Wednesday, 13 Jun 2018

Written Answers Nos. 209-212

Social Insurance

Questions (209)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

209. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if flexibility will be shown to self-employed persons who were only able to make contributions since 1988 and part-time workers in 1991 in view of her proposals whereby all workers retiring from 2020 will only get a full State pension if they made PRSI contributions for 40 years. [25927/18]

Written answers

Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection

The Government intends to introduce a Total Contributions Approach (TCA) to establishing level of entitlement for all new state pension contributory claims from 2020 onwards. This is distinct from the interim TCA model being made available as an option for those affected by the 2012 rate band changes.

I understand that the Deputy’s question may be based on an inaccurate report in a national newspaper last month. There is no basis to state that all workers retiring from 2020 will only get a full State pension if they made PRSI contributions for 40 years. The criteria required for a full pension under that new approach have not yet been determined, and are currently subject to a public consultation which I launched on 28th May. Issues such as the number of years required for a full pension, transitional arrangements and treatment of the self-employed are addressed in the consultation questions, and in the accompanying documentation.

Additionally, I outlined at the launch that these final details will not be decided upon until I have considered the submissions received in this process, a point which was re-emphasised by two of my officials, in their presentations to stakeholders and press who were present. It was explicitly stressed in those presentations that, whatever the final model, it would have to accommodate those who were self-employed before 1988.

It might be noted that if such matters had already been decided upon, there would be little point in conducting a public consultation on the design of the final system.

This public consultation is available on my Department’s website and I would encourage all interested stakeholders to contribute to the survey there. The materials included as part of the consultation examine issues such as the extension of compulsory PRSI for self-employed in 1988, and seeks the views of stakeholders on how best to ensure they are not disadvantaged as a result of this reform.

The position regarding part-time workers is complicated. As in most countries, there are thresholds below which employees and self-employed persons are not compulsorily covered for pensions under the PRSI system. Generally, the people below these thresholds receive lower pay than can be received while on Jobseekers benefit, and so they will often be either in receipt of a jobseekers payment (and credited contributions) in respect of the days they do not work, or they will be people who would not qualify for a jobseekers payment.

In April 1990, the threshold for employees changed from being based on time worked (i.e. less than 18 hours in a week) to a monetary amount. Some were affected by this change at that time but many others were not. However, over time this monetary amount has been very significantly eroded by inflation, and is now only €38 in a given week.

It is not the case that this reform disadvantages part-time workers. Most of those who fell below the PRSI threshold in the past (and who do not have credited contributions for those periods), whether in the 1990s or today, generally have significant gaps which result in reduced entitlements under the current Yearly Average system. In most cases, such workers facing a reduced pension under the current system are expected to fare significantly better under the TCA approach.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Local Authority Finances

Questions (210)

Niall Collins

Question:

210. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the level of debt at 31 December 2017 owed by each local authority by lender in each of the years 2010 to 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25816/18]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government

It is a matter for each local authority to manage its own finances in a prudent and sustainable manner. In accordance with the Local Government Act 2001, a decision to borrow money is a reserved function of the elected members of a local authority. Section 106 of the Act provides that local authorities must obtain the consent of the appropriate Minister to undertake borrowing.  

My Department does not hold the information in the format requested however the total loans payable from 2010 to 2016, as reported in the audited Annual Financial Statements of local authorities, are set out in the following tables. Table 1 contains total loan payable figures for 88 county, city and town councils from 2010 to 2013 and table 2 contains the figures for 2014 to 2016 (the most recent year for which audited accounts are available) for the 31 local authorities. The decrease in total loans payable from €4.7bn in 2013 to €4.1bn in 2014 is mainly attributable to the establishment of Irish Water.

