Written Answers Nos. 489-505
489. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will expedite the resolution of a shared water supply issue in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo; and if he will instruct Irish Water to address this issue as a matter of urgency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35288/14]
View answerThe Water Services Act 2013 provides for the establishment of Irish Water as an independent subsidiary within the Bord Gáis Éireann Group and assigns the necessary powers to allow Irish Water to undertake the water metering programme. The installation programme commenced in August 2013 and will be implemented nationally as quickly as possible.
Up to 300,000 households may not be metered in the initial metering programme due to either the high cost or the technical difficulty of doing so. Irish Water has commissioned a study on possible approaches to metering properties that are not part of the current metering programme, including apartments and properties with shared service connections. On the basis of this report, it has been agreed to incorporate 48,000 apartments, identified by the report as being easily metered , into the current metering programme. The advancement of any further phase of metering, including the individual metering of properties with a shared service connection, will be a matter for consideration by the Commission for Energy Regulation based on proposals from Irish Water.
The proposed approach to charging has been outlined by Irish Water in a water charges plan which it has submitted to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) in line with the provisions of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013. The CER is responsible for approving the plan , taking account of a ministerial policy direction issued to the CER in July 2014, in accordance with section 42 of the Water Services (No. 2 ) Act 2013 . Against this background, the CER are proposing to approve a water charges plan which provides that properties not connected to a meter would be billed on the basis of a scheme of assessed charges based on occupancy. The CER recently held a public consultation on the water charges plan and it is currently reviewing submissions received, in advance of making a final determination later this month. Full details of the CER public consultation are available on its website, www.cer.ie.
The policy direction of July 2014 requires the CER to review assessed charges in the light of emerging data on metered consumption to ensure that the assessed charges remain as close a proxy for actual usage as possible.
My Department has asked Irish Water to contact the person referred to in the question directly.
490. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the legal provision that permits Irish Water to request and be provided with the PPS numbers of water customers; the reason it is necessary for customers to provide their PPS numbers to Irish Water; and if he will report on the way this personal data will be managed by Irish Water. [35295/14]
View answer499. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on Irish Water's data protection policy as stated on a website (details supplied); if the opinion of the Data Protection Commissioner was sought in regards to Irish Water's data protection policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35478/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 490 and 499 together.
In advance of the introduction of domestic water charges, the Government made certain decisions on 6 May 2014 relating to the structure of water charges including, inter alia, a free allowance per household and an additional free allowance for children on the same qualifying conditions as the Child Benefit payment from the Department of Social Protection.
As these allowances are to be funded by Government, Irish Water needs to ensure it has the appropriate and sufficient information to reflect these entitlements. The Personal Public Services (PPS) Numbers will be used by Irish Water to ensure that each household receives the free allowance it is entitled to, as well as any additional allowance for children in receipt of Child Benefit at that address. It will also facilitate Irish Water in providing reduced charges to owners who have unoccupied dwellings.
Irish Water is a specified body under section 20 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2014 and is therefore permitted to request PPS numbers to authenticate the identity of the person being provided with an allowance. Irish Water will treat applicants’ personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003. Irish Water has confirmed to my Department that its data protection notice is fully compliant with Data Protection requirements and that it is in regular contact with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure this is the case.
491. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding a legal situation (details supplied) in respect of local authority or county council liability for injuries sustained relating to public accidents involving Irish Water meters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35304/14]
View answerThe Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provided for the transfer of water services functions from the city and county councils to Irish Water. Irish Water assumed responsibility for public water services on 1 January 2014.
Water meters installed by Irish Water under the domestic water metering programme remain the property of Irish Water. Section 32(1)(f) and section 72(1)(b)(i) of the Water Services Act 2007 provide that it is a function of Irish Water to maintain water meters and to keep water meters in proper order. My Department is not aware of any local authority bye-laws in relation to this matter.
493. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for dormant accounts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35347/14]
View answerIn accordance with the Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Act 2012, a new Disbursement Scheme was approved by Government in December 2013 and was laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 18 December 2013. The 2012 Act also provides for the preparation of an Action Plan each year to give effect to the Scheme. A Dormant Accounts Action Plan for 2014 was adopted on 1 July 2014. The plan will provide diverse supports for disadvantaged communities, including measures to promote youth employment, employability and entrepreneurship, training for carers and support for people with disabilities.
I have allocated €5.456 million for Dormant Accounts Measures under my Department in 2014, which includes €2 million to be used to support labour force activation measures in local authorities and the implementation of the Dormant Accounts Action Plan. Measures under my Department are administered by Pobal and it is intended that applications for the next round of funding will be invited in Quarter 1 2015. The Scheme and the Action Plan are both available on my Department’s website at the following link:
http://www.environ.ie/en/Community/DormantAccounts.
494. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of the €539 million loan from the National Pensions Reserve Fund to Uisce Éireann that has been spent to date. [35470/14]
View answer497. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the estimated total capital investment spend on water and sewerage services in 2015; and if he will provide a breakdown identifying each funding source. [35473/14]
View answer498. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount it will cost to provide water and sewerage services in 2015; and the anticipated revenue to be raised respectively through domestic household charges, non-domestic charges and other streams. [35474/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 494, 497 and 498 together.
The establishment of Irish Water is an integral component of the Government’s water sector reform strategy and involves major organisational change, an entirely new funding structure governed by economic regulation, the introduction of domestic water charges based on usage and the roll-out of a national domestic metering programme. Bord Gáis Éireann (BGE) had responsibility for most of the deliverables under the Government water sector reform implementation strategy including the establishment of a fully functioning integrated public water utility and the roll-out of the national domestic water metering programme (the estimated cost of the metering programme is €539m excluding VAT). Some €250m in loan finance has been advanced to Irish Water to date by the National Pensions Reserve Fund in order to finance this expenditure.
The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) has recently reviewed the Irish Water submission in relation to its costs over the regulatory review period, which runs from 1 October 2014 to the end of 2016, to ensure that only efficient costs are recovered from customers. This will result in an allowed revenue for Irish Water of €2,078 million over the period. Irish Water has published its proposed Capital Investment Plan 2014-2016 and this is available online at http://www.water.ie/news/proposed-capital-investme/Proposed-Capital-Investment-Plan-2014-2016.pdf.
Irish Water will fund its activities with revenue from a number of sources including domestic and non-domestic water charges, Government subvention, commercial borrowing and equity investment. Domestic water charges will commence with effect from 1 October 2014 and Irish Water will issue the first bills to domestic customers from January 2015. The approach to charging was outlined by Irish Water in its Water Charges Plan (WCP) submitted to the CER in line with the provisions of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013.
As part of the CER’s recent consultation process on the Irish Water WCP it proposed a range of domestic tariffs which would result in an average annual charge of €238 per household. The amount billed to domestic customers for the year 2015 based on this charging structure would be in the order of €300 million and the amount billed to non-domestic customers would be some €230 million.
The CER is currently reviewing submissions received during the consultation and a final determination on water charges will be made by the CER later this month. Full details of the CER public consultation are available on www.cer.ie.
Irish Water has confirmed to my Department that it has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. The team can be contacted via email to oireachtasmembers@water.ie or by telephone on 1890 278 278.
495. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the current average collection rate of water charges from non-domestic users; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35471/14]
View answerThe Water Services (No.2) Act 2013 provides for the transfer of water services functions from the local authorities to Irish Water and provides for local authorities to act as agents for Irish Water. Local authorities have continued billing, collections and billing/metering query functions in relation to non-domestic customers on behalf of Irish Water. Non-domestic customer data is migrating from local authorities to Irish Water and this is scheduled for completion by January 2015.
