The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, is welcome.
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Housing Schemes
I welcome the Minister of State to the House this morning. We are here to discuss housing aid and housing adaptation grants. I hope there will be some good news on a review. I am dealing with these issues on a daily basis in Kildare and, unfortunately, the grants continue to cause a lot of problems. It has been 13 months since I last brought up this matter and at that stage I was promised a review. The Minister of State's colleague, the Minister of State, was in that day and he mentioned the fact that he was having a lot of issues with these grants in his constituency office. He said that he was going to bring it back to the Department and to all Ministers to discuss the issue.
Today, I am hoping to get an update. As the Minister of State is well aware, the grants make a significant difference to the quality of life for so many older people and those with medical issues who need assistance. We continue to see rising building costs. These rising costs rule many families out of availing of these grants, as the maximum payment continues at €30,000 for the housing adaptation grant.
Over the last week alone, I have come across families with the cheapest quote of €50,000 for a toilet extension and another for €65,000 for a bedroom extension. These families simply cannot afford the balance. The work will not be completed and their loved ones will remain, in these two cases at least, without what could be life-changing extensions that would hugely improve their quality of life.
Of course these are only two examples. There are many others I could give. I have contacted the community welfare officer service, which has helped in some cases. Unfortunately, in a growing number of cases, the response has been that the county council is tasked with providing help with the costs associated with the adaptation of houses on medical grounds and as such it is its responsibility to provide the cost of this and that it would not be in a position to help with the cost of the project as the county council holds the responsibility in this matter. This continues to be the response that I get in trying to bridge that gap for so many families. Many of the families that I am dealing with just cannot afford the room that could make a difference.
The limit for the housing aid grant is €8,000. More and more applicants are applying for window replacements, roofs and heating and they are finding that figure is nowhere near enough to cover the cost of the quotes they receive. In a recent case I had, the quote was almost one year old because that was the length of time the local authority had taken to get around to processing the grant. As a result, the applicants were asked to supply a fresh quote. The price had risen by €3,500 during the year and again, in this case, the applicant simply could not afford that rise and the grant, as the Minister of State knows, is limited to €8,000.
The problems have multiplied since last year. Applicants, many of them older people, are turning to family members and credit unions to try to bridge the gap. Due to their age, many people are not securing these loans. The works allowed under these grants will allow an older population to continue living in their homes, where they want to be. Unfortunately, the grant is means tested on its limits. It is simply not fit for purpose anymore for many of these people. Too many of our older people find themselves unable to access a grant which, at their time of life, is essential to their well-being. I have said on countless occasions this grant is needed for all their work and their contributions to the State over so many years.
The issues are having a knock-on effect. In some of the cases I am dealing with, the applicants must remain in hospital because the family cannot afford the cost of the works to be done to their home.
Excellent local authority staff dealing with these grants are inundated with queries from worried applicants, fearing that they will not get the work done on their homes. We need to provide additional resources to local authorities to cover the administration of these grants. Most importantly, we need to change the criteria so these works can be provided. The ever increasing waiting times for some of these grants are a worry, both at the beginning of the process and when payment is due. In replies to parliamentary questions tabled by Labour Party colleagues, we were told that a review would be carried out at the end of last year. I hope the Minister of State has come today with an update on that review.
I thank Senator Wall for raising this very important issue and allowing me the opportunity to provide an update on the matter. My Department provides funding to local authorities under the suite of housing adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability, to assist people in private houses make their accommodation more suitable for their needs. This also facilitates early returns from hospital stays. The grants include the housing adaptation grant for people with a disability, the mobility aids grant and the housing aid for older people grant, which are 80% funded by my Department, together with a 20% matching contribution from local authority resources. The detailed administration of these schemes, including assessment, approval, prioritisation and apportionment between the three schemes is the responsibility of local authorities.
Funding of €81.25 million is available nationally in 2022 for the housing adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability scheme. A further €83.75 million has been allocated for 2023 continuing the overall year-on-year increases in the grant since 2014.
The housing options for our ageing populations policy statement emphasised the Department's commitment to streamlining the application process, and ensuring that grants were more accessible to applicants. Following stakeholder engagement, a revised single application form to cover these three grants, which was tested for plain English, was issued to all local authorities for implementation in early 2020, together with revised guidelines. The Department continues to ensure full implementation of this new process by local authorities to deliver a more accessible grant application process as well as standardising the approach across all local authorities.
