see a further flight of homes being sold? It would, as the Deputy knows. These are complex issues. We need a private rental sector, whether Deputy Murphy likes it or not.
We do not.
There indeed is-----
We do not need a private rental sector.
This is not an exchange of views; this is a reply.
Some 60,000 households are supported through HAP tenancies right now in the private rental sector. The Deputy just said to the House that we do not need a private rental sector, which is an astonishing remark. The reality is that we are building more social houses than were built since 1975. We will do still more and will continue to do so. In my supplementary response, I will refer to exits from homelessness as well.
We do not need a private rental sector. It is not true. We need homes for people to live in and affordable rents for them. The landlords the Minister spoke about exiting the market cannot bring the homes with them. They do not strap the apartments to their backs, get on a boat and leave; the properties remain here. They cannot remove them. We simply need the State to step in, in every circumstance in which that happens, to buy the property and convert people into tenants of the State and give them security of tenure and so on. It would be a much better solution for people, as opposed to-----
What criteria would the Deputy apply? No criteria?
No criteria; everybody should be entitled to be a tenant of the State and to a differential rent. The entire and central problem of the whole Government strategy is that it is obsessed with incentivising the private sector. I ask the Minister, how many is too many? What is the target for when there will be zero people in emergency accommodation? His predecessors had targets for ending homelessness - for Joan Burton, it was 2016, and for the Minister, Deputy Coveney, it was July 2016 as well, or possibly 2017. What is the Minister's target for when there will be no people in emergency accommodation?
People enter emergency accommodation for many reasons. Every month, we publish a report on it. They include people who received notices to quit, relationship break-ups and new entries to the State. There are many different reasons for that to be the case. It is important for people to know that anyone who finds themselves homeless will be supported by the State in emergency accommodation. Some 5,478 exits from homelessness were achieved last year. Even in quarter 1 this year, there was a 15% increase in exits from homelessness, exiting people into permanent housing solutions, which is really important. Whether the Deputy likes it or not, the reality right now is that we are building up our public housing stock. There is affordable housing for the first time in a generation and cost-rental for the first time ever. Yes, we have a private rental market. It is not about supporting landlords; it is about supporting the reality of the situation that there is a private rental market. People Before Profit is basically saying we do not need it, so just end it immediately.
We are not saying end it. The Minister knows that is not what we are saying.
The Deputy is living in fantasy land. Homelessness is a very serious situation. I do not wish to belittle it in any way. We are doing everything we can to make sure we can drive those numbers down and exit people into permanent housing solutions.
Before moving on, I wish to bring to the attention of everyone in the House the need to ensure the question is asked clearly and that ample time is given for the reply. Somebody attempting to interrupt and provide a reply to their own question will be disallowed.
10. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures he has put in place to improve water services since June 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33190/23]
I wish to ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage about the measures he has put in place to improve water services since June 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The past decade has seen a significant reform of water services in Ireland. The policy paper on water sector transformation was published in February 2021, which set out our vision as a Government for water services based on the full integration of water services into Uisce Éireann as a single, publicly owned national water services authority. The objective is to deliver a world-class public water services authority that meets customer needs, operates in line with best practice, represents value for money for the State and facilitates economic development. The publication of the Water Services (Amendment) Act 2022 in December last year was a further significant milestone in achieving this objective. The framework for the future delivery of water services provides the basis for the full transfer of responsibility for water services from local authorities to Uisce Éireann. The transformation programme is progressing well; by 2026, Uisce Éireann will have assumed full responsibility for water services delivery. In terms of investment, the water services policy statement from 2018 to 2025 sets out the broad vision and policy objectives for the development of water and wastewater services in Ireland. Approximately 80% of Uisce Éireann’s funding requirement is met through the Government’s voted Exchequer investment in Uisce Éireann, which reflects the cost of providing domestic water services. On this basis, €1.56 billion is being provided to Uisce Éireann to meet the cost of domestic water services in 2023. The largest capital programme of investment in water and wastewater treatment across the country is under way. Uisce Éireann has a capital budget of €6 billion, but there is still a way to go in many areas to provide the decent water infrastructure needed to allow development and growth in those areas.
