Wednesday, 8 Jul 2015

Written Answers Nos. 221-227

Legislative Measures

Questions (221)

John Lyons

Question:

221. Deputy John Lyons asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will clarify inconsistencies in the Electoral Act 1992, particularly the section that states a person who wishes to be included in the supplementary register must have his or her form stamped in a local Garda Síochána station, as some local authorities will take this to mean the closest station to where one votes, and others take a different meaning; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27812/15]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

The Electoral Act 1992 provides, in Part II of the Second Schedule, that an application for entry on the supplement to the register of electors shall be signed by the applicant in the presence of a member of the Garda Síochána from the applicant’s local Garda station, who, on being satisfied of the applicant’s identity, including if necessary, by the production of photographic identification and any other identification that may be requested by that member, shall sign, date and stamp the application form.

Questions Nos. 222 to 224, inclusive, answered with Question No. 218.

Departmental Funding

Questions (225)

Michael McCarthy

Question:

225. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide funding in respect of an environmental project (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27818/15]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

The Environment Fund was established by the Waste Management (Amendment) Act, 2001 and is managed by my Department. Income accrues to the Environment Fund from two sources – the plastic bag levy and the landfill levy. Both of these economic instruments are designed to encourage changes in behaviour; to tackle littering of plastic bags and to reduce over-reliance on unsustainable landfill as a waste disposal method. The rates of both levies have been increased as necessary in recent years in order to achieve those policy objectives.

The two levies have been extremely successful in reducing plastic bag usage and in reducing tonnage to landfill, but, as a consequence of its success from an environmental behaviour perspective, revenues to the Fund have been declining in recent years. Compared to €65.7m revenue to the Fund in 2012, total revenue to the Fund dropped to some €46m in 2014. The latest indications are that revenue from the landfill levy, which is the largest component of the Environment Fund, will suffer a further significant decline in 2015. Accordingly, the capacity of the Environment Fund to continue to support environmental initiatives and organisations is under increasing pressure.

In this context of a reduced Fund, I am currently giving careful consideration to the 2015 allocations and I hope to be in a position to announce these allocations in the very near future.

Homelessness Strategy

Questions (226)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

226. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of times and dates on which the task force overseeing the interdisciplinary unit on homelessness has met since its inception; the progress it has reported to him, in terms of the impact on the number of homeless; if he is aware of any time the task force, the cross-departmental team on homelessness or the national homelessness consultative committee has considered the problems presented by extreme variances in how some local authorities in the greater Dublin area respond to homelessness problems; if a wider strategy is needed for the whole area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27831/15]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

A Task Force and Unit are in place to identify and secure properties which could potentially be used to accommodate homeless families in the Dublin Region. The Unit is comprised of representatives from my Department, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, Dublin City Council and the Housing Agency. It is linking with NAMA, the Department of Justice & Equality, OPW and the Department of Education & Skills to determine potential State-owned properties.

The Unit is overseen by a Task Force, chaired by the Secretary General of my Department and also comprising other senior officials of my Department, the Chief Executive and Assistant Chief Executive (Housing) of Dublin City Council, the Chief Valuer of Dublin City Council, the Director of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive and the Chief Executive and a Senior Executive of the Housing Agency. The Task Force first met on 28 April 2015 and has since met on 5 May, 11 May, 18 May, 15 June, 29 June and 6 July. On foot of its work, an initial 100 units of accommodation have been identified and their acquisition is currently in train.

The Task Force is also monitoring and, where necessary, invigorating other on-going actions and measures in place to address homelessness issues, such as the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Homeless Pilot; the Ministerial Direction on housing allocations; the return of vacant units to use; securing more suitable temporary emergency accommodation for families than that afforded by commercial hotels; and information and awareness campaigns for tenants and landlords. I report monthly to the Cabinet Committee on Social Policy and Public Service Reform on progress in relation to homelessness issues and initiatives, including those mentioned above.

The administration of homeless services is organised on a regional basis. The regional approach is considered effective as it brings a more strategic perspective to bear on action to address homelessness, including avoidance of over-concentration of homelessness services in certain centres and promoting appropriate regional availability of services, consistent with need. Statutory Management Groups, established under the provisions of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, which include representation from each relevant housing authority, exist in every region and it is the responsibility of these groups to consider issues around the need for homeless services and to plan for the implementation and funding of such services. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive coordinates homeless services in the Dublin Region . There are no plans at present to extend this model into the Mid-East or Greater Dublin Area , nor has this been recommended to me by any of the Groups referred to in the Question.

Local Authority Housing Data

Questions (227)

Tom Fleming

Question:

227. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of housing units built by each local authority in 2014 and in 2015 to date; the number of same allocated to tenants in 2015 to date; the number of transfers of tenants that took place within each local authority area in 2014 and in 2015 to date; the number of housing units vacant in each local authority area in 2014 and in 2015 to date; the number of these that have been refurbished and allocated so far; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27842/15]

Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

My Department collates and publishes a wide range of housing statistics, including data on local authority housing completions and acquisitions for individual years, broken down by county. Details are available at the following link: www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/HousingStatistics/.

Statistics relating to the number of houses allocated to tenants and the number of transfers of tenants that took place within each local authority area are not available in my Department and are a matter for each individual housing authority.

Other statistics on local authority housing stock, including vacant social housing units, are published by the Local Government Management Agency. The most recent of these are the Service Indicators in local authorities for 2013, which are available at the following link: www.lgma.ie/en/service-indicators-local-authorities-2013.

In relation to the years 2014 and 2015, my Department has been funding programmes under which 2,333 vacant social houses were returned to productive use in 2014, while funding allocations to local authorities for 2015 will support this work in respect of a further 1,119 houses this year. This programme is separate from renovation works that local authorities may undertake from their own resources.