Written Answers Nos. 146-154
146. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will outline the costs incurred by his Department, New ERA and Bord Gáis Éireann in preparing Bord Gáis Energy for sale; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52445/13]
View answerNo additional resources, either internal or external were retained by my Department for the purpose of the Bord Gáis Energy sale process. My Department did not directly engage or incur any expenses in respect of third party services relating to the process as this was undertaken by the NewERA unit of the NTMA. The NTMA is under the aegis of the Minister for Finance. The final details on fees have yet to be worked out, however, I understand that in respect of the Government Steering Group for the transaction, the fees were minimised both by competitive tendering processes and also contractual terms. While the terms of individual contracts are commercially confidential, I am advised that all efforts have been made to keep advisory fees low on the Government side, particularly in the event of a sale not going ahead, with payment amounts being linked to success. Once the fees are finalised, they will be made public. Neither I nor my Department have a role in relation to professional fees paid by commercial State companies.
147. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will state the arrangements in place when wind speeds are low, reducing the power contributed by wind turbines to the national grid; the power source used when this occurs; the cost of this arrangement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52446/13]
View answerThe dispatch of wind generation is carried out within the regulatory framework for market and grid operational requirements. Under Statutory Instrument No. 445 of 2000 Eirgrid, the Transmission System Operator (TSO), is obliged to operate and ensure the maintenance and development of a safe, secure, reliable, economical and efficient electricity transmission system. As the TSO, EirGrid is responsible for managing electricity supply and demand in real time and controlling flows of power on the transmission system. Wind is afforded priority dispatch by the system operator in line with the Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC. Thus, when wind is available, it is dispatched first onto the transmission system. When wind is low, other generation sources are used. These are gas, coal, hydroelectricity, peat, oil, diesel distillate and other smaller sources such as Combined Heat and Power (CHP); in addition, there are potential imports of up to 500 MW over the East West Interconnector. To ensure that this is done in an economic and efficient manner, EirGrid employs a unit commitment schedule to determine the dispatch order of other generation. The unit commitment schedule is determined based on the commercial and technical parameters submitted by generators on a daily basis. The commercial parameters submitted by generators must be cost reflective as per the bidding code of practice rules, which form part of the Single Electricity Market (SEM) rules. The unit commitment schedule establishes the most economic order for dispatching the generation needed to meet electricity demand. The cheapest generation type is dispatched first, then the next cheapest and so on until the system operator has enough generation to meet demand. In general, when wind is high and available to the power system, the production costs in the market are lower.
148. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the tax penalities for developers hoarding up land banks around Dublin; his plans to introduce a new policy to ensure land is made available for residential housing in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52354/13]
View answerThe only penalty of this nature applicable to the hoarding and non-development of sites is the derelict sites levy provided for under section 23 of the Derelict Sites Act 1990. This levy, which only applies to sites in urban areas, allows local authorities to apply an annual levy of 3 per cent of the market value of the derelict, but potentially developable, site in question subject to the satisfaction of certain criteria. The levy has proven difficult to apply in practice as the non-development of the sites in question may be due to factors outside the control of the site owner.
With regard to the availability of land for housing development in the Dublin area, a recent data gathering exercise conducted by my Department indicated that there is already appropriate residential zoning of land for upwards of 30,000 new homes in the Dublin region, across the four Dublin local authorities. Accordingly housing supply in the Dublin area is not necessarily constrained by the lack of available land for housing but rather the market viability of developing new housing projects having regard to the land acquisition, development and construction costs of bringing new houses and apartments to the market, combined with the issue of the availability of credit, both development finance and mortgage credit and certain other factors.
149. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding the climate change talks that recently concluded in Poland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52066/13]
View answerI refer to the reply to Question No. 9 on today’s Order Paper, which sets put the position in this matter.
150. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views regarding Threshold's latest 2012 annual report which states that families are being forced to live in substandard accommodation due to rising demand and prices in the rental market, and that there is a failure on the part of local authorities to enforce minimum standards legislation; the way he will address the lack of enforcement by local authorities; the way he will counteract the trend of substandard accommodation as appropriate accommodation is in increasingly short supply and as low income families become increasingly vulnerable to substandard accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52158/13]
View answerMinimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, as amended by the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 made under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992. These specify requirements in relation to a range of matters such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light and safety of gas and electrical supply. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their properties comply with the regulations; however, responsibility for the enforcement of the minimum standards regulations rests with the local authorities supported by a dedicated stream of funding provided from part of the proceeds of tenancy registration fees collected by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB).
It is a matter for each individual local authority to decide the specific details of its enforcement strategy and inspection arrangements. However, in discharging their responsibilities in relation to the rental sector, authorities have been asked to have regard to the Good Practice Guidelines for Local Authorities on Standards in the Private Rented Sector: Strategic Planning, Effective Enforcement published by the Centre for Housing Research in November 2007, which make recommendations on relevant issues, including the targeting of inspection activities.
