Written Answers Nos. 686-703
686. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the details of engagements, meetings or correspondence that he has had with a person (details supplied) in the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43396/18]
View answerI have had no engagements, meetings or correspondence with the person concerned during my tenure as Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government.
687. Deputy John Brassil asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if a HAP arrears payment will issue to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43409/18]
View answerThe Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a flexible and immediate housing support that is now available to all eligible households throughout the State.
HAP is a form of social housing support under which local authorities make monthly payments on behalf of tenants directly to landlords in respect of rent, subject to the terms and conditions of the scheme. All the terms and conditions of the HAP scheme for both tenants and landlords are available on the dedicated HAP website, www.hap.ie, and associated HAP documentation.
Limerick City and County Council provide a highly effective transactional shared service on behalf of all HAP local authorities. This HAP Shared Services Centre (SSC) manages all HAP related rental transactions for the tenant, local authority and landlord.
My Department does not have any role in respect of individual HAP payments and the person concerned should contact the HAP SCC by phone on 061 556600 or the relevant local authority for details of the refund process.
688. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if the amalgamated Limerick City and County Council is regarded as an administrative county or an administrative county borough for the purposes of Article 12.4.2°ii of Bunreacht na hÉireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43419/18]
View answerLimerick City and County Council is an administrative county, as defined in the Local Government Act 2014.
689. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of building control management system, BCMS, certificates of compliance on completion of homes for multi-unit developments (details supplied) in County Dublin during 2016, 2017 and the first six months of 2018. [43474/18]
View answerThe issues referred to by the Deputy are a matter for local Building Control Authorities, who are independent in the use of their statutory powers under the Building Control Acts 1990 - 2014.
Building Control Authorities are required to keep certain information pertaining to building works that come under the Building Control Regulations 1997-2015 on a statutory register, including particulars in relation to Commencement Notices, Declarations of Intention to Opt Out of Statutory Certification and Certificates of Compliance on Completion.
The Building Control Management System (BCMS) provides a common platform for clear and consistent administration of building control matters across the local authority sector. The BCMS is an IT enabler, set up to facilitate building control authorities, building owners, builders and construction professionals in discharging their separate responsibilities under the Building Control Act 1990.
The BCMS is centrally hosted by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) on behalf of the 31 Local Authorities and has enabled this information to be hosted on a central nationwide register, which is readily available and searchable at the following weblink: https://www.localgov.ie/en/bcms.
690. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of social housing current expenditure programme, SCHEP, funded properties by approved housing body, AHB, build (details supplied) in tabular form; and the details for the SCHEP-funded properties targeted with funding in budget 2019. [43495/18]
View answerThe Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) is a funding programme that supports the delivery of social housing by providing financial support to local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) for the long term leasing of houses and apartments from private owners and developers.
The SHCEP budget funds the ongoing current costs of homes delivered using a variety of different delivery mechanisms, including properties built or acquired by AHBs using funding under the Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) and Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund (HAA), and leased to local authorities; properties leased on a longterm basis from private property owners by AHBs or local authorities, including properties secured through specific programmes such as the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) and the Enhanced Leasing Scheme. Therefore, SHCEP is a complementary funding stream to a range of capital expenditure programmes like RLS, CALF and the Mortgage to Rent Scheme.
The 2019 budgetary provision for the SHCEP is €155 million which represents an increase of €40 million on the 2018 provision. This is expected to fund the ongoing cost of the existing social housing homes secured with support of the Programme at the end of 2018 which will amount to almost 14,000. In addition, over 4,800 new social housing homes, targeted for delivery across the build, acquisition and leasing streams in 2019 are to be funded under the Programme.
The breakdown of the new social housing homes, by delivery stream, targeted to be funded by SHCEP 2019 is set out in the table below:
Table 1: Dwellings targeted to be funded by SHCEP in 2019
|
Delivery Type |
2019 (Target) |
|
Build |
1,988 |
|
Acquisition |
700 |
|
Leasing |
2,130 |
|
Total |
4,818 |
The breakdown of the dwellings supported under SHCEP up to end Q2 2018, broken down by the schemes requested, is set out in the table below:
Table 2: Number of dwellings funded under SHCEP, by delivery stream requested, year to end Q2 2018
|
Delivery Type |
2018 (end Q2) |
|
AHB CALF (incl. CALF Build, CALF Acquisitions and HAA) |
3,045 |
|
LA Direct Leasing |
3,467 |
|
AHB Direct Leasing |
617 |
|
AHB Mortgage to Rent |
296 |
|
LA NAMA SPV |
41 |
|
AHB NAMA SPV |
1,150 |
|
Total |
8,616 |
The breakdown of the costs of the schemes requested, by delivery stream, under SHCEP up to end Q2 2018 is set out in the table below. A separate breakdown of costs in respect of CALF Build and CALF Acquisition is not available. Total spend under SHCEP at end Q2 2018, across all delivery streams was €23,945,263.
