Written Answers Nos. 111-120
112. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will extend the order of his predecessor, which expired in April 2016, to the four Dublin local authorities that half of all housing units that become available to them to house social housing applicants be made available to those on the various priority lists, including homeless priority [12449/16]
View answerA Ministerial Direction, which required key local authorities to prioritise homeless and other vulnerable households in the allocation of tenancies under their control, issued in January 2015. Under this Direction, housing authorities in the Dublin Region were required to allocate at least 50% of tenancies to homeless and other vulnerable households, while the authorities in counties Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford were required to allocate at least 30%. The Direction applied for a 6-month period, to July 2015, and was renewed in August 2015 for a further 6-month period, which expired on 31 January 2016. A further renewal issued on 1 February 2016 for a 3-month period, which expired on 30 April 2016. At the time of the renewal in February, my Department requested the Housing Agency to conduct a review of the operation of the Direction; the purpose of the review was to provide an impartial assessment of the Direction’s operation in order to inform consideration as to whether to continue the Direction beyond 30 April 201 6. The Housing Agency reported to my Department on 22 April 2016 with a comprehensive analysis of the operation of the Direction. This review concluded that, while the Direction was effective in increasing allocations to homeless and other vulnerable groups, this was primarily achieved by the return to productive use of approximately 2,700 void local authority units over the period of the Direction. The now much reduced availability of void local authority units and overall housing supply deficiencies would not allow for any further significant allocations. The review, inter alia, also concluded that the prioritised allocation of social housing to homeless and other vulnerable households came at a cost to other households on the social housing waiting lists. It therefore recommended that the Direction should lapse upon its final operational date of 30 April 2016. Based on the analysis and conclusions drawn in the Housing Agency’s report, it is not proposed to put a further Direction in place.
113. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the functions assigned to his Department that are due to be transferred to other Departments; the date the transfers will occur; the staffing arrangements for the change-over; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12471/16]
View answerResponsibility for environmental functions including in relation to climate, waste, resource efficiency, air quality and environmental radiation policies will transfer to the current Department of Communications, Energy & Natural Resources. Marine planning and foreshore functions will remain with my Department. In relation to the community portfolio, responsibility for, inter alia, the LEADER programme; the CLÁR programme; an expanded Town and Village Renewal Scheme; the Tidy Towns scheme; the Western Development Commission; the implementation of the report of the Commission on the Economic Development of Rural Areas; the dormant accounts fund; and social enterprise will rest with the current Department of Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht.
Responsibility for the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) and other community-related functions including the PEACE programme; the scheme to support national organisations; support for volunteering; and the Forum on Philanthropy and Fundraising will remain with my Department.
The statutory transfer of functions process to give effect to these changes in respect of the environment and rural affairs portfolios is underway, with the aim of completing the transfers as soon as possible, guided by the Transfer of Functions Guidelines and Best Practice Handbook. The effective date of the transfers will be determined by Transfer of Functions Orders. Negotiations in relation to staffing arrangements are underway and will be finalised as part of the transfer of functions process.
114. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he is aware of the demand for an Environmental Protection Agency sub-office to be located in the Drogheda and east Meath area; the need to regularly monitor air in this area; and to increase public confidence, given the many heavy industries and number of incinerators in the area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12491/16]
View answerAs a statutorily independent body, it is primarily a matter for the board of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make decisions as to how best to organise its resources, including the location of its Regional Inspectorate offices. At present, they have Inspectorate offices located in Castlebar, Co Mayo; Inniscarra, Co Cork; Clonskeagh, Dublin; Kilkenny, and Monaghan. EPA licensed industrial activities located in the north-east of the country are enforced by staff from the EPA regional inspectorate in Clonskeagh, Dublin 4, which is approximately 55 km by road from Drogheda. Any complaints or incident reports received in relation to EPA licensed sites in the north-east are fully investigated by the EPA regional inspectorate and further enforcement activities are taken as and when required based on the finding of EPA investigations. This may include additional sites visits and monitoring, depending on the nature of the complaint or incident.
The independent review of the Agency, as presented to the Minster for the Environment, Community and Local Government in May 2011, specifically commented on the geographical locations of the EPA offices as follows: “The EPA’s regional structure involves a broad geographic spread, with resulting local knowledge and linkages as well as operational efficiencies in environmental monitoring operations and timeliness in response to incidents.”
In relation to monitoring of air emissions, all licensed sites with significant emissions to atmosphere are required to carry out monitoring of their emissions and report any non-compliant data to the EPA. In addition, the EPA carries out independent periodic testing of emissions from licensed sites. Monitoring reports and enforcement correspondence in relation to licensed facilities are available for viewing on public file.
A permanent particulate matter (i.e. dust) monitoring station was located in the Drogheda area from 2004 to 2009. The EPA also carried out a comprehensive assessment of air quality in Drogheda in 2002. Results for all pollutants measured were below EU limit values and were similar to levels in other Zone C towns (the 24 towns and cities in Ireland with a population greater than 15,000 people). Further information and results of the monitoring are available at www.epa.ie/air/quality/data.