Table 1
County Councils	2010	2011	2012	2013
Carlow	40,962,899	47,838,598	47,068,117	46,657,346
Cavan	23,829,336	23,508,016	23,398,461	25,796,330
Clare	119,035,823	111,590,074	122,268,632	113,149,495
Cork	514,459,652	488,372,123	499,514,320	481,978,303
Donegal	123,324,378	150,270,441	163,069,485	156,050,791
Fingal	443,820,638	461,583,862	447,409,384	436,324,398
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown	167,651,292	171,683,471	163,457,311	147,477,389
Galway	110,126,595	107,680,950	113,998,829	115,743,038
Kerry	97,283,878	96,045,098	94,033,598	89,308,476
Kildare	163,566,100	148,411,290	143,133,885	138,486,021
Kilkenny	55,073,315	52,896,425	50,185,534	48,658,902
Laois	129,866,968	125,010,439	125,995,507	120,227,156
Leitrim	16,449,042	14,954,806	13,956,169	13,007,139
Limerick	65,652,024	59,853,252	59,432,285	56,161,861
Longford	48,865,576	48,297,274	48,359,580	50,595,362
Louth	31,438,555	30,966,209	30,404,236	40,549,768
Mayo	109,749,911	112,396,604	129,674,681	126,611,707
Meath	92,862,599	88,061,530	86,564,972	84,706,118
Monaghan	34,845,191	32,694,721	30,581,711	29,145,993
North Tipperary	53,477,681	50,901,703	49,640,649	47,898,142
Offaly	66,958,610	64,320,895	62,517,377	59,805,560
Roscommon	14,573,427	14,997,227	26,010,553	23,577,842
Sligo	73,744,717	69,756,187	76,759,641	79,951,950
South Dublin	261,526,564	247,270,126	240,862,951	233,717,692
South Tipperary	68,981,434	69,105,132	68,027,034	64,256,776
Waterford	48,286,468	48,121,978	55,990,723	53,136,325
Westmeath	107,922,722	104,964,878	103,256,860	103,407,557
Wexford	166,274,245	158,862,867	152,895,439	145,887,335
Wicklow	94,584,015	102,237,071	113,866,434	113,255,807
City Councils
Cork	179,267,920	176,107,001	171,161,952	164,325,413
Dublin	921,257,895	900,384,710	876,746,153	806,301,787
Galway	117,516,778	106,515,331	105,446,566	92,471,249
Limerick	25,612,289	23,379,665	21,372,734	19,267,345
Waterford	84,536,828	83,889,307	82,103,663	82,475,797
Town/Borough Councils
Clonmel	5,021,932	83,889,307	4,559,354	4,237,813
Drogheda	71,587,301	66,518,084	67,282,133	67,881,888
Kilkenny	728,220	1,040,189	1,908,666	2,748,139
Sligo	42,617,756	42,393,450	41,476,210	40,141,695
Wexford	4,649,717	4,464,728	6,975,047	6,628,928
Arklow	65,750	57,303	47,998	37,527
Athlone	3,955,029	3,798,471	7,917,686	7,513,609
Athy	4,473,650	4,438,228	4,403,759	4,368,445
Ballina	81,996	66,299	48,773	4,927,435
Ballinasloe	0	0	0	0
Birr	299,929	283,252	268,454	253,036
Bray	7,453,996	7,473,146	7,460,426	7,443,806
Buncrana	0	0	0	0
Bundoran	3,282,833	3,062,802	2,820,152	2,576,455
Carlow	2,750,000	2,750,000	2,750,000	2,750,000
Carrick on Suir	420,247	412,460	409,454	391,496
Carrickmacross	0	0	0	0
Cashel	0	0	0	0
Castlebar	11,965,457	11,832,229	8,694,331	8,548,930
Castleblayney	61,343	54,473	47,434	40,145
Cavan	0	0	0	0
Clonakility	852,895	0	0	0
Clones	171,631	165,476	158,658	151,447
Cobh	0	0	0	0
Dundalk	50,381,551	51,420,498	52,811,467	51,569,730
Dungarvan	39,369	34,257	1,069,683	1,047,078
Ennis	8,546,959	9,097,061	8,419,420	8,092,762
Enniscorthy	4,528	0	0	0
Fermoy	574,537	549,319	511,007	456,051
Kells	58,200	50,225	43,843	38,094
Killarney	3,228,865	2,909,326	2,572,946	2,149,086
Kilrush	535,888	414,499	350,137	287,520
Kinsale	195,456	155,033	136,705	115,548
Letterkenny	9,834,861	9,307,869	15,060,497	14,479,938
Listowel	815,875	831,278	846,989	860,761
Longford	3,915,903	3,620,704	3,347,946	3,080,969
Macroom	0	0	0	0
Mallow	3,814,130	0	0	0
Midleton	0	0	0	0
Monaghan	1,066,114	897,562	697,235	503,050
Naas	18,048,496	7,787,767	6,880,014	6,577,614
Navan	5,376,141	8,591,992	8,173,994	7,737,001
Nenagh	1,834,779	2,821,718	2,810,291	3,298,568
New Ross	1,072,500	986,548	3,097,715	3,068,708
Skibbereen	2,368,259	2,231,013	2,179,420	2,108,989
Templemore	0	0	0	0
Thurles	0	0	0	0
Tipperary	0	0	0	0
Tralee	15,117,089	14,270,363	14,605,261	14,847,883
Trim	3,048,883	3,206,457	3,011,456	2,811,424
Tullamore	8,357,585	8,271,130	8,196,978	7,944,337
Westport	5,152,959	4,484,523	4,299,177	4,106,865
Wicklow	5,991,184	6,010,383	2,910,088	2,815,038
Youghal	1,693,765	1,565,628	1,428,883	1,281,008
TOTAL	4,984,898,923	4,965,144,315	4,899,855,109	4,710,290,983