Table 3: Total cost of dwellings funded under SHCEP, by delivery stream requested, in the year to end Q2 2018
|
Delivery Type |
2018 Spend (end Q2) |
|
AHB CALF (incl. CALF Build, CALF Acquisitions and HAA) |
€10,249,050 |
|
LA Direct Leasing |
€6,544,540 |
|
AHB Direct Leasing |
€1,136,410 |
|
AHB Mortgage to Rent |
€814,961 |
|
LA NAMA SPV |
€94,375 |
|
AHB NAMA SPV |
€2,875,728 |
|
Total |
€21,715,064 |
691. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of Rebuilding Ireland home loan applications that have been accepted and rejected; the percentage comparison between those accepted and rejected from the launch of the programme until October 2018, by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43506/18]
View answerAs with the previous local authority home loan offerings, loan applications under the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan are made directly to the local authority in whose area the property proposed for purchase is situated. My Department does not directly collect information on the number of loan applications received by each local authority.
However, as is currently the case, my Department will continue to publish information on the overall number and value of (i) local authority loan approvals and (ii) local authority loan drawdowns. Information up to Q2 2018 is available on the Department's website at the following link: http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/statistics/house-prices-loans-and-profile-borrowers/local-authority-loan-activity, and this information is updated on a quarterly basis as additional data is compiled.
In addition, the Housing Agency provides a central support service which assesses loan applications that are made to the local authorities and makes recommendations to the authorities as to whether loans should be offered to applicants. I have asked the Agency to centrally compile figures on the numbers of applications that it has assessed and the most recent figures, as at the end of September, indicate that the Agency had received a total of 2,933 applications for assessment from local authorities.
Of the 2,933 applications received, 2,354 were deemed to be valid. Of these valid applications, 2,222 had been assessed and 1,134 of these (51%) had been recommended for approval. A breakdown by local authority of the 1,134 applications recommended for approval and the 1,088 recommended to be declined is set out in the table below.
|
Local Authority |
Valid Applications Assessed |
Recommended to Approve |
% Approved |
Recommended to Decline |
% Declined |
|
Carlow County Council |
40 |
15 |
37.5 |
25 |
62.5 |
|
Cavan County Council |
7 |
1 |
14.3 |
6 |
85.7 |
|
Clare County Council |
40 |
14 |
35.0 |
26 |
65.0 |
|
Cork City Council |
77 |
37 |
48.1 |
40 |
51.9 |
|
Cork County Council |
169 |
93 |
55.0 |
76 |
45.0 |
|
Donegal County Council |
21 |
13 |
61.9 |
8 |
38.1 |
|
Dublin City Council |
263 |
163 |
62.0 |
100 |
38.0 |
|
Dún Laoghaire - Rathdown County Council |
53 |
33 |
62.3 |
20 |
37.7 |
|
Fingal County Council |
321 |
156 |
48.6 |
165 |
51.4 |
|
Galway City Council |
46 |
22 |
47.8 |
24 |
52.2 |
|
Galway County Council |
83 |
32 |
38.6 |
51 |
61.4 |
|
Kerry County Council |
60 |
26 |
43.3 |
34 |
56.7 |
|
Kildare County Council |
142 |
72 |
50.7 |
70 |
49.3 |
|
Kilkenny County Council |
22 |
11 |
50.0 |
11 |
50.0 |
|
Laois County Council |
54 |
27 |
50.0 |
27 |
50.0 |
|
Leitrim County Council |
9 |
2 |
22.2 |
7 |
77.8 |
|
Limerick City & County Council |
46 |
28 |
60.9 |
18 |
39.1 |
|
Longford County Council |
22 |
12 |
54.5 |
10 |
45.5 |
|
Louth County Council |
50 |
19 |
38.0 |
31 |
62.0 |
|
Mayo County Council |
30 |
13 |
43.3 |
17 |
56.7 |
|
Meath County Council |
155 |
101 |
65.2 |
54 |
34.8 |
|
Monaghan County Council |
10 |
2 |
20.0 |
8 |
80.0 |
|
Offaly County Council |
27 |
10 |
37.0 |
17 |
63.0 |
|
Roscommon County Council |
23 |
11 |
47.8 |
12 |
52.2 |
|
Sligo County Council |
26 |
16 |
61.5 |
10 |
38.5 |
|
South Dublin County Council |
167 |
84 |
50.3 |
83 |
49.7 |
|
Tipperary County Council |
58 |
23 |
39.7 |
35 |
60.3 |
|
Waterford City & County Council |
20 |
10 |
50.0 |
10 |
50.0 |
|
Westmeath County Council |
17 |
11 |
64.7 |
6 |
35.3 |
|
Wexford County Council |
66 |
33 |
50.0 |
33 |
50.0 |
|
Wicklow County Council |
98 |
44 |
44.9 |
54 |
55.1 |
|
Total |
2,222 |
1,134 |
51.0 |
1088 |
49.0 |