I thank the Minister for his response. I have seen first-hand the difference the investment in Uisce Éireann and in water services has made in many towns in my constituency, such as Castletownbere, which has a brand-new wastewater treatment plant, Courtmacsherry and Timoleague. The state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant in Castletownshend near Skibbereen has just been finished. I have seen villages and towns get wastewater infrastructure they never had before. In fairness to the Minister, he came through on a promise to introduce a scheme in which local authorities could apply for funding to improve wastewater infrastructure. There was the developer-led aspect when estates were without infrastructure. When small villages did not have adequate infrastructure, he invited local authorities to apply. I therefore cannot get my head around the fact that Cork County Council has not applied for funding to improve the wastewater treatment facilities at Shannonvale, which the Minister stood on with me, where excrement is coming up through the surface of children's playground. It is an absolute disgrace. I plead with the Minister to reach out to the local authority to find a solution as fast as possible.
I have brought forward the unserved villages. I expect to make announcements in the short term around that; it is the first €50 million outside of the capital programme for Irish Water. I visited Shannonvale with the Deputy. The situation there is intolerable. I have been back to Uisce Éireann. It will provide the stage 1 strategic assessment, which will move it on to stage 2, but the local authority has to engage on this. Some solution has got to be found in the short term for homeowners, whom I had the pleasure of meeting with the Deputy.
We have made a lot of progress in west Cork. The Deputy has outlined a number of the schemes we have brought forward. I will continue to work with him and the residents of Shannonvale. I am acutely aware that I met them on the ground. We are trying to bring Uisce Éireann, the local authority and the Department together on this because the situation is absolutely intolerable. A public playground in the area is closed because of the leakage, effectively, of sewage into the vicinity. That situation should not be allowed to continue.
The Minister has described the situation perfectly. We went there with news that these two schemes could be availed of by the local authority. I think we all took heart from that because I do not see how you could get more urgent than a situation in which sewage is coming up through the surface of a children's play area, which has been closed. Shannonvale is not a big village. It has only that one public space, that safe space, for families and for kids to play in and it has been ruled completely out of bounds because of this issue. Again, I plead with the Minister. They have not applied under this tranche of funding - I do not know why - and, therefore, will not get funding under these schemes. I suggest that the Minister reach out to the local authority because of that health and safety issue.
Another village, Drinagh, just needs a wastewater treatment facility. Could the Minister just check that for me to see if it is anywhere in any capital plan?
I will keep this generalised. There are huge issues. We have very old housing estates with, in some cases, legacy sewerage systems, both the public line and the individual run of houses, too many houses on the one line, the wrong types of piping and so on. In my estate there is a huge number of issues and sometimes the responsibility lies literally with the person who owns the house. Sometimes that can create huge difficulties. I think we will have to find some sort of framework to deal with this issue. I know that a number of these issues have been sorted by dealing with Uisce Éireann and the local authority. That is why I will not mention particular areas. This is, however, a particular issue in the town of Dundalk.
Understood.
To respond to Deputy O'Sullivan, he is correct that for whatever reason, the local authority did not apply for Shannonvale to enter into the scheme I brought forward. Post Question Time, however, and with regard to Drinagh, I will follow up particularly with Shannonvale. I will reach out again to the local authority. We need to get Uisce Éireann and the local authority meeting on this situation. I would go so far as to say there is a public health issue here, and a very serious one at that, and the situation cannot be allowed continue. I do expect to make announcements on the other schemes imminently. We did not get as many applications right across the country as one would have expected, to be frank.
In response to Deputy Ó Murchú, I take the point. We do have the largest investment programme in water services under way, with about €6 billion through Uisce Éireann on the capital side. That will also require upgrades to existing sewer networks, which is happening right across the country for older infrastructure that is in place. If the Deputy wants to raise any specific items with me, he should feel free to do so.
12. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the planned pilot scheme for unsewered villages. [33135/23]
My question relates to the plans to have a pilot scheme to provide sewerage in currently unsewered villages. I am looking for an update on the implementation of that.
I know that Deputy Crowe has been pushing this very hard and has been very supportive, as many others have, of this scheme. It is new. I announced €50 million for it in 2022. Effectively, we asked local authorities to apply to me in respect of schemes that would not have been brought forward under the Uisce Éireann capital programme.
In April 2022 I announced a new funding measure, as an advance stage of the upcoming multi-annual programme for the wastewater collection and treatment needs of villages and settlements. We have allocated funding of €50 million. The first round of funding is intended to follow a demonstration project model approach to inform future funding needs. This is therefore a pilot. I intend to make announcements very shortly in that regard.