More recently, the EPA carried out a comprehensive assessment of air quality in Balbriggan, another Zone C town in the North East, from March 2012 to June 2014. No EU limit values were exceeded during the measurement period. A detailed report on this assessment is available at www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/air/quality/.
A permanent monitoring station is located in Kilkitt, Co. Monaghan. Continuous automatic monitoring is performed for nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and ozone. Particulate matter, heavy metals and Benzo(a)pyrene are also measured at this station. Results for these pollutants were below EU limit values in 2014 as detailed in the report, Air Quality in Ireland 2014 – Key Indicators of Ambient Air Quality, available at www.epa.ie/air/quality/aqr/.
Going forward, the EPA has commenced preparation of a draft national ambient air monitoring programme under Section 65 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (as amended), which will provide the basis and options for the continued development and expansion of the national ambient air monitoring network. The development of the national ambient air monitoring programme will include a review of the adequacy of the current network for both determining compliance with European and national standards for air quality and for the provision of information to the public about local air quality. The EPA expects to commence stakeholder consultation on the draft national ambient air monitoring programme later this year.
116. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of an application by a person (details supplied) under the carer's allowance scheme, including if he will expedite and approve it. [12239/16]
View answerAn application for carer's allowance (CA) was received from the person concerned on 21 December 2015.
CA is a social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State, satisfies a means test and who is providing full-time care and attention to another person who has a disability such that they require that level of care.
A person can be considered to be providing full-time care and attention where they are engaged in employment, self-employment or on training courses outside the home for a maximum of 15 hours per week, provided that they can show to the satisfaction of a deciding officer that adequate care has been provided for the care recipient in their absence.
The case was referred by a deciding officer (DO) to a local social welfare investigative officer to compile a report in relation to all the circumstances of the case. All the evidence available in relation to this application, including the report of the SWI, was examined by a DO who decided that the person concerned was not providing full-time care and attention as he was working outside the home for more than 15 hours per week and the level of care provided was not full-time.
The person concerned was notified on 24 May 2016 of this decision, the reason for it and of his right of review and appeal.
117. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection when he will issue a decision on an application by a person (details supplied) under the disability allowance scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12243/16]
View answerI confirm that my department is in receipt of an application for disability allowance from the above named person on 16 March 2016. On completion of the necessary investigations on all aspects of the claim a decision will be made and the person concerned will be notified directly of the outcome.
The processing time for individual disability allowance claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the three main qualifying criteria, the person’s circumstances and the information they provide in support of their claim.
119. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Social Protection his views on issues concerning the WALK disability project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12261/16]
View answerThe Providing Equal Employment Routes (PEER) project was one of 14 disability activation projects (DACT), in the Border, Midlands & West region, which were jointly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Department of Social Protection (DSP), from the end of 2012 to April 2015. The project was delivered by the Walkinstown Association for People with an Intellectual Disability (WALK).
A key criterion applied when selecting projects was that the learning from this activity should be capable, where appropriate, of being mainstreamed in the future. Therefore, it is important to note that the projects were never intended to become ongoing service delivery organisations in their own right, no matter how successful the projects might have been.
The objective of the DACT programme was to explore a variety of routes towards ensuring that people with disabilities were enabled to avail of progression, education and development opportunities within the world of work. It was on this basis that each of the DACT projects was awarded funding with a specified end date of 30 April 2015.
However, in the closure phase of the programme, it was recognised by the Department that there would be a number of people still actively participating on some of the DACT projects, so a decision was made to provide funding to seven of the projects, which included the WALK PEER project, for a short period to the end of July 2015. This funding was provided so as to allow projects to ensure that their participants finished their involvement in an orderly manner. All DSP funding to WALK PEER ceased at the end of July 2015.
I understand that the WALK PEER project was subsequently successful in obtaining additional funding from a private sector organisation and I believe that it is this source of support that is referred too and that will terminate in July.
Given the circumstances set out above, there is no provision in the Department's estimates to provide funding to this project.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
120. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Social Protection his plans to change the position whereby an adult who is dependent on a spouse's invalidity pension is precluded from partaking in a community employment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12263/16]
View answerCommunity Employment (CE) is the largest employment programme administered by my Department and is a valuable resource for both jobseekers and communities. Currently, there are almost 22,940 participants and nearly 1,400 supervisors employed on CE at a cost of approximately €376.5m in 2016.
As the Deputy will be aware, CE aims to enhance the employability and mobility of participants by providing work experience and training opportunities for them within their communities. In addition, it helps long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to a regular work routine.
Currently to be eligible for CE, a person must be in receipt of one of a number of social welfare payments, such as Jobseeker’s Allowance or One Parent Family Payment, for 52 weeks. This is in keeping with commitments in Pathways to Work to target initiatives at those who are long-term unemployed. The adult dependant of a social welfare claimant is not eligible for CE as eligibility rests with the main claimant only. It is open to an adult dependent to make an application and be assessed for a qualifying payment in their own right.
It is also worth noting that there are a range of other options open to those who do not qualify for CE. My Department’s Intreo office staff will be happy to advise clients of the intervention that might best suit their individual needs.
