Written Answers Nos. 183-188
184. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of providing satellite imagery to her Department during the past four years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22980/15]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that my Department has not incurred any charges over the past four years for satellite imagery. Any such images used by my Department are obtained from providers who do not levy charges for the service.
185. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government in view of the fact that it will be two years on 1 July 2015 since the new motor tax off-the-road rules became law, if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of vehicles taxed for each of the past five years, under the categories private, commercial, buses, taxi and others; if there have been budgetary increases in road tax receipts in the past five years; the motor tax receipts yearly for 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2013, and for 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014, and up to 31 May 2015; if such changes in motor tax regulations have resulted in the €54 million increase, year on year, as previously indicated by the Government that it would; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22517/15]
View answerThe number of vehicles taxed at the end of December in each of the past five years is set out in this table.
|
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
|
Private vehicles |
1,872,715 |
1,887,810 |
1,882,550 |
1,910,165 |
1,943,868 |
|
Goods vehicles |
327,096 |
320,966 |
309,219 |
317,849 |
317,378 |
|
Agricultural vehicles |
63,677 |
64,423 |
63,080 |
89,492 |
85,042 |
|
Motorcycles |
38,145 |
36,582 |
35,106 |
36,623 |
36,573 |
|
Small public service vehicles |
26,680 |
25,129 |
24,180 |
22,964 |
22,373 |
|
Large public service vehicles |
8,245 |
8,276 |
8,266 |
8,488 |
8,802 |
|
Vintage vehicles |
25,197 |
27,194 |
28,335 |
40,989 |
44,620 |
|
Motor caravans |
10,770 |
10,938 |
9,492 |
9,643 |
9,995 |
|
Mobile machines |
5,642 |
5,530 |
5,203 |
5,433 |
5,402 |
|
Excavators, trench diggers |
4,390 |
4,228 |
4,087 |
6,233 |
6,190 |
|
Small dumpers & forklift trucks |
2,360 |
2,074 |
1,925 |
2,545 |
2,627 |
|
General haulage tractors |
1,009 |
939 |
847 |
837 |
781 |
|
Schoolbuses |
871 |
833 |
859 |
868 |
788 |
|
Hearses |
820 |
856 |
868 |
917 |
926 |
|
Youth and community buses |
819 |
782 |
802 |
797 |
815 |
|
Island vehicles |
838 |
814 |
927 |
1,017 |
1,080 |
|
Off Road Dumpers |
21 |
13 |
22 |
15 |
29 |
|
Exempt vehicles |
27,092 |
27,769 |
27,455 |
27,682 |
28,033 |
|
Total |
2,416,387 |
2,425,156 |
2,403,223 |
2,482,557 |
2,515,322 |
Gross receipts for the periods requested are set out in this table.
|
Gross receipts (€) |
|
|
1 July 2011 - to 30 June 2012 |
1,025,278,147 |
|
1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013 |
1,061,809,780 |
|
1 July 2013 - 30 June 2014 |
1,165,794,839 |
|
1 July 2014 - 31 May 2015 |
1,051,448,841 |
There have been two budgetary increases in the last five years. These took effect from 1 January 2012 and from 1 January 2013. Accordingly, 2014 is the first full year since the introduction of the new system of declaring vehicles off the road in which budgetary increases did not impact on receipts. Gross motor tax receipts for 2014, at €1.159bn, increased by €41m (3.65%) on 2013 (€1.118bn). In the absence of a motor tax rate increase, a reduction in receipts would otherwise have been expected given the ongoing changeover of the car fleet to the CO2 based system, which carries a lower average tax. Since the introduction of the CO2 based system, there has been a reduction in receipts in each year where no budgetary increases were applied – receipts fell from €1.057bn in 2009, the first full year of the CO2 based system, to €1.023bn in 2010 and to €1.010bn in 2011.
186. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide details on the State's response in the case of a complaint by the International Federation for Human Rights (details supplied) on behalf of the residents of 20 local authority housing estates, alleging that Irish law and policy on local authority housing breaches tenant rights under the European Social Charter; and if, in view of the fact that no national survey of housing conditions has been undertaken for over a decade, he will provide a commitment that his Department will undertake a national survey of housing conditions in 2015. [22515/15]
View answerThe State is currently finalising its observations on this complaint and will submit these to the European Committee of Social Rights by 29 June, the deadline set by the Committee. All submissions are made available on the ECSR’s website: http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/socialcharter/Complaints/Complaints_en.asp.
187. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of new construction project completions and new construction project commencement notices lodged in each of the years 2012 to 2014 and in 2015 to date; and if he will provide a breakdown on the number of these that are single dwellings and the number that are multi-unit dwellings. [22521/15]
View answerMy Department collates and publishes a wide range of housing and planning statistics that inform the preparation and evaluation of policy. It includes data on the total number of units built (incorporating private, local authority and AHB contributions), broken down by year and house type, and those data are available on my Department’s website at: http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/HousingStatistics/FileDownLoad,15293,en.xls by clicking “Mthly house completions national 1975 to date” or “House Completions by type 1994 to date” under the House Building heading.
Commencement notice data for private construction, broken down by construction type and year, is available to end 2014 and it can be found at:
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/HousingStatistics/FileDownLoad,15293,en.xls by clicking “BCMS Commencement notices from 2014 March” under the House Building heading.
Data on local authority units delivered, broken down by year, is available at:
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/HousingStatistics/FileDownLoad,15291,en.xls by clicking “Social Housing Outputs” under the Social Housing Supports heading. However, there is no breakdown available of house type for this dataset.
188. Deputy Noel Coonan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when the review of the shared ownership scheme with local authorities will be finalised; the proposals that are being considered relating to the equity section of this scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22533/15]
View answerMy Department, with the assistance of the Housing Agency, the Housing Finance Agency and the Local Authority Housing Loans Management Group, is currently reviewing the operation of the Shared Ownership Scheme for existing borrowers. The objective is to seek to address, where appropriate, any difficulties arising for some shared ownership borrowers. I expect the review will be finalised shortly. The issues arising require careful consideration and expert financial analysis.
The Department’s latest guidelines for local authorities in dealing with mortgage arrears within the local authority sector Dealing with Mortgage Arrears – A Guide for Local Authorities (June 2014) is available on my Department’s website at:
http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,30943,en.pdf .