An independent expert panel has evaluated each application received. Fundamentally, the panel has made that report to me. I have assessed it. I will make further suggestions to the panel report because I believe we have an opportunity. It should not be down to a pure value-for-money basis; it should be on the basis of what I mentioned to Deputy O'Sullivan. First is the upgrading of existing infrastructure or the installation of infrastructure that is not there and looking at the future growth potential. I visited Broadford with the Deputy and other Oireachtas colleagues. I listened to residents there. Broadford has the potential to grow and for people to live in the village and its confines if we are able to provide wastewater infrastructure. We did have a couple of applications in from Clare County Council, which engaged very well with this scheme. I expect to make announcements on this very shortly.
When we went into government we were asked to feed in ideas as to what kinds of projects we would like to see in the programme for Government. The provision of sewerage in villages like Broadford, which the Minister mentioned, Cooraclare and other rural village which are unsewered was one of the suggestions I made, and I am delighted the Minister has led the way on this. There is a lot of money ring-fenced for this: €50 million. It is a pilot scheme. I expect that it will be very successful when it gets under way and that it will become a multi-annual scheme. Environmentally, I do not think we have any choice but to provide infrastructure for these villages. Housing for All always nearly gets dominated with discussions about social housing and affordable housing, but the reality is that villages like Broadford, Cooraclare and others in Clare and throughout Ireland can play a major role in housing provision if they have a network. Broadford has been fighting for this for many decades. When I was a councillor in 2004 they acquired land. It is shovel-ready. Cooraclare is shovel-ready. There are two incredible teams in the locality leading this on. There is full backing politically from the council and from the Oireachtas representatives. The Department has the money. We would love to hear a positive announcement. We would love to know when that announcement might happen for Broadford and Cooraclare.
A number of schemes came in right across the country. If we can get this scheme right, and I believe we can, this will evolve into a multi-annual programme. This is in addition to what we are investing already. The Deputy is 100% correct that our villages and towns across the country can play a major role in housing provision. That is why we have moved forward with the vacancy grants, for argument's sake, the Croí Cónaithe grants that Deputy Canney, Deputy Aindrias Moynihan, Deputy Crowe and others have mentioned. That has been really successful. If people have an opportunity to live in their villages and towns, they will. It is not a question of a lurch towards the cities. It should never be that. The provision of wastewater treatment services is really important. I have some final work to do on the submission. I have received recommendations, not all of which I am 100% happy with, to be frank, so there will be some changes to the recommendations that are there because this should not be done on just a value-for-money basis. If this is looked at simply in terms of euro and number of households, it may not look like there is a financial reason, but from the perspective of the environment, public health and future growth potential, that needs to feed into it. I cannot give the Deputy a date but it will be imminent.
The Minister's tones are definitely positive, and that is to be welcomed, but what we are talking about here is intrinsic to so many other debates that happen in this House. The provision of sewerage provides for the ability of a village to grow and to have housing for people to come back to rural areas, for the local school to survive and for the local shop, the local pub and the post office network to be viable. This is intrinsic to so much. Then there are all the environmental reasons why Broadford, Cooraclare and many other villages should be included.
How many villages does the Minister know off-hand are within the panel report that has come before him? One concern we have in County Clare, which we have been pushing this for years and years, is that we have two excellent projects, both shovel-ready, Broadford and Cooraclare. If projects are good enough, shovel-ready enough, does the Minister intend that there could even be two approved in single county, or does he plan on getting this all around the country? He can announce it today-----
The Deputy is looking for a pre-announcement, which we cannot do. All I will say is that if schemes are good, there is no restriction per county, like one or two per county. That is not the question. We received just over 20 applications across the country - not a lot, to be frank, but enough for us to be able, in my view, to start this pilot programme. Where the land is purchased, the planning permission is there and the works are ready to go, those are the types of things that provide additionality above and beyond the work that has been done by Uisce Éireann on larger schemes and right across the country.
There is no limit per local authority area on the number of schemes that could come forward. We have had over 20 and they have been assessed in detail. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Uisce Éireann and my Department have gone through them. Some of the applications were not fully complete and we had to go back for additional information. I will make announcements on them as soon as I can. I have only just concluded the work on the recommendations.
13. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the engagement he has had with the stakeholders of a local amenity (details supplied) to develop this area as a national park; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33083/23]
The Gearagh is a magnificent place. It is the remains of a post-glacial alluvial rainforest formed after the last ice age, and it was flooded again more recently as part of the hydro scheme in the 1950s. It attracts wildlife, including travelling and migrating birds, from all over. It is a magnificent place in Macroom, County Cork. What efforts can be made to designate it as a national park, enhance its status and recognise it as the magnificent place it is?
The Gearagh, as the Deputy mentioned, is a privately owned site and has not been considered for national park status. My Department does not own or manage any part of this special area of conservation, SAC, which is owned largely by the ESB. A management plan scoping exercise was undertaken by ESB International on behalf of the ESB in 2016 and 2017. The National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, of my Department took part in the stakeholder group that contributed to the report produced as a result of that exercise. The ESB is now in the early stages of compiling a draft management plan for the site. As part of the process, it recently consulted with NPWS staff in County Cork.
The NPWS completed and published detailed site-specific conservation objectives for the Gearagh SAC in September 2016. Under the habitats directive, Ireland is obliged to report to the EU on the conservation status of all habitats and species of European Community interest, as listed in annexes to the directive. Monitoring of SACs is carried out by the NPWS on a cyclical basis. The most recent report was submitted to the EU in 2019 and is available on the NPWS website.
The priority habitat of alluvial forests with alder and ash is one of the qualifying interests of the Gearagh SAC and a monitoring site for this habitat is located within the SAC. It was most recently surveyed during the 2017 and 2018 monitoring period, when the area, structures, functions and future prospects of the habitat in the SAC were all assessed as favourable. This is in contrast with the national conservation status of alluvial forest habitat in Ireland, which is considered to be bad, and deteriorating. The Gearagh SAC is also listed as a habitat of rivers with muddy banks. In addition to the NPWS survey, results of a 2018 botanical survey were made available to the NPWS by the ESB. The habitat was assessed as favourable in the Gearagh SAC. The NPWS continues to engage with the ESB on the monitoring of this site. The positive findings from scientific surveys are indicators of a good management regime.
The ESB is the primary owner of the site. Over the years, the electricity generated there has diminished as a proportion of the electricity used in the country. The need for the ESB scheme from an electricity point of view has declined. This wonderful park right beside Macroom town draws in wildlife, including migrating birds. We had a special visitor again earlier this year and that, in turn, drew a great many people to the Gearagh. This is a double-edged sword because the more that people know about the area, the more who will be attracted to visit it, which creates a threat that it will be damaged. A great many people do not know the place and when they arrive on the site there is little information provided. There is an understanding locally that the ESB does not encourage interest in the site, make people aware of it or put up signage. There is so much that could be done practically on the ground to give people information and promote the place ahead of it securing status as a national park.
The Deputy has made constructive comments. As he is aware, the NPWS is engaging with the ESB on the monitoring of the site. There have been positive findings in scientific surveys. I undertake to ask the NPWS to engage with the ESB in order to address the particular issues the Deputy has raised, which are very reasonable requests, on the basis that the electricity output from this site is reducing. The Deputy has made a very good suggestion, so we will ask the NPWS, which is part of the Department, to broaden its engagement with the ESB on this particular site, with a view to broadening its appeal as regards public use.
To return to the issue of national park status, in terms of size, County Cork represents one eighth of the country, yet it has no national park. There is a huge, amazing landscape right along the valley, whether it is Gougane Barra or globally known places such as Blarney Castle further down the valley, and there is no national park anywhere in this large area. That surely strengthens the case for the general Cork area to have a national park, especially when we have a place of such quality and status as the Gearagh. The Minister of State indicated that it is an SAC and enjoys certain status and outlined the efforts to enhance its status. The possibility of having a national park in the area needs to be examined.
I support Deputy Aindrias Moynihan. The Gearagh is a magical place. While it is only up the road from Clonakilty, it takes me about an hour to get there. I was lucky enough to see the penduline tits there. What is a penduline tit says you? The first penduline tit ever recorded in Ireland landed in the Gearagh last year. An incredibly rare Eurasian bittern was also found there. The Deputy is right; the Gearagh is a Mecca for rare migrating birds and a perfect habitat for them. When the water is at a certain level it creates a lovely shore which attracts thousands of wading birds during the winter months in particular. There are also marshy areas, lagoons and reed beds and it is perfectly designed because it an old road with a few humpback bridges runs right through the middle of it. The Gearagh is perfectly designed for visitors to visit and view wildlife and to become a national park and nature reserve. I fully support Deputy Moynihan's call.
