Written Answers Nos. 112 - 116
112. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government further to parliamentary Question No. 21 of 5 December 2013, the reason the condition was changed from the majority of those on the register of electors to owners; if his attention has been drawn to the difficulty this has caused in both providing proof and tracing landlords; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53284/13]
View answerThe amendment of section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 referred to in the Question, which requires a planning authority to respond to a request for the taking in charge of an estate received from a majority of the “owners” of the units in the estate, rather than the “owners or occupiers” as had previously been the case, was made to implement a recommendation of the Law Reform Commission Report of June 2008.
The Commission, in paragraph 1.31 of its report, stated that it “considers that the interests of tenant-occupiers of dwellings within an estate are often very different to those of unit owners. Occupiers who are not owners do not, as a rule, directly pay the service charge where a service charge is levied. They do not have a capital investment in the value of the estate. Indeed, some occupants of units on a given estate may intend to reside in an estate for a very short time only. As a result, the Commission questions the suitability of occupiers of property in a development, who are not unit owners, being eligible voters in the event of a plebiscite. The Commission accepts that under company law provisions it is open to unit owners to give a proxy vote to an occupant if they wish to do so. Ultimately, this should be left to the discretion of the unit owner.”
113. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if a Natura impact statement and an addendum to the environmental impact statement in support of lease applications for the Dublin Array project have been submitted and considered by his Department. [53311/13]
View answerAdditional information including an addendum to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and a Natura Impact Statement (NIS) was received by my Department on 28 February 2013. All documentation in regard to the foreshore lease application can be viewed via my Department’s website at www.environ.ie. To date the application has not been assessed by my Department. Any future environmental assessment by my Department of the proposed development will have regard to the information contained in the lease application including the EIS and NIS, the Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan currently being prepared by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, the plan’s associated Strategic Environmental Assessment and Appropriate Assessment as well as the best available advice from my Department’s advisors and the Marine Licence Vetting Committee.
114. Deputy Michael Colreavy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if the empty housing estate in County Sligo will be demolished in view of the need for social housing there; if there is a bond from the developers; and who will pay the cost of demolition. [53337/13]
View answerThe National Co-ordinating Committee, which I chair, was established as a response to the report of the advisory group on unfinished housing developments and has harnessed the expertise and goodwill of the construction and banking sectors, local authorities, residents representatives and NAMA. Local authorities are continuing to pursue developers and others to comply with their obligations under planning regulations. Predominantly developer/funder/receiver funded site resolution processes will remain the main vehicle to tackle unfinished developments. 553 developments have been brought to a resolution point in this way over the past 12 months alone. I expect that such processes will continue to make significant inroads into the remaining 992 inhabited unfinished developments.
Additionally, my Department has available a Special Resolution Fund of €10 million, provided in Budget 2014, to address the completion of infrastructure on developments which could not be resolved because of absences of, or inadequacies in, planning securities and other unforeseen cost and risk issues. The fund will be operated by the local authorities and will be carefully targeted mainly to address difficulties in public infrastructure that have arisen on certain developments included in my Department’s National Housing Development Survey 2013. It is also necessary to explore resolution of those developments which appear to be commercially unviable due to location, build quality, commercial demand or other factors and where the most prudent course of action may be to seek the agreement of owners/funders to clear all or part of the site.
Accordingly, the National Coordinating Committee established a group to oversee the development of a strategy for these residual developments and to work with stakeholders in identifying and agreeing such sites for full or partial clearance, thereby improving the lives of existing residents and removing dangerous structures from public access. I understand that forty such developments have been initially identified and fall to be addressed by the relevant owners, receivers and funders. The names of the individual estates identified by the funders have not been identified to my Department for reasons of commercial sensitivity. The costs associated with this strategy are equally sensitive and I do not hold this information. Responsibility for the clearance of unviable estates remains the responsibility of the funders and I welcome their participation in this pragmatic approach which will further underscore a return to a properly functioning property market.
115. Deputy Anthony Lawlor asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of EU directives related to his Department that have yet to be transposed into Irish law despite the deadline date having passed; when it is proposed that these directives will be transposed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53351/13]
View answerI am pleased to report that there are no directive s awaiting transposition in areas for which my Department has responsibility and for which the deadline has passed. My Department continues to work hard to ensure that directives are transposed by their due date.
116. Deputy Jim Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the cost incurred in his Department as a result of Oireachtas Members initiating legal challenges in the courts for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53653/13]
View answerMy Department has not incurred any costs in relation to legal challenges in the courts taken by members of the Oireachtas over the past five years.