In addition to this improved streamlining of the grants scheme, Housing for All commits to undertaking a review of the range of housing grants available to assist with meeting specific housing needs both for our ageing population and people with a disability. The review is continuing within my Department informed by a focused stakeholder consultation process, which resulted in more than 40 submissions received from a range of stakeholders. These included local authorities, the Department of Health, the HSE, Age Friendly Ireland, the Disability Federation of Ireland, the Irish Wheelchair Association, Jack and Jill Foundation, Independent Living Movement Ireland, AslAm, Family Carers Ireland, and Acquired Brain Injury Ireland. Among things being considered under the review are income thresholds, grant limits, the application and decision making processes, and including supplementary documentation required. The review will also consider the Cost of Disability in Ireland research report, which was published by my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, in December 2021. The review remains on target to be completed by the end of this year. I acknowledge the Senator's significant interest in this and his raising it on a number of occasions.
I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. I wish to put on the record again my thanks to the State for providing this funding. It makes such a difference to so many people, and I am sure the Minister of State is aware of that through his own office. The problem at the moment is that we now have people waiting such a long time, and cannot wait any more. We were told by the Minister of State today that the review will be carried out by the end of this year. Will he bring this back to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and ask that this be carried out as quickly a possible? People just cannot wait. I have given three or four examples today of what is coming through my office. I have no doubt Members across both Houses could give multiple examples. People are in hospital, and they cannot wait. The review needs to happen as quickly as possible. More importantly, we need to change the criteria. I hope that will happen, but I thank the Minister of State for his reply.
I again thank Senator Wall for raising this, as he has done on previous occasions. I will raise the review with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. It is important that is completed this year As the Senator said, these are a very valuable resource to make people's lives better and allow them to live independently. As a State, that is the space we need to be in. As I said, we have increased the funding year-on-year since 2014, which will allow a greater number of grants to be provided to carry out works. It is important that the works are carried out and people have access to the services. I will raise it with the Minister and look forward to working with the Senator in the future. I will provide an update.
Housing Provision
I thank the Minister of State for coming here today to discuss this all important issue. My question is to ask him to make a statement regarding supports for tenants given notice to quit. This applies especially to those in long-term rental, and who have been there for four, five or six years. Many landlords have decided to leave the rental market as we are very aware. It is a huge issue. We have almost 4,000 people on our waiting list in Limerick, and up to now people like that had no other choice but to try to get somewhere else, or else go on the housing waiting list. Will the Minister of State outline what supports are intended or have been introduced in recent times to support these tenants? Many people are not aware of their rights and they may not have the best relationship with the landlord. In many cases the house is genuinely being sold but in some cases people are using that as an excuse. I am asking if there are any supports for people in that situation.
I thank Senator Byrne for raising this, which is a very important and pressing issue in society. It is true to say we are seeing an increase in the number of people accessing emergency accommodation and the situation is proving very challenging. The Government, local authorities and those in the NGO sector are making every effort to prevent and protect those at risk of homelessness. Resources and funding are not an obstacle to the urgent efforts required. Budget 2023 provided more than €215 million, which is an increase of 10% on 2022, for delivery of homeless services. This will ensure that local authorities can not only provide emergency accommodation, but importantly homeless prevention measures too. It will also ensure they can support households to successfully exit homelessness into secure tenancies.
Cognisant of the risk of homelessness faced by renters this coming winter, the Government recently legislated to protect them by deferring any no fault tenancy terminations from taking place over the coming months. Analysis suggests this could prevent more than 2,000 tenancies being terminated. This emergency measure is necessary and will provide assistance in the short term. However, over the long term the answer remains an increased and sustainable supply of new housing.
We will be adding significant social housing to our stock in 2022. The quarter 2 construction status report shows 8,247 social homes on site, an additional 12,327 homes at design and tender stage, and a further 118 new construction schemes, comprising 1,647 homes, were added to the future pipeline. Looking to next year, State investment of €4.5 billion is in place to deliver a record 11,830 social homes, including 9,100 new builds, in 2023. Supply as a whole is increasing. Almost 28,000 new homes were completed in the 12 months to the end of September, which is the highest rolling 12 month total of any comparable period since comparable data were first published in 2011.
In addition to our focus on increasing supply, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has introduced a number of measures to help those at risk of homelessness. These include recent changes to the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme to increase the discretion rate to 35% and expand the couple's rate to single persons. This will secure and expand more tenancies and prevent new entries to homelessness. We have also legislated to increase the notice to quit period for no fault evictions. The minimum amount of notice a landlord must give a tenant with a tenancy of less than three years duration before evicting them, has now increased from 28 days to three months. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has also made it clear to local authorities that where there is a risk of a tenant being evicted into homelessness, as a result of a landlord selling the home that the local authority will be supported to purchase the home, should that be appropriate.
