Skip to main content
Normal View

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Written Answers Nos. 129 - 136

Rent Supplement Scheme Data

Questions (129, 130)

Michael P. Kitt

Question:

129. Deputy Michael P. Kitt asked the Minister for Social Protection the reasons there has been a significant drop in the numbers of persons availing of rent supplement from 2011 to date; the number of cases that relate to securing employment; the number of cases where the person remains on the welfare payment but no longer avails of rent supplement; and the number of persons no longer appearing in the system at all; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20587/14]

View answer

Michael P. Kitt

Question:

130. Deputy Michael P. Kitt asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form the number of persons who availed of rent supplement in the past 12 months; the number who have been in receipt of rent supplement for three months or fewer; the number for more than three months but not more than six months; the number for more than six months but fewer than 12 months; the number in receipt for 12 months to 18 months; the number in receipt of rent supplement for more than 18 months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20588/14]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 129 and 130 together.

The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources. The overall aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes operated by the Exchequer. There are currently approximately 77,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014.

Rent supplement is a demand led scheme and recipient numbers reached an unprecedented high with a peak of over 97,000 during 2011. There are currently approximately 77,000 rent supplement recipients with the number of recipients falling by almost 20,000 during this period. A detailed breakdown on the reason customers exit rent supplement and details of their current status is not available. However, the numbers in receipt of the scheme have continued to reduce since the peak experienced in 2011 in line with the improving trends in the economy and the reduction in the live register. As of April 2014, some 33,200 persons on the live register are in receipt of rent supplement compared to a figure of 48,000 in August 2011.

The Department’s strategic policy direction is to transfer responsibility for recipients of rent supplement with a long-term housing need to local authorities under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). Officials are working closely with those in the lead Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, in piloting HAP in Limerick with further roll out to selected local authorities during the year. It should also be noted that since December 2011, almost 10,750 long term rent supplement cases have been transferred to local authority sponsored solutions, including the Rental Accommodation Scheme.

The number of rent supplement recipients by claim duration at end April 2014 is provided in the following tabular statement.

Number of Recipients of Rent Supplement by Claim Duration, End of April 2014

Duration in Months (1)

Recipients (2)

0 to 3

5,213

3 to 6

6,099

6 to 12

13,419

12 to 18

9,600

18+

42,873

Total

77,204

(1) Claims with duration of precisely 3 months are recorded under the 3-6 months heading, claims with duration of precisely 6 months are recorded under the 6-12 months heading and so on.

(2) This represents unbroken continuous claims only. Where recipients change address, the claim at the new address may be recorded as a new claim and the duration spent at the previous address may not be taken into account in these statistics.

Departmental Offices

Questions (131)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

131. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection the health and safety risk assessments that are conducted on sites used by her Department to conduct sessions in outsourced sites for members of the public to sign on the live register; the risk indicators that have been identified; the way these are mitigated; the frequency with which risk assessments are reassessed or reviewed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20613/14]

View answer

Written answers

My Department provides services from a network of external Branch Offices, which are independently owned and staffed. In accordance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005, there is an obligation on all employers, including Branch Managers, to have a Safety Statement & Risk Assessment completed for their offices and available for inspection.

From time to time, there are cases where the Department arranges for staff of the Department to deliver services from an externally owned premises. Any premises from which staff of the Department operate on an on-going basis needs to be risk assessed, in line with the Department’s obligations to provide for the health, safety and welfare of its staff, visitors, members of the public and contractors. Typical risk indicators include regard for the physical working environment (including hazards); fire safety; emergency preparedness, safe means of access and egress; hygiene; management and organisation of work activities; and prevention (in so far is reasonably practicable) of improper conduct or behaviour likely to put an employees’ safety and health at risk.

Mitigation measures will differ depending on the specific building, but may include the provision of information, instruction, training and supervision necessary; provision, where necessary, of the services of a competent person; ensuring facilities are adequately designed and maintained; measures to be taken in the case of an emergency or serious or imminent danger. Risk assessments are reviewed at least annually, or on the introduction of any new work activity or in the event of any accident or dangerous occurrence, in order to review effectiveness of control measures.

National Monuments

Questions (132)

Dominic Hannigan

Question:

132. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht further to Parliamentary Question No. 415 of 30 April 2014, the options his Department is considering to repair Dunsany Cross; which expert opinion is his Department talking to; the timeline for when the work will begin to repair the cross; if funding is available for this to happen; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20541/14]

View answer

Written answers

While Dunsany Cross is protected under the National Monuments Acts 1930-2004, it is not in my ownership or guardianship as Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Therefore, neither my Department nor the Office of Public Works is responsible for its conservation, repair or maintenance. Notwithstanding the foregoing, my Department has undertaken an inspection of the Cross and its former site and has consulted the National Museum of Ireland, the Office of Public Works and Meath County Council in relation to possible repair and long-term conservation options. An assessment by a specialist stone conservator will be undertaken shortly which will entail a full recording of the remains of the Cross, including the plinth, and will set out recommendations in relation to reconstruction, appropriate methodologies and materials and the associated costs. It is not possible at this stage to indicate a likely timescale, costing or funding source for the project.