By way of a structured approach, as I have said, the NPWS is engaging with the ESB and there were positive findings from the scientific surveys. To move the matter forward, we have asked the NPWS to continue to engage with the ESB. Maybe we could set up a meeting between the Deputy and the assistant secretary in the Department with responsibility for heritage to see what can be done in terms of a structured approach.
On national park status, there is a process involved but the ESB has done some significant and positive initial work on the site. The question now is what the approach will be from here on. I undertake to set up a meeting with the assistant secretary in the Department to put a framework in place around what the Deputy is requesting.
14. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he expects to publish the review of the guidelines in relation to the construction of rural houses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33201/23]
29. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is undertaking any review of rural planning guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33191/23]
Will the Minister of State update the House on the guidelines on rural housing, which are being reviewed? Perhaps we can discuss the review and find out exactly what is happening.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 29 together.
I thank Deputies Canney and Christopher O'Sullivan for bringing up this important matter. Updated rural planning guidelines are being prepared to expand on the high-level spatial planning policy of the national planning framework, NPF, in particular national policy objective, NPO, 19.
The objective makes a clear distinction between rural areas under urban influence, which are areas within the commuter catchment of cities, towns and centres of employment, and structurally weaker rural areas where population levels may be low or declining. NPO 19 is also aligned with the established approach whereby considerations of social or economic need are to be applied by planning authorities in rural areas under urban influence. The guidelines will continue to allow development plans to provide for housing in the countryside based on NPO 19, and will also highlight the need to manage development in the areas around cities and larger towns and environmentally sensitive areas.
Due care is being taken to ensure the updated guidelines will not operate to conflict with fundamental EU freedoms, comply with EU environmental legislative requirements and have due regard to decisions of the European Court of Justice. The draft guidelines, which will address these complex environmental and legal issues, while also providing a framework for the sustainable management of housing in rural areas, are currently subject to legal review and ministerial approval and will then be published for a period of public consultation.
I thank the Minister of State. I live in a rural constituency and I see how difficult it is for young people to get planning permission in the areas where they want to build homes. People are being refused planning permission. They cannot build on their own farms because they are not the person farming the land. If we are to have sustainable communities in rural Ireland, we need to make sure people can build in rural areas. We have to support our national schools and sporting clubs.
Earlier, we had questions on sewage treatment plants in villages which are non-existent. We have some of the most peculiar rules. A young man living in my village applied for planning permission but because the house would have been 50 m outside the speed limit demarcation, he could not get it. However somebody coming from 7 km or 8 km away can get planning permission. The practical way to do this is to dispense with all the terminology and try to ensure that we allow people to build houses in a sustainable way to keep rural Ireland sustainable.
The reason I brought up this matter is twofold. Similar to Deputy Canney, I am aware of the difficulty young people have in getting planning, the hoops they have to jump through and the back and forth involved in trying to get planning. Sometimes they are not successful. There is another aspect of this on which we had a debate recently in the Dáil. We even had a vote on it. I genuinely believe there is a place for Dutch cabins, log cabins and that type of dwelling in rural Ireland. I can understand in some sense the pushback against log cabins, in that we do not want them proliferating all over the countryside, but there have to be cases where their use is suitable.
It used to be that people won the jackpot if they were given an acre from a family landholding as a site to build on. They could build a house on it for €150,000. They were sorted. A three- or four-bedroom house now costs €500,000 to build. The cost is becoming prohibitive. These Dutch cabins and log cabins last a long time. They are comfortable, cosy and well-insulated. I really do think there is a place for them and I urge the Department to give serious consideration to developing a policy on them.
I appreciate the sentiments of Deputies Canney and O'Sullivan, on which I will make several points. It is a firm priority for the Government that people can continue to live in rural areas where they were reared. Deputy Canney asked that people be allowed to build and live in rural areas. We want this. Croí Cónaithe is a nationwide scheme. We want people to restore old houses in rural areas. There is now a grant for additional funding for consultancy fees with regard to protected structures such as farmhouses and older buildings. We want to get the rural planning guidelines correct.