The delivery of cost-rental homes is also a key affordability measure under Housing for All, with State backed rents in the order of 25% below what they would be on the private market. Some 900 cost-rental homes have been approved in just over a year since this new rental offer was legislated for. In 2023 a further 1,850 cost-rental homes are to be delivered. The Government's ambition to deliver cost-rental homes at scale will transform the rental market, providing tenants with secure tenancies in sustainable, long-term homes.
I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. It is welcome that the HAP rate has been increased, especially for people in single occupancy because they were finding it really difficult to get a rental property at a rate they could afford.
I welcome that. As the saying goes, "A lot done. More to do." I would like assurance from the Minister of State that it will be kept under review to make sure the new system is working.
I assure the Senator that we will continue to monitor all those metrics in the Department. We have a huge challenge in the winter months in terms of the security of tenancies but the fact that the temporary no-fault eviction ban is in place gives us time to increase the supply. That is the key area. We are trying to increase right over our cities and rural areas the supply of housing, which is the only answer. Bans are not an answer in trying to ensure people get sustainable tenancies. We have a small window in which to increase that scale and especially emergency accommodation provision, which we are working on. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, made a statement on the numbers he expects over the next two quarters. That will alleviate things when the ban terminates. We are working with the increase to 35% in HAP. The figure of €215 million is an increase of 10% on last year in terms of supporting homelessness with our NGOs. We will continue to do that at pace.
Further and Higher Education
I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber. This is technically a Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science issue, but this project incorporates the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage as well.
Kickham Barracks was closed in 2014 and since then a plan has been put forward by Tipperary County Council to revitalise the town of Clonmel. Kickham Barracks plays a key role in that. It was successful in its first phase of funding, which will be completed in the next month. That is the open plaza area connecting the Showgrounds Shopping Centre to Parnell Street. It is looking fantastic and, once opened and all the lights are on, it will be a wonderful amenity.
The council put together an ambitious €50 million plan under the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, a year ago. My colleague, Councillor Michael Murphy, was influential in pushing that forward with the council. Last year, that application was unsuccessful. Some Oireachtas colleagues said it was a disaster and a waste of time. One Government Deputy blamed the application and said it was not up to standard. None of that was true. The main reason the application was not successful, rightly so from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage was that there is a major educational development on the campus of Kickham Barracks and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science needs to play a role in financing it.
In the last year, I have been dealing with the Minister, Deputy Harris. He has been in Kickham Barracks, as have the Minister of State present, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister, Deputy Coveney. We have had almost every senior and influential Minister visit the barracks in the last year. We have outlined what we have tried to do to get the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to support it.
An application has been put forward by Tipperary Education and Training Board, ETB, in collaboration with the Technological University of the Shannon, TUS, to build a giant campus for higher and further education. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has been talking for as long as he has been Minister for higher education about changing the stigma between further education and higher education and creating joint campuses so students are together, whether they are in higher or further education.
Kickham Barracks and a similar site in Mullingar are perfect examples of what we are trying to create in terms of joint campuses on one site. This has the ability to revitalise the town but we need funding from the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. It is in a process at the moment. I know many applications have gone in. I think there are about 30 applications across the country. Few will be successful but this is a massive priority for a town that is very dependent on foreign direct investment and lucky with the type of jobs and job creation we have. However, an area of the town, particularly the town centre, needs to be revitalised. Kickham Barracks plays a key role in that.
The funding the Minister of State and his Department provided a number of years ago and that the former Minister, Eoghan Murphy, committed to was the first phase of that. It would be an awful shame if the first phase was completed and nothing happened after that. We have a new sports hub on the Clonmel bypass. TUS is meant to come in to Kickham Barracks from where that sports hub is to be built but we need to get this over the line. It is a multimillion euro investment from the Department of higher education, if it is willing to commit to it. My fear is the applications are opening soon for the URDF funding and we need this money in before we can apply for that.
I thank Senator Ahearn for raising this important matter again. I had the pleasure of visiting Kickham Barracks and the site and know the huge work being done there. As the Senator said, almost all the Cabinet were down to see it and I have no doubt that will bear fruit in the future. The Minister, Deputy Harris, was eager to be here to respond directly but, unfortunately, had to attend Cabinet.