Broadband Service Provision

Questions (133, 134, 135, 136)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

133. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding the roll-out of broadband for the Kerry Pike area, County Cork. [20437/14]

View answer

Bernard Durkan

Question:

134. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if and when broadband will become available to a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20438/14]

View answer

Michael Moynihan

Question:

135. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on the inclusion of the area of Killorglin, County Kerry in the list of locations for fibre build out as part of the national broadband plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20457/14]

View answer

Tom Fleming

Question:

136. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will add Ballybunion to the indicative list of locations to be connected by fibre as part of the State intervention under the national broadband plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20562/14]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 133 to 136, inclusive, together.

The Government’s National Broadband Plan, which I published in August 2012, aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses. This will be achieved by providing:

- a policy and regulatory framework that assists in accelerating and incentivising commercial investment, and

- a State-led intervention for areas where it is not commercial for the market to invest.

Since the publication of the Plan, investments by the commercial sector are underway and in some instances have been accelerated in both fixed line and wireless high speed broadband services. Commercial operators combined have either invested, or committed to invest, over €2 billion in their Irish networks, delivering high speed broadband to homes and businesses. For example:

- Eircom is rolling out a €400m investment in a Next Generation Access Fibre Network that offers speeds of up to 100Mbps. Service is already available to over 800,000 addresses, with planned coverage to reach 1.4m addresses by 2016.

- UPC has invested over €500m in upgrading its cable network. Over 700,000 homes can already access minimum broadband speeds of 120Mbps and up to 200Mbps. Businesses can access speeds of 500Mbps.

- ESB is engaged in a new project allowing a fibre network to be rolled-out on its existing electricity infrastructure. It is understood that discussions between ESB and Vodafone to form a new Joint Venture Company are at an advanced stage. The company has initial plans to construct a fibre network directly to 450,000 premises outside of Dublin and it is expected that details will be announced over the coming weeks.

- Mobile operators have launched 4G high speed mobile broadband services following ComReg’s multiband spectrum auction. There has also been continued investment by all operators in enhancing and broadening 3G services and network improvements.

- Fixed wireless operators are continuing to invest in high speed point-to-point wireless broadband.

- The broadcaster Sky has entered the broadband market, increasing choice for consumers.

Of the estimated 2.3m premises in Ireland, approximately 1.4m are expected to be served by these commercial next generation broadband services over the coming years.

This accelerated roll out of high speed services by the commercial sector means that the addressable area required by the State intervention has been reduced by 30% since the National Broadband Plan was launched. While the commercial developments are welcome the acceleration of investment is largely contained to cities and towns. The speeds that are available in these areas are demonstrably better than those that are available in more rural areas.

On 25 April, I signalled the Government's commitment to a major telecommunications network build-out to rural Ireland, with fibre as the foundation of its investment under the National Broadband Plan. This commitment is a clear expression of Government’s determination to address the connectivity challenge in rural Ireland in a meaningful and sustainable way.

Central to the strategy will be a fibre build-out to locations in every county in the State identified as having no existing or planned enabling fibre network. It is intended that the fibre will be delivered directly to access points for homes and businesses, where service providers can utilise the fibre to provide high speed services to end users. The fibre build-out will also ensure that fibre is deployed to strategic locations on each route such as schools, business hubs and health facilities. The fibre build out will be part of an end-to-end strategy that will address all parts of Ireland that cannot access commercial high speed broadband services.

I have published a county-by-county list of towns and villages which have already been identified for a fibre build-out. This is an indicative list and is subject to the completion of the comprehensive mapping process currently underway. Further locations may be identified as this process continues. Similarly, it may be determined that some locations on the list will be addressed by the commercial sector and will therefore not require State intervention. Currently I envisage that a total of 59 areas in County Kerry, 18 areas in County Kildare and 108 areas in County Cork will be included in the proposed fibre build-out. The list is available on my Department's website www.dcenr.gov.ie.

In tandem with the fibre build-out, the Strategy will include measures to respond to aggregated community demand for services, and the provision of access services in the most remote areas where fibre rollout may be insufficient to stimulate commercial investment or may be cost-prohibitive.

Intensive design work is ongoing in the Department with a view to publishing an end-to-end implementation strategy later this year, together with the outcome of the mapping exercise which will identify the areas that require intervention. A full public consultation will take place once the strategy is published and EU State Aids clearance will be required for the intervention strategy once finalised. It is expected that the detailed procurement process will take place in 2015 with a view to commencing construction of the fibre network and provision of services in the areas that require intervention as quickly as possible.

The EU Commission’s guidelines on state aid for high speed broadband infrastructure preclude member states from intervening in regions in which private investors have demonstrated plans to roll out their own infrastructure within the following three years. In this regard it is noted that at least one network operator has published a programme to roll out a fibre-based broadband networks in Counties Kerry and Kildare, which includes rolling out those services in Ballybunion and Killorgan in County Kerry and Naas in County Kildare by July 2016.

I fully share the concerns of local representatives about the quality of broadband in rural areas. I intend to ensure that rural Ireland enjoys similar opportunities to urban areas by ensuring an end-to end market intervention with fibre as a core component. In committing to a fibre build-out at the heart of this strategy, the Government is acknowledging that broadband is the key infrastructure of the 21st century.

Top
Share