Table 2

Table 2
Local   Authority	2014	2015	2016
Carlow Co Co	45,857,903	45,145,162	38,402,042
Cavan Co Co	18,592,834	21,845,988	20,862,244
Clare Co Co	97,548,382	89,450,510	84,342,399
Cork Co Co	148,194,542	141,018,875	139,390,254
Cork City Council	426,497,964	414,577,969	392,676,369
Donegal Co Co	136,795,154	130,733,747	122,997,563
Dublin City Council	637,703,649	596,969,354	527,989,902
Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Co Co	150,679,876	137,541,877	130,182,870
Fingal Co Co	416,064,917	381,164,320	354,784,072
Galway Co Co	81,637,737	71,491,020	68,545,335
Galway City Council	53,108,775	46,435,573	43,989,379
Kerry Co Co	85,054,498	81,833,380	78,148,225
Kildare Co Co	125,499,719	118,521,737	111,371,942
Kilkenny Co Co	39,919,413	39,420,823	52,581,452
Laois Co Co	114,750,225	109,334,323	105,523,473
Leitrim Co Co	7,393,563	6,836,490	6,951,370
Limerick Co Co	79,148,544	66,373,599	81,401,809
Longford Co Co	41,103,418	38,518,037	36,017,985
Louth Co Co	157,187,491	151,259,289	151,892,259
Mayo Co Co	119,928,557	130,620,743	122,965,759
Meath Co Co	88,374,283	83,857,339	78,942,795
Monaghan Co Co	23,561,705	22,189,466	20,577,527
Offaly Co Co	65,815,150	56,203,593	54,373,636
Roscommon Co Co	15,977,008	22,890,563	29,074,951
Sligo Co Co	105,508,672	103,000,765	100,647,098
South Dublin County Council	228,705,121	213,856,678	199,454,190
Tipperary Co Co	111,209,345	105,418,736	99,604,796
Waterford Co Co	130,067,420	126,725,875	125,586,877
Westmeath Co Co	84,093,101	79,614,108	77,068,918
Wexford Co Co	137,619,278	130,683,537	127,608,298
Wicklow Co Co	91,089,894	86,374,220	79,865,547
Total	4,064,688,138	3,849,907,699	3,663,821,335