The proposed development of a joint college campus between Tipperary ETB and TUS on the site of Kickham Barracks, Clonmel, is something I know the Senator has been pursuing for a significant period, including with the visit of the Minister, Deputy Harris, to Carrick-on-Suir. At the heart of the proposal is collaboration between TUS and Tipperary ETB. This is also at the heart of the agenda the Minister is pursuing. A more unified tertiary system is essential if we are to meet the needs of learners, as well as of the economy and greater society.
Earlier this year, Tipperary ETB made an application to the further education and training, FET, college of the future major projects fund to develop an integrated tertiary FET-higher education campus in collaboration with TUS on the Kickham Barracks site in Clonmel town. The Clonmel barracks connected campus is part of a wider network of integrated Tipperary ETB FET locations and is a sister project to a similar connected campus initiative with TUS in Thurles. TUS is collaborating with Tipperary ETB on a proposal for a shared campus in Thurles. This is being led by TUS, which has made an application under the technological sector strategic projects fund.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. He is right that the Minister, Deputy Harris, has been to the fore and supportive of the proposal put forward by Tipperary County Council. It is about making sure the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science steps up and gives the funding it needs to give. That is what the Minister of State's Department requested us to do. I do not know if the Minister of State has a date for when the URDF applications will be open. Will the Minister of State's Department, as he and the Tánaiste have said previously, look at this application more favourably, considering that a multi-euro development on Kickham Barracks would happen if the Minister, Deputy Harris, commits to that project? A year ago, it was a €50 million development of Clonmel town. That would be reduced to the low €30 million application put forward if this was successful with the Minister, Deputy Harris. We are doing the stages requested and I hope this is successful in the coming weeks. It needs to be done as quickly as possible. I am delighted the Minister of State is here because once we are successful in that, please God, then I willl come to him for €30-plus million afterwards.
Well said, Senator Ahearn.
I thank the Senator for putting that passionate and detailed case in relation to Kickham Barracks. It is an excellent site, as I said when I visited. URDF is due to open again shortly. That is a competitive process but we supported that project in the past.
One of the key matters arising from the first successful call and, in particular, the last call that was unsuccessful was that we responded to the issues with the Senator and his team by bringing more Departments to the table and getting an anchor tenant and a rounded process for the site. The Senator provided everything the Department asked for throughout the URDF process. We will be very keen to see an application coming in and will work with the local authority and the Senator in that regard.
National Transport Authority
I raise this issue in order to ask how we, as parliamentarians, can engage with the National Transport Authority, NTA. The issue on from a public meeting I held in the Temperance Hall in Kinsale on Monday night last. We filled the hall and had a big debate about what is happening regarding public transport in Kinsale, the lack of a bus shelter on Clontarf Street in Cork, issues regarding the capacity of buses and safety at bus stops. These are major issues for the people of Kinsale and the surrounding hinterland who use the bus service. I have been trying to engage with the NTA for nine and a half months in order to ask its representatives to meet me. They refuse to do so. This is a Government-funded organisation and it is aloof. It does not want to engage with the public or with the public representatives. The NTA does what it wants, when it wants and has no regard for anyone. What happened in this case is that the NTA relocated a bus stop from the bus station in Cork city to the side of a road in a dangerous location and with no shelter. The bus drivers who operate the route turned up at the public meeting because they cannot stand over what is happening. I wrote to the NTA again last week and I was told it did not have the staff to meet me.
We have to decide what is happening with the State and how we can move things forward. As an organisation, the NTA has a fantastic budget and is involved in licensing routes and providing services. However, is does this in its own way. If it is not done that way, the authority will not engage. During the summer, the NTA tried to put a one-way system through the small village, Minane Bridge, from where I come. When it did not get its way, it just pulled out. We need to have a line of communication. I am aware that he is attending a Cabinet meeting, but I am disappointed that the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is not here because he has due responsibility to the public who elected him and to the Parliament. He also has a responsibility with regard to the budget he puts in allocates to this organisation.
The NTA does not give a damn about us. Following my various correspondences with representatives of the NTA and in the aftermath of their refusal to meet me, I have been sent material from their liaison teams basically stating that there is nothing they can do and that the decision has been made. That is not democracy; that is not what it is all about. To think that, on a very wet and windy Monday night in Kinsale, we could fill a hall to discuss an issue like this shows the absolute outrage in the community. I ask the Minister of State what process is in place to allow us to meet representatives from the NTA. They do not want to meet me, the public or members of the council. They will inform us what they are going to do. This is a serious issue. We have set up a quango that is now out of control and doing what it wants, when it wants. As a result, there is no accountability. The Minister is accountable. He funds the NTA. If he is not going to pull it back and establish a line of communication, we will go nowhere. We need accountability and to know exactly what is happening. I ask the Minister of State to give me a response to the question as to how I can meet representatives of this aloof organisation.
