Written Answers Nos. 869-882
869. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of money he has allocated under the housing adaptation grant for people with a disability scheme in each of the past four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1146/16]
View answer870. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of money he has allocated under the mobility aids grant scheme in each of the past four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1147/16]
View answer871. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of money he has allocated under the housing aid for older people scheme in each of the past four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1148/16]
View answer872. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of money he has allocated to Cork City and County Councils under the housing adaptation grant for people with a disability scheme in each of the past four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1149/16]
View answer873. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of money he has allocated to Cork City and County Councils under the mobility aids grant scheme in each of the past four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1150/16]
View answer874. Deputy Michael McCarthy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of money he has allocated to Cork City and County Councils under the housing aid for older people scheme in each of the past four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1151/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 869 to 874, inclusive, together.
My Department provides funding under the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability. There are three separate grants available and local authorities receive an overall allocation, with the responsibility for the apportionment between the three grants being a matter for each authority.
Information on Exchequer funding provided by my Department to each local authority, including Cork City and County Councils, for these grants over the period concerned is available on my Department’s website at the following link http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/StatisticsandRegularPublications/HousingStatistics/, by selecting ‘Social and Affordable Housing’, ‘Housing Adaptation Grants by Area 2008 to date’. Details of the 2015 allocations are on my Department’s website at the following link: http://www.environ.ie/en/GeneralNews/MainBody,41581,en.html.
875. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the status of funding for Kerry County Council following recent storm damage (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1231/16]
View answerWhile my Department had an initial co-ordinating role in the collation of details of damage to public infrastructure resulting from the recent severe weather and flooding, it is a matter for Departments and Offices to liaise directly with the Local Authorities on funding for infrastructure damage which falls under their remit.
I note that the public infrastructure damage reported by Kerry County Council is exclusively to the roads network and as such the provision funding for its repair is a matter for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.
876. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which he continues to liaise with the local authorities with a view to monitoring the full extent of the local authority housing requirements and the continuation of an accelerated housing programme to meet demand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1259/16]
View answerSince the publication of the Social Housing Strategy my Department has intensified its engagement with local authorities, ensuring their capacity and preparedness for delivery of the ambitious targets to 2020.
I have met with the Chief Executives and Directors of Housing of all local authorities to ensure that they have the support they need to deliver on the Strategy. In addition to these engagements, my Department is in touch with local authority counterparts on a weekly basis, if not indeed more frequently at times. My Department has also organised multiple information events for Local Authority Housing personnel, covering issues such as: targets under the Strategy; the Local Authority perspective on Social Housing; what makes a good Scheme; project appraisal; social housing delivery options; the Social Housing Proposals Clearing House.
A Local Authority Directors of Housing Network has been established, the Chair of which appraises the Network of the latest updates from the Project Board and the Oversight Group established to drive implementation of the Strategy. My Department has also undertaken a number of seminars for Elected Council Members, through the Association of Irish Local Government, in relation to the objectives of the Strategy, with regard to both social housing delivery and the broader reform agenda.
I recognise that on-going and open communication between the various stakeholders, in particular between my Department and local authorities, is key to this Strategy’s success and therefore such communication will continue to be maintained, via the governance structures of the Social Housing Strategy and well as through other less formal information and networking events.
Of course the capacity of local authorities to deliver social housing is not limited to its executive. Local authority elected members must support social housing provision on the ground and particularly through the Part 8 planning process. I would urge all Deputies to be aware of the social housing programme in their local areas and to ensure that the local authority is supported to deliver it.
877. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government further to his reply to a Topical Issue debate on 11 November 2015, the extent to which the arbitration process has concluded in respect of the stalled development at Naas town centre, County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1261/16]
View answerI am informed by Kildare County Council that the arbitration process in respect of the stalled development at Naas Town Centre has not yet concluded.
As indicated in the reply to the Topical Interest Debate of 11 November 2015, the management of the development in question is primarily a matter for Kildare County Council in the first instance, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment or to make a statement on the matter.
878. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which derelict or semi-derelict gaps in the streetscape of cities, towns and villages remain a concern, with particular reference to the urgent need to project a positive modern image; if adequate provision has been made to set a specific deadline for meeting such issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1262/16]
View answerThe Derelict Sites Act 1990 requires local authorities to take all reasonable steps, including the exercise of appropriate statutory powers, to ensure that any land within their functional area does not become, or continue to be, a derelict site. To this end, local authorities have been given substantial powers under the Act in relation to any such sites, including powers to require specified measures to be taken in relation to a derelict site, to impose a levy on sites which are included in the local authority’s derelict sites register, or to compulsorily acquire any derelict site. It is a matter for local authorities to determine the most appropriate use of the legislation within their respective functional areas.