The most recent data available regarding the rate of collections of non-domestic water charges is contained in the Local Government Management Agency ( LGMA) report ‘ Service Indicators in Local Authorities 2012’ . According to this report, the average collection rate for non-domestic water charges in 2012 was 55.4%. This report is available on the LGMA’s website at : http://www.lgcsb.ie/sites/default/files/service_indicators_2012_report_for_website_0.pdf
496. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the current average rate of water leakage across the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35472/14]
View answerThe most recent published figures for unaccounted for water for each of the local authority administrative areas are set out in the report Service Indicators in Local Authorities 2012, which was published by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) on 24 March 2014. A copy of the report is available on the LGMA website at: http://www.lgcsb.ie/sites/default/files/service_indicators_2012_report_for_website_0.pdf.
Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water is responsible for the delivery of water services capital infrastructure. Irish Water has recently published its Proposed Capital Investment Plan for 2014 – 2016 and this is available on the Irish Water website, www.water.ie.
The plan outlines a number of priorities to be delivered including tackling leakage, eliminating Boil Water Notices, improving water quality and investing for economic development .
Irish Water has confirmed to my Department that it has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. The team can be contacted via email to oireachtasmembers@water.ie or by telephone on 1890 278 278.
500. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if a task force investigation into a waste industry has been set up on foot of comments made prior to the summer break in view of the Greyhound waste dispute; the progress and plans in this respect; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35493/14]
View answerSection 60(3) of the Waste Management Act 1996 precludes me from the exercise of any power or control in relation to the performance by a local authority, in particular circumstances, of a statutory function vested in under the Act. Similarly, I have no function in relation to industrial relations issues such as workers’ rights and conditions or industrial dispute resolution in the waste or any other sector.
Waste collection is the statutory responsibility of local authorities, in this case, Dublin City Council. Under section 33 of the Waste Management Act 1996 (as amended) there is a general duty on a local authority to either itself collect the household waste in its functional area or alternatively to arrange for its collection by third parties. Given the strategic importance of waste management to the welfare of the environment and society in general, my Department wrote to Dublin City Council requesting a written report on the contingency/scenario planning that has been undertaken by the City Council to provide/arrange for the provision of an alternative household waste collection service in the event of an inability of Greyhound Recycling and Recovery to maintain collection services to their customers in the City Council area.
The City Council has confirmed that it is satisfied that there is a sufficient number of other permitted operators in a position to provide a household waste collection service to households in the City Council area at a competitive price. The Council also believes that the costs of the City Council directly providing an alternative service would be unreasonably high.
My role as Minister is to provide a comprehensive legislative and waste policy framework through which the relevant environmental regulatory bodies, such as local authorities and the EPA, operate. In that context, I intend to introduce legislation early next year , to come into effect in July 2015, to significantly reform the regulation of household waste collection, including introducing measures to require collectors to operate the pay by weight system across all 3 bins as a permit condition and meet certain minimum standards of customer service (for example, specified frequencies of collection). It will also become a statutory requirement for all collectors to have customer charters in place. I will be setting out in law what the minimum content of these customer charters will be so that standards of service are improved and are consistent.
501. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if Wicklow County Council breached EU public procurement regulations by offering contracts worth more than €200,000 per annum for the running of the county dog pound and ancillary services without going through the EU public procurement tender process; and the action he will take in this regard. [35534/14]
View answerThe Control of Dogs Acts, 1986 and 1992, place statutory responsibility for dog control on local authorities. The procurement of any services in that regard is a matter for each local authority.
502. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if there is to be more funding made available to Westmeath and Longford local authorities for housing aid for older people, housing adaption grants for people with a disability, housing adaption works to a local authority house and grant schemes. [35547/14]
View answerOn 16 January 2014, details were announced of a €38.4m capital allocation under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability . Every local authority received increased funding for grants compared to the 2013 allocations. The schemes are 80% funded by my Department, with a 20% contribution from the local authority. The allocation to Longford County Council under the grant schemes for 2014 is €744,467, of which €148,893 is to be provided from the Council’s own resources. The allocation to Westmeath County Council under the grant schemes for 2014 is €701,250, of which €140,250 is to be provided from the Council’s own resources.