I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I hear the frustrations he has quite rightly articulated in respect of his community and decisions that were taken.
Public consultation should be at the core of decision-making processes of all State agencies. There are a number of different ways in which the NTA meets with elected public representatives to discuss public transport projects. At a statutory level, section 41 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 requires the chairperson and chief executive of the NTA to account for the performance of the functions of the authority to a committee established by either House of the Oireachtas. This type of engagement with Oireachtas committees happens regularly. Just yesterday, the NTA appeared before the Joint Committee on Transport to discuss the service delivery issues being experienced across the public transport network in Dublin. In addition to this type of statutory engagement, representatives from the NTA regularly meet elected public representatives to discuss issues relating to publicly funded transport services and capital investment projects and various other matters under the authority's remit. Public representatives who wish to request a meeting with the NTA can contact the authority's Oireachtas liaison unit to request such a meeting. A meeting request will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and will depend on the availability of the relevant NTA staff to facilitate such a meeting.
As already mentioned, during these engagements with public representatives the NTA can discuss any issues relevant to their statutory functions. As the Senator will be aware, the NTA has an extensive remit and plays an integral role in the implementation of public transport initiatives nationally. The NTA has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally by way of public transport service contracts and for the allocation of associated funding to the relevant transport operators. In its role as the public transport licensing agency, the NTA is responsible for administering funding support through the establishment of contracts between it and the relevant operators. In 2022, this amounted to €538 million in Exchequer funding for public service obligation and Local Link services provided by State operators and under contract by the NTA. More recently, €563 million has been secured as part of budget 2023 negotiations for the continued improvement of these services.
This year, the NTA has implemented a number of fare initiatives including the introduction of the young adult card and the 20% cost-of-living fare reduction on public service obligation services. As Senators will be aware, the Government has ambitious plans for public transport infrastructure nationwide. The programme for Government commits to a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland and is supported by the national development plan, under which €35 billion has been allocated to maintain, enhance and improve transport infrastructure across the country over the next decade. The substantial investment in transport in recent years and the planned ramping up of major projects, such as BusConnects, in every city, Connecting Ireland in rural areas and DART+ and MetroLink means that the national public transport landscape will continue to transform for the better over the coming years.
The NTA is the approving authority for these major public transport projects. Funding for these and other rail and bus investment is allocated to the NTA by the Department of Transport and then provided to the relevant sponsoring authorities. I hope this provides the Senator with an update on the processes and procedures around the NTA. I also hope that his request will be responded to in due course and will result in a meeting with officials from the NTA.
There is a budget of €35 billion, and the officials from the NTA will not meet us. They will not respond to the email even after eight months. They say they do not have the staff or the budget to meet us. That is with a budget of €35 billion. This is a quango that is totally out of control. It has a process in place regarding how it responds to the Houses of the Oireachtas, but local councillors and communities and people on the ground cannot meet its representatives. They are doing laptop studies in Dublin on infrastructural projects in Cork and they will not meet anyone to discuss them. We have a major issue in the context of how this organisation was put together. We all understand that public transportation is the key going forward, but it is about taking people on the journey with us. The problem we have is the disconnect. The NTA does not care about communities because it does not engage with them. Eight months of asking for a meeting and I have got nothing other than the reply that it cannot afford it or cannot send a representative down to Cork. Maybe it is a Cork thing and the officials do not want to come down. Maybe they are based in Dublin and do not know where Cork is except for a spot on the map. Will the Minister of State go back to the Minister for Transport and request that he, after eight months of me failing to get a meeting with officials from the NTA, ask the organisation he is funding to meet us in Clontarf Street to discuss how it can stand over moving the bus stop that was there without any consultation.
I again thank the Senator for outlining the position in his community regarding the projects and the NTA. I will absolutely go back to the Minister. I always report back to senior Ministers when an issue comes up during engagements with Senators, especially when there are concerns in the context of State agencies liaising with public representatives. This is a very important issue. During my time on Westmeath County Council, we used to send a delegation twice yearly to the NTA to discuss projects within the county of that were of concern. There is potential for something like that to be set up in this instance. I will ask the Minister to get back to the Senator on the question of why his request for a meeting has not been responded to.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 11.10 a.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 11.30 a.m.
Sitting suspended at 11.10 a.m. and resumed at 11.30 a.m.