The administration of the legislation at local level, including the setting of deadlines on local issues, is a matter for the relevant local authority. My Department updates, on an annual basis, a Schedule of Urban Areas designated by local authorities as areas in which the derelict site levy can be applied in line with the provisions of the Act. The latest update of this Schedule (for 2015) is presently being compiled.
Derelict sites throughout the State continue to remain a focus for my Department, and a suite of measures have been introduced by the Government to support town and village renewal in general on an on-going basis. I refer the Deputy to the reply to his Topical Interest Debate on 11 November 2015 on this matter, and also to the replies to Parliamentary Questions Nos 221, 222, 223 of 10 December 2015.
I am confident that the range of measures which is now available to local authorities and communities will assist in providing a much-needed impetus towards revitalising our main urban centres as well as our rural towns and villages in the coming years so that they are better positioned to take advantage of the upturn in our economy.
879. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which he expects housing accommodation to become available to the local authorities through National Asset Management Agency in County Kildare in 2016, the extent to which this is likely to be in line with requirements and with other housing proposals he has already put forward; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1263/16]
View answerThe Government has enabled and facilitated the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) in playing an important role in the delivery of housing supply generally and social housing in particular. In that context, NAMA affords public bodies first option on the acquisition of land and property required for demonstrable public purposes.
In that context, NAMA has had ongoing engagement and discussion since December 2011, with my Department and the Housing Agency in identifying properties that might potentially be suitable for social housing purposes. To the end of December 2015, a total of 2,000 NAMA residential properties have been made available for social housing use throughout the country.
Of these, 113 have been made available in County Kildare, comprising 93 complete units and a further 20 units that have been contracted and where completion work is on-going. In addition, NAMA has identified an additional 9 units that it expects to be made available for social housing in 2016.
880. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 228 of 15 January 2015, when he will give favourable consideration to approval and funding for the Kilmacredock and Barrogstown sewerage scheme, having particular regard to the urgent need to eliminate potential sources of ground water pollution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1268/16]
View answerDuring 2015, my Department established a working group involving key stakeholders in the rural water sector to address the overall development of the rural water sector within the overall water sector reform programme to ensure that the programme responds effectively to current and future needs. Local authorities, the Water Services Transition Office, Irish Water, the National Federation of Group Water Schemes as well as my Department are represented on the working group. One of the tasks of the group is to develop a multi-annual approach to targeting funding to meet priority needs of the sector.
The working group is also considering a number of areas where there are potential boundary issues with Irish Water or legacy issues which need to be addressed and new approaches in this area will be informed by a number of demonstration projects or pilot schemes, including ones relating to group sewerage schemes.
Earlier this month, my Department wrote to local authorities advising them of the new approach to the funding of group water and sewerage schemes for 2016 and beyond. This will ultimately lead to the development of appropriate prioritised lists of schemes for funding and a series of demonstration projects which will assist in further evolving the programme of investment. Details of the new multi-annual programme are available on my Department’s website at http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/Water/WaterServices/RuralWaterProgramme/.
It is now a matter for local authorities, including Kildare County Council, to decide on the prioritised list of group water and sewerage schemes to be funded in their respective areas and to submit their funding applications for the period 2016 to 2018 to my Department by 29 January 2016. Allocations for funding under the new multi-annual programme will be provided to local authorities in due course and following consideration of authorities' bids for funding.
881. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of applications his Department received under the rural development programme in 2015; the number of these which were approved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1289/16]
View answerLEADER forms part of Ireland’s Rural Development Programme 2014 – 2020, which was approved by the European Commission in May 2015. The submission of project applications under the new LEADER programme will commence following the completion and approval of local development strategies for each of the 28 sub-regional areas designated for LEADER in Ireland. As required under EU rules, a minimum period of six months to mid-January 2016 has been allowed for the submission of these strategies by all potential Local Action Groups that were successful at the expression of interest stage.
To date, fourteen local development strategies have been received and these are being assessed by Pobal before being forwarded to an Independent Evaluation Committee for final evaluation and decision.
The Independent Evaluation Committee has already approved two of these strategies subject to further clarification and supporting documentation being provided. As a result, I expect that contracts will be agreed shortly and project applications in respect of the relevant sub-regional areas can commence thereafter.
882. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the discussions his Department has had with suppliers or service contractors to his Department or to agencies of his Department to ensure that employees of such suppliers and contractors are paid the living wage of €11.50 per hour; the cost of implementing this wage for these employees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1371/16]
View answerThe Living Wage is voluntary, has no legislative basis and is therefore not a statutory entitlement; it cannot be imposed on suppliers or contractors. My Department has consequently had no discussions with suppliers or service contractors in regard to the rate of pay of their employees. Such operational arrangements for agencies under the aegis of my Department are a matter for the bodies concerned and my Department holds no information in relation to this.