Through careful management of my Department’s housing budget in 2013 , additional funds were made available to local authorities with high levels of grant activity. I will be applying the same scrutiny to the capital budget for 2014 and, in the event of savings arising these grants will be a priority for supplementary funding.
My Department also provides funding to local authorities for adaptations and extensions to the social housing stock to meet the needs of tenants with a disability or to address serious overcrowding. Westmeath County Council and Longford County Council were recently allocated funding of €83,792 and €159,406, respectively, for such purposes this year.
503. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when he plans to publish the legislation relating to the establishment of an electoral commission. [35568/14]
View answerThe Government Legislation Programme for Autumn 2014 provides for the publication of an Electoral Commission Bill in 2015.
504. Deputy Ciara Conway asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on implementing or setting up a social farming scheme (details supplied); whether there are pilot schemes here and their outcomes. [35577/14]
View answerThe ‘Social Farming Across Borders’ project has been part-funded by my Department under the rural development theme of the EU co-funded INTERREG programme 2007-2013. The aim of this programme is to support strategic cross-border co-operation for a more prosperous and sustainable region within the eligible region of Northern Ireland, the Border Region of Ireland and Western Scotland. The“Social Farming Across Borders” project, which was led by University College Dublin, was awarded funding of €689,826 (of which my Department contributed €190,392) and has completed its activities. These activities included:
- The implementation of Social Farming Practice on 20 pilot farms
- Open days held on 5 Pilot Farms with attendance by 280 people
- The production of videos, guidelines, a cost/benefit report, and recommendations for improved institutional arrangements.
I have no plans at present to implement a specific social farming scheme.
505. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the way in which a person who has paid the household charge and is now in receipt of correspondence from the Revenue Commissioners can prove he or she has paid the charge since the organisation responsible for collecting it no longer is answering the telephone or replying to email and the Revenue Commissioners are claiming they have no information to collect the outstanding liability. [35609/14]
View answerThe Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 provided the legislative basis for the Household Charge. Under the Act, an owner of a residential property on the liability date is liable to pay the Household Charge, unless otherwise exempted or entitled to claim a waiver. The Charge has operated on a self-assessment basis with an owner of a residential property determining liability and paying the Charge.
The Household Charge was operational in respect of 2012 only, with arrears and penalties in respect of a 2012 liability being collected by local authorities, assisted by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) on a shared services/agency basis up to and including 30 June 2013. As of 1 July 2013, outstanding Household Charge liabilities were increased to €200 and converted to a Local Property Tax liability due on the property; the Revenue Commissioners, who have responsibility for the collection of Local Property Tax, are now pursuing outstanding liabilities.
I understand that the current compliance campaign in relation to outstanding Household Charge liabilities being managed by the Revenue Commissioners has led to an increase in queries from the public and I would encourage householders with unresolved issues to contact the Revenue Commissioners to ensure that their position is regularised as soon as possible. Contact details are available on www.revenue.ie .
Household Charge operational matters are a matter for the relevant local authority or for the LGMA, including the issuing of certificates of waiver or exemption, refunds due in respect of overpayments made prior to 30 June 2013, and all associated queries. The 2011 Act allows owners of residential property to apply for a Certificate of Discharge or Exemption or Waiver in respect of the Household Charge. Effectively, these Certificates continue to be provided by the LGMA on behalf of Local Authorities. Contact details in respect of the Household Charge Support Unit are available on www.householdcharge.ie.
The Local Government Management Agency has informed my Department that they are currently dealing with a backlog of phone calls, letters and emails in respect of Household Charge administrative matters. They are continuing to deal with the queries and issues raised with a view to resolving all outstanding matters as soon as possible.