Housing Adaptation Grant Data

Questions (211)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Question:

211. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the budget for the housing adaptation grant for persons with disabilities; the number of persons who have received the grant; and the average number of grants provided to persons over the past five years, including the current spend to date for 2018, in tabular form. [25835/18]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government

My Department provides funding under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes for Older People and People with a Disability, in respect of private housing. There are three separate grants available and local authorities receive an overall allocation, with responsibility for the apportionment between the schemes being a matter for each local authority.

The recently announced funding allocation in 2018 for the schemes is €66.25m, comprising €53m Exchequer funding and €13.25m from local authority resources.  Details of the allocations for these grant schemes in 2018 are available at the following link: Housing Schemes.

At the end of May 2018, over 28% of this allocation has been spent.

Information on these grant schemes, including the numbers of grants funded per annum and the funding provided to each local authority, is available on my Department’s website at the following link Housing Scheme Statistics.

My Department also provides funding to local authorities under the Disabled Persons Grants Scheme, for adaptations and extensions to the existing social housing stock to meet the needs of local authority tenants. Funding under this scheme has increased progressively in recent years; from a position of €7m in 2013, funding of over €13m was provided in both 2016 and 2017, supporting improvements in over 1,000 houses in 2016 and over 1,300 houses in 2017. The average grant in 2017 was approximately €10,000.

As local authorities have delegated responsibility in the use of the DPG scheme and the distribution of the funding is a matter for them to administer, data in relation to the number of social homes improved or adapted was not collected prior to 2016.

Local authorities have submitted to my Department details of their work proposals and related funding requirements for this scheme in 2018. These have now been evaluated and funding allocations will be confirmed to the local authorities shortly. In order to ensure that there were no delays for priority and urgent cases, all local authorities were advised that they can undertake works of up to 65% of their 2017 allocation, in advance of the 2018 full year allocation. This has allowed them to plan and progress works under the scheme and will support the full utilisation of the 2018 allocation by end-year.

Wildlife Control

Questions (212)

Michael Healy-Rae

Question:

212. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to have a cull in the population of seals (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25876/18]

Written answers

Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

There are two species of seal in Irish waters - the Harbour or Common Seal and the more numerous Grey Seal. Both are protected under the EU Habitats Directive and Ireland is obliged to monitor their populations and report to the European Commission on their conservation status. A standardised monitoring programme has been in place for both species since 2009. The most recent report on their conservation status was submitted to the European Commission in June 2013 and is available on the website www.npws.ie.  

As part of my Department's established seal monitoring programme, Grey Seal and Harbour Seal numbers have continued to be recorded around the country. The next conservation assessment of the status of both seal species is under preparation and is due for submission to the Commission in early 2019

Seals have a broad diet which varies depending on the species of seal, the geographic region and also the availability of fish and other prey. Studies of the interaction between seals and various commercial fisheries in Ireland are ongoing. This work by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Marine Institute and An Bord Iascaigh Mhara, towards which my Department provides technical and licensing input under relevant conservation legislation, includes the recording of seal depredation (damage to fish or removal of fish by seals during fishery operations) as part of the National At Sea Catch Sampling Programme. It also involves targeted regionally based studies concerning seal bycatch for example and the ongoing development of acoustic deterrence to mitigate seal fisheries interactions.

In relation to seal predation on salmonids, for example, a study published in 2014 by Inland Fisheries Ireland, focusing on two estuaries of significance for native salmon, found considerable differences in the amount of salmonids in the diet of locally occurring seals and concluded that the removal of salmonids by seals and other predators must be placed in the context of the amount removed by fisheries (see link).

All of these studies will continue to inform policy in relation to seal protection and meeting our obligations under the EU Habitats Directive.