Deputy O'Sullivan made points on log cabins. The national planning framework provides guidance. In many cases, there are differences in how local authorities interpret the NPF. Development plans are a reserve function of councillors. We are giving these rural planning guidelines detailed consideration. We are very much working on the basis that we want people to be able to continue to live in rural Ireland. This is an underlying principle for us. We want to ensure that we do this in a sustainable way that complies with all EU legal requirements. We want to get this right.
The assurance I want to give both Deputies is that our abiding underlying principle is that we want to ensure we have a measure in lace that allows people to continue to live in rural Ireland. We are not looking to do anything else. In terms of planning for log cabins, we undertook to examine this issue to see how we can ensure that, once again, we are moving with modern times on planning.
I welcome that the Minister of State has said he wants people to live in rural Ireland. Let us make it happen. It is important, when we think about it, that various local authorities take various views on planning. Within each local authority, different planners take varying views as well. This is the inconsistency that is there. These guidelines need to be consistent. I come from a construction background. I do not think planners should be deciding on whether people have an overhang at the eaves of a house. This is what they get tied up with. I am aware of someone who wants to build a passive house. This means the house has to have a good overhang to allow for shading to keep it cool in the summer. It probably will not be acceptable from a design point of view. In today's world, the most important things needed for a house are a good foundation and wastewater treatment plant that can work in the ground in which it is set. This is all the planners should look at. They are dictating too much.
Can we have a timeline for when we will see the guidelines for rural housing? We know about the issue. When somebody comes with a planning issue the worst element is that there is no consistency either in the local authority, among local authorities or from planner to planner. We are speaking about landowners who cannot understand why they cannot get planning permission on their land for a child. We are speaking about people who have grown up in these rural areas.
I accept that, from a services point of view, we want to build towns, urban areas and cities as economic drivers but people from rural areas have to be able to live in them. Otherwise, these areas will die. There is an element of unfairness. We need consistency and we need to get these guidelines as soon as possible, while accepting that we do not necessarily have a great history of planning in this State.
To respond to Deputy Canney, we want to address the inconsistencies, apart from the underlying principle that we want people to continue to be able to live in rural areas. The guidelines will be key to this. In the planning legislation we are bringing forward we are looking at ministerial statements. There is an inconsistency in the way local authorities interpret. We want to make stronger the directions from Government on planning.
As regards timing, we are finalising the rural planning guidelines. It is very important we get the legal context correct. The legal review is under way. Once it is concluded, we will go to public consultation. We are looking to do this very much in a way that ensures we cover all legal aspects of it.
42. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has given consideration to the use of 3D printing technology and its possible benefits to the current problems with housing construction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33036/23]
Has the Minister given consideration to the use of 3D concrete printing and its possible benefits in the context of the current problems with housing construction? Obviously, he has engaged with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney. Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, LMETB, had a printing operation in Drogheda. Are there plans in this regard? It is not a silver bullet but, alongside modular housing, it can provide answers. Are there plans in County Louth in particular?
I thank the Deputy. We have reached Question No. 42, given there have been so many others missing right the way through.
We have been busy.
As regards modern methods of construction, MMC, I brought a cost-of-construction report to Cabinet a few weeks ago and published it. It is a comparative between costs in Ireland, those in five other EU countries and those in Britain. The report highlights the practice as well. We are looking at the MMC piece. I have a further report to bring to Cabinet. This year and next, 1,500 social homes will be delivered solely through MMC. That includes all steps from design right through to off-site construction.
We have identified a couple of encumbered sites in County Louth, as the Deputy is aware. The council had bought the sites but money was owing on them and it could not develop them. I have taken that debt off those sites on the basis that they will be delivered using MMC. Two weeks ago, Glenveagh Properties opened a new off-site construction facility at the old Braun factory in Carlow. It will be able to produce a home every 20 minutes. I have visited other companies throughout the country as well. This is the way forward, particularly in terms of ensuring quality efficiency and from a carbon perspective. It is a matter we are not just looking at but will actively be implementing. We are setting up the construction technology centre at Mount Lucas. Several universities will feed into that. It will deal with design and production using the best methods available. Thankfully, there are many Irish companies and developments, such as Church Fields in Mulhuddart, where more than 1,000 homes are being built through MMC practices.
