Written Answers Nos. 171-79
171. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will confirm the block grant allocation from the local government fund to Cork County Council for each of the years 2012, 2013 and 2014. [8827/14]
View answer172. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will confirm the block grant allocation from the local government fund to Cork City Council for each of the years 2012, 2013 and 2014. [8828/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 171 and 172 together.
I presume the questions refer to the General Purpose Grant allocations from the Local Government Fund. In December 2013, I announced General Purpose Grants (GPGs) to local authorities of €275 million for 2014. When taken with the estimated water costs of up to €730 million that will be transferred from the local government sector to Irish Water this year, this represents a funding boost of approximately €98 million to the sector in 2014 in comparison with the corresponding funding and costs for 2013.
The Water Services Act 2013 provided for the establishment of Irish Water as a subsidiary of Bórd Gáis Éireann, to be formed and registered under the Companies Act. The Water Services (No.2) Act 2013 transferred statutory responsibility for water services to Irish Water and provided for local authorities to act as agents for Irish Water, with this relationship being expressed through Service Level Agreements. These agreements have now been signed by each authority and Irish Water and each included operational budgets appropriate to the cost of providing water services within each authority area. Within this overall framework, the agreement of budgets with individual local authorities and the payments for services provided is a matter for Irish Water.
The General Purpose Grant allocation for 2014 to Cork County includes all relevant town councils. The information requested is set out in the table below. The impact of the changed funding model for local authorities for 2014 is that GPG data is not comparable to previous years as it does not reflect the funding for water costs, previously provided through GPGs, which is now provided directly to local authorities by Irish Water.
Local Government Fund - General Purpose Grant Allocation
|
- |
2012 |
2013 |
*2014 |
|
Cork County Council |
€33,495,626 |
€32,048,612 |
€2,951,435 |
|
Cork City Council |
€17,265,785 |
€16,612,544 |
€8,544,374 |
* 2014 figures do not include funding for water services, now provided directly to local authorities by Irish Water.
173. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the progress being made in reviewing shared services agreements at local authority level to generate further efficiencies at local government level; his plans regarding the grouping together of councils; if this will be done on a geographical basis or by sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8848/14]
View answerShared services have been identified in the Local Government Efficiency Review and the Public Service Reform Plans as an important opportunity to make further savings in administrative costs, through streamlining and improving service delivery without impacting on front line services. To drive the reform agenda, and in particular shared service initiatives, in the local government sector, a dedicated Programme Management Office (PMO) has been established which reports to a high-level Oversight Group. Overall, 31 operational areas are being examined for potential as a shared service or other collaborative approach that may provide efficiencies. The PMO has adopted a comprehensive methodology for the development and evaluation of projects including gathering and analysing baseline data, business case preparation and peer review of business cases.
Payroll/Superannuation, Building Control, Treasury Management, Procurement and Accounts Payable have been prioritised in the shared services programme in the short to medium term and the programme is being progressed using a lead authority model. Following a competitive bidding process in 2013, Laois County Council was selected to provide Shared Payroll and Superannuation services on behalf of all local authorities and has established a shared services centre for that purpose in Portlaoise. This shared service commenced in January 2014 and all local authorities will transition to it in waves in the period to 2016. The Treasury Management shared services project is at the early stages of implementation, with Cork County Council as the lead local authority. In relation to procurement, the local authority sector is working closely with the Office of Government Procurement to deliver significant savings over the coming years.
174. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding the Dublin water supply project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8859/14]
View answerThe Dublin Water Supply Scheme (Long-Term Water Source) was included in my Department’s Water Services Investment Programme 2010 – 2013 as a scheme to advance through planning during the lifetime of the Programme. Studies have identified the River Shannon as the proposed source and the proposal was the subject of a Strategic Environmental Assessment. In September 2013, following the conclusion of a tender process, Dublin City Council appointed Consultants to progress the project through the planning process. The Consultants are to prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment, and deal with other statutory procedures, prior to submission of these to An Bord Pleanála for determination in due course. Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water is responsible for the delivery of water services capital infrastructure. It is currently preparing a Capital Investment Plan for 2014 – 2016 that will provide for the transition of projects that were included in my Department’s Water Services Investment Programme 2010-2013.
175. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the action he is taking to ensure more land comes on line to deal with the housing supply shortage in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8863/14]
View answerWith 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 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 by the current 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.
176. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding vehicle tax. [8876/14]
View answerLicensing authorities have an obligation under Article 3 of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations 1992 to be satisfied that a vehicle is correctly taxed and it is thus open to a motor tax office to seek any appropriate documentation that would indicate that the applicant is in trade or business when the goods rate of motor tax is being applied for. It is up to the individual concerned to provide whatever evidence is required by a licensing authority for it to be satisfied that the applicant is entitled to claim what is in effect a concessionary rate of motor tax. Vehicles taxed at the commercial rate must be used only in the course of trade or business.
178. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if persons who are going through an insolvency process are expected to pay a portion of their social welfare payment to their bank. [8647/14]
View answerPersons solely reliant for income on payments received from the Department of Social Protection would not ordinarily be expected to pay a portion of this to creditors during the course of either a Debt Settlement Arrangement or a Personal Insolvency Arrangement. The legislative provisions contained in the Personal Insolvency Act 2012 preclude either arrangement containing any terms which would require the debtor to make payments of such an amount that the debtor would not have sufficient income to maintain a reasonable standard of living for the debtor and his or her dependants.
Initial guidelines as to what constitutes a reasonable standard of living and reasonable living expenses were published by the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) in April 2013 and an updated guide issued in June 2013 to reflect adjustments for inflation. The guidelines produced by the ISI are a modified version of the consensual budget standards model originally developed in Ireland by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice which has conducted research in Ireland for over 12 years on developing necessary expenditure figures for different types of households. The guidelines received a general welcome from debtor advocacy groups for offering insolvent debtors protection in negotiations with creditors.
It may be the case that where debtors have social welfare payments in addition to other income, a Family Income Supplement for example, then they have net disposable income in excess of the guidelines published by the ISI from which they are able to make payments to creditors as part of a Debt Settlement Arrangement or a Personal Insolvency Arrangement. It should be noted that where a debtor qualifies for a Debt Relief Notice, payments to creditors from income will not be made at all unless the circumstances of the debtor improve in accordance with the provisions of the legislation over the three year period of the Notice. Ordinarily, debts subject to a Debt Relief Notice will be written off at the end of the three year period.
179. Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will investigate penalty points which were incorrectly imposed on a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8753/14]
View answerThe Deputy will appreciate that I have no direct role in the administration of the Fixed Charge Notice system which is a matter for An Garda Síochána. Where a person has a query concerning a Fixed Charge Notice they have received, they should contact the Garda Fixed Charge Processing Office.