Following the enactment of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, local authorities have a strengthened, updated regulatory framework available to them which provides for the issuing of Improvement Notices and Prohibition Notices where landlords are in breach of their obligations. Fines for continuing non-compliance with the regulations were also increased significantly. While I expect that the large majority of landlords will comply with local authorities’ directions in the area of standards, the legal sanctions available to local authorities are an important aspect of enforcement and I would encourage local authorities to use them where landlords have failed to comply with directions.
PRTB registrations at the end of 2012 indicate that there are just over 260,000 registered properties for private rental in Ireland. Since 2005, over 130,000 inspections have been carried out by local authorities on properties in the sector.
The Government is acutely aware of the importance of having a robust private rented sector which provides good quality accommodation and protection for tenants. On 1 February 2013, regulations 6, 7 and 8 of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008 came into effect for all residential rented accommodation. This means that all rental accommodation must have its own separate sanitary facilities leading to the phasing-out of the traditional ‘bed-sit’, where sanitary facilities are shared between different rental units. The Regulations allowed a four year phasing-in period to facilitate any improvement works that needed to be carried out.
The revised standards do not specifically target bed-sits but were based on a review of minimum standards dating back to 1993 which allowed external toilets, cold water only and having an open fireplace as the only heating source. The new standards were made in consultation with key stakeholders including organisations representing landlords and tenant rights, such as the Irish Property Owners Association and Threshold.
I am confident that targeted inspection activity and effective follow-up action where there is non-compliance will continue to improve the quality of the stock in the rented sector and I urge all landlords to ensure that their dwellings are in compliance with the regulations.
151. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the additional green charges being proposed by him; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that indirect taxes have disproportionate effects on those least able to pay. [52232/13]
View answerI have not proposed the introduction of any “green charges”.
At the Waste Summit on 28 November 2013, I launched a number of important policy developments for the waste area in line with commitments set out in Government’s national waste policy, A Resource Opportunity - Waste Management Policy in Ireland. I announced public consultation processes on two further chapters from the ongoing and wide-ranging review of the existing producer responsibility initiatives (PRIs) in Ireland. The new chapters relate to end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) and waste tyres and make important recommendations to improve existing compliance schemes for both waste streams.
At the Summit, I also announced a public consultation process on the regulation of our household waste collection system. This process is intended to facilitate a dialogue with the public and key stakeholders including representatives from the waste industry, statutory bodies such as local authorities, the EPA, the National Transfrontier Shipment Office, environmental NGOs and the public. My aim is to use the 8-week consultation process to inform the development of a regulatory regime that will resolve shortcomings in the existing regulatory regime, including:
- low rates of householder participation in some areas;
- insufficient levels of prevention and reuse of waste;
- insufficient levels of segregation of household waste; and
- pricing issues.
152. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will request local authorities in County Cork to provide in tabular form the amount they each spent on housing adaptations for their own tenants in the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52243/13]
View answerThe funding provided to County Councils in respect of adaptations and extensions to meet the needs of tenants with a disability is allocated and recouped on a county-at-large basis. Information on the amounts spent in each of the nine town councils in County Cork is not available in my Department and could appropriately be sought from the relevant town councils. Details of the funding provided to Cork County Council and Cork City Council over the period 2009 -2012 and to date in 2013 are set out in the following table:
|
Local Authority |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
|
Cork County Council |
€ 26,592 |
€ 420,716 |
€ 190,496 |
€ 60,305 |
€ 363,046 |
|
Cork City Council |
€ 2,954,832 |
€ 697,727 |
€ 858,066 |
€ 168,262 |
€ 344,212 |
|
TOTAL |
€ 2,981,424 |
€ 1,118,443 |
€ 1,048,562 |
€ 228,567 |
€ 707,258 |
153. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if a competition will be held to appoint a new county manager for Fingal County Council; the manner in which this competition might operate; and the timeline of the competition. [52287/13]
View answerThe selection and appointment of a County or City Manager is governed by primary legislation, including the Local Government Act 2001. Managers are selected following open competition conducted by the Public Appointments Service. I understand that the Public Appointments Service has initiated the recruitment process to replace the Fingal County Manager.
154. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the audits or examinations that have taken place to determine the impact the implementation of carbon tax has had on improving air quality here. [52292/13]
View answerTaxation is primarily a matter for the Minister for Finance. The purpose of the carbon tax, which was introduced in Budget 2010, is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by incentivising companies to bring low-carbon products and services to the market.
Generally, reducing greenhouse gas emissions will also reduce air pollution, although this is not always the case; for example, the increased use of diesel vehicles lowers CO 2 emissions but increases emissions of air pollutants such as nitrous oxides (NO) and particulate matter (PM).
In Budget 2013, the Government decided to extend the carbon tax to apply to solid fuels. Significant benefits to air quality should result from the Solid Fuel Carbon Tax (SFCT) if it promotes a shift from residential solid fuels to cleaner alternatives such as renewables, gas, oil or even 'smokeless' solid fuels containing biomass blends. I have asked my Department to explore this issue further with the Department of Finance. However, as the SFCT has only come into effect from May 2013, it is too soon to assess its impact on air quality.
