Written Answers Nos. 550-559
550. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding waste; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39522/15]
View answerDuring the period in which local authorities were directly involved in the collection of household waste, a minority of individual Councils offered different levels of discount to selected households, based on different qualification criteria. As local authorities exited the waste collection market, some required the private operators which took on the Councils’ customers to provide a level of discount for existing waiver customers only, and even then for a limited time. The vast majority of contractual commitments for private operators to provide a waiver have now expired. In that context, the number of households in receipt of waiver discounts is likely to decline over time, especially as some householders were able to take advantage of special reduced offers elsewhere which actually undercut the waiver price. However, selected private operators still offer some level of discount to former waiver customers on a voluntary basis. In addition, a very limited number of local authorities make financial contributions towards the cost of, or pay for, the collection of waste from certain households. Again, the qualification criteria and level of support differ from area to area. Such expenditure means that these local authorities divert funding from other areas to support these waiver provisions.
The vast majority of local authorities no longer collect waste and that the market is now serviced by a diverse range of private operators, where the fees charged are a matter between service provider and customer and the services offered vary across the country. In that regard, it is becoming increasingly apparent that a national waiver scheme could not be imposed in the context of an open market for waste collection.
551. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on whether the development management guidelines of 2007, the intention and spirit of which seems to be to avoid excessive and unnecessary invalidations, should be consistently applied and regarded as best practice by local authorities. [39526/15]
View answerLocal authorities are, subject to law, independent in the performance of their functions. In this connection, section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 requires planning authorities to have regard, in discharging their functions, to Development Management Guidelines issued by the Minister. The Guidelines are intended to assist authorities in adhering to statutory requirements and providing a high quality of service to users of the planning process, and include examples of best practice by individual authorities in relation to particular functions.
Chapter 3 of the Guidelines advises authorities to take a reasonable approach towards validation of planning applications and, in this context, refers to the need for common sense in ruling on minor errors in the text of site notices, etc.
Updated guidance will be prepared for planning authorities on invalid planning applications as part of a general review of the Guidelines that is currently under way.
552. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the percentage of planning applications invalidated by the different local authorities in September 2015, with the information for Cork County Council by respective division. [39527/15]
View answerMy Department collates and publishes a range of planning statistics on a yearly basis, including the number of invalid planning applications received by each planning authority. The latest published statistics - for 2014 - are available on my Department’s website, as follows: http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/PlanningStatistics/.
The annual planning statistics for Cork County Council are not broken down on a Divisional basis.
553. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government while planning notices for uninhabited islands are required to be placed on mainland piers, the reason it is now required by Cork County Council that planning notices for inhabited islands have to be placed on the mainland and other piers, a practice that is considered offensive to island communities. [39528/15]
View answerArticle 19 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001– 2015, made under section 33(1)(b) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, specifies requirements in relation to displaying notice of an application for planning permission. Paragraph (3) provides that “Where a planning authority considers that the erection or fixing of a single site notice is not sufficient to comply with the requirements of sub-articles (1) and (2), or does not adequately inform the public, the authority may require the applicant to erect or fix such further site notice or notices in such a manner and in such terms as it may specify and to submit to the authority such evidence as it may specify in relation to compliance with any such requirements.” It is a matter for each planning authority to determine the circumstances in which it specifies additional requirements in relation to planning application notices under Article 19(3) and the Minister has no function in the matter.
554. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will consider collecting commerical road tax on heavy vehicles once per year, rather than every three months or six months, to reduce administration costs, given that the liability has been reduced. [39560/15]
View answerWhile the operation of the motor tax system is kept under regular review, I have no plans currently to raise the threshold below which vehicles must be taxed annually. The current threshold is €119.
555. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding a gas line in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39402/15]
View answerThe development and expansion of the natural gas network is in the first instance a commercial matter for Gas Networks Ireland (GNI), which is mandated under Section 8 of the Gas Act 1976, as amended, to develop and maintain a national system for the supply of natural gas that is both economical and efficient. The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) is statutorily responsible for all aspects of the assessment and licensing of prospective operators who wish to develop and/or operate a gas distribution system within the State under the Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002. I have no statutory function in relation to either the routing of pipelines or the connection of towns to the gas pipeline network.
556. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the reason it took until June 2015 for his Department to publish the low carbon energy roadmap produced for it in December 2013. [39428/15]
View answer557. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he has received an update to the low carbon roadmap produced in December 2013 and published in June 2015, which does not assume that there will be an unlimited quantity of bioenergy available for import to Ireland, and which does not assume that carbon capture and storage technology will be available; and, if so, if he will supply a copy to this Deputy. [39429/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 556 and 557 together.
The Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Bill 2015 sets out proposed statutory obligations in relation to the development of a National Low Carbon Transition and Mitigation Plan (National Mitigation Plan), incorporating sectoral mitigation measures underway and additional measures to be implemented to enable Ireland to move to a low carbon economy by 2050.
In anticipation of the planned legislation, work has already commenced on the process of developing the Plan, at both sectoral and national level.
My Department undertook a public consultation in 2013 on a scoping report for a low carbon roadmap for the electricity generation sector. Details of this consultation and a short summary of the responses are available on my Department’s website at www.dcenr.ie This 2013 consultation is a separate and distinct process from the consultation launched in June this year by my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government which sought the views of the public and stakeholders on the preparation of the National Mitigation Plan itself. The submissions received on this were published on the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government website in October 2015. That Department also launched a Strategic Environmental Assessment Scoping Report on the National Mitigation Plan during October 2015. Input received from both these consultations will further inform the development of the National Mitigation Plan.
558. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources how he is ensuring, in accordance with the policy set out in One World, One Future, that the development of low carbon energy policies by his Department takes account of the actual and potential negative impacts of developed countries sourcing large quantities of bioenergy in developing countries; and if his Department has consulted with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government regarding this issue. [39430/15]
View answerThe 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive sets Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020. Ireland is committed to achieving this target through meeting 40% of electricity demand, 12% of heat and 10% of transport from renewable sources of energy. In 2014, 8.6% of Ireland’s overall energy requirements were met from renewable sources, with energy from biomass accounting for 3.2%. Bioenergy is expected to contribute up to half of the 2020 renewable energy targets, both here in Ireland and in the EU as a whole. In 2014, I published a Draft Bioenergy Plan which is available on my Department’s website. The draft Plan is currently undergoing Strategic Environmental and Appropriate Assessments which will inform the content of the finalised Plan. The draft Plan recognises that demand for solid biomass to 2020 could be met from indigenous sources. However, Ireland will remain a net importer of liquid biofuels in the transport sector.
Biofuels must meet certain strict sustainability criteria, as set out in the Renewable Energy Directive, in order to be counted towards each Member State’s 2020 renewable energy targets. All biofuels supported under the Biofuels Obligation Scheme must meet these criteria. In addition, the European Commission recently adopted a Directive which will limit the amount of certain crop based biofuels, where use could lead to Indirect Land-Use Change, that Member States can count towards their targets.
Details on origins and types of biofuels supported are published each year in the Biofuels Obligation Scheme Annual Report which is available from the National Oil Reserves Agency’s website, www.nora.ie.
559. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the support and funding his Department provides for community radio; his views on whether it offers a vital service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38966/15]
View answerI recognise that many local and community radio stations, both rural and urban, are of great benefit to the communities they serve and provide additional value to them, most particularly in the area of local reporting.
In terms of funding for community broadcasters, a proportion of the television licence fee monies are made available to commercial and community broadcasters through the Broadcasting Funding Scheme, as provided for under Part 10 of the Broadcasting Act 2009. The purpose of this Scheme, which covers both radio and television, is to encourage the inclusion of additional programming of a particular character in broadcasters programme schedules. The Scheme is open to independent producers and all ‘free to air’ commercial, community and public service broadcasters. It is funded by way of a payment of 7% of net licence fee receipts, which is paid to the BAI in respect of this Scheme. This amount was increased from 5% to 7% under the Broadcasting Act 2009.
Community Broadcasters also have access to the Community Broadcasting Support Scheme which was recently launched by the BAI. This scheme has a total available fund of €30,000 for 2015 and is open to all fully licenced Community and Community of Interest TV and radio stations throughout the country. This scheme is specifically designed to offer funding support to enable them to further advance from an organisational development perspective, e.g. staff training and capacity development.
Between 2010 and 2014, the community radio sector received €3.79 million from the Sound and Vision II scheme to produce 485 various programmes such as documentaries, sports, arts, music and drama.
The current scheme, Sound & Vision III, was launched in February 2015 and is expected to have in the region of €70m in total funding available to radio and television. As one of its specific objectives is to develop local and community broadcasting, I fully expect that community radio will continue to benefit from funding under this scheme.