Each local authority must have in place a credit committee and it is a matter for that committee to make the decision on applications for loans, in accordance with the regulations, having regard to the recommendations made by the Housing Agency.
692. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his views on a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43662/18]
View answerThe provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under section 10 of the Fire Services Act 1981. My Department supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for priority infrastructural projects.
In February 2016, my Department announced a five-year Fire Services Capital Programme with an allocation of €40 million, based on the current annual €8 million allocation, to be used for the purchase of fire appliances and specialist equipment, building or upgrading of prioritised Fire Stations, an upgrade of the Communications and Mobilisation system and improvements to Training Centres.
An upgrade of Killarney fire station is provided for in the current five-year programme. Updated project documentation, including a capital appraisal and detailed cost plan, was received in my Department in March 2017, indicating a total project cost of €498,500. In April 2017, my Department approved Kerry County Council to proceed to tender for the proposed works and a firm tender proposal is awaited from the Council.
The projects in the capital programme are reassessed on an annual basis and priority may be adjusted to bring forward projects offering best value-for-money and to take account of the state of readiness of the projects.
694. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the details of the process under way to extend the land aggregation scheme; if his attention has been drawn to the need for such a scheme in respect of Louth County Council lands at Mullavalley, Louth village, Kilkerley, Ballymakenny, Mount Avenue and Point Road in view of the inability of the local authority to develop these sites for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43678/18]
View answer695. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the impact of outstanding loans in respect of purchase by Louth County Council lands at Mullavalley, Louth village, Kilkerley, Ballymakenny, Mount Avenue and Point Road on the budgetary position of Louth County Council on an annual basis; if his Department wishes for Louth County Council to develop these lands for social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43679/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 694 and 695 together.
The development of publicly owned residential lands for housing is an absolute priority for this Government and we are working closely with all local authorities on the development of their sites. In the first instance, it is a matter for local authorities to bring forward viable and appropriate development proposals. Of course, it is also a matter for each local authority to manage its own finances in a prudent and sustainable manner. In this context, I understand the Housing Finance Agency works with individual local authorities to find the most efficient way of dealing with each authority's outstanding loans.
The Land Aggregation Scheme was introduced in 2010 to assist in the gradual unwinding of loans taken out by housing authorities to purchase land for the social and affordable housing investment programme where loans were due to mature and where it was considered unlikely that land would be developed in the short to medium term.
An initial appraisal of the sites submitted by local authorities was carried out by the Housing Agency, as well as a due diligence assessment. Applications to the value of some €163 million in loans were accepted into the Land Aggregation Scheme. €111 million of loans were fully redeemed and the remaining €52 million are being recouped in the form of annuity loans. I understand that the site at Mount Avenue was accepted under the annuity arrangements.
Local authorities were advised of the discontinuance of the Scheme, in respect of new applications, in 2013. Notwithstanding this, my Department is committed to supporting local authorities to realise new social and affordable homes from their lands without delay. Sites that are not suited for a full social housing development may be more suited to a mixed-tenure development including social, affordable and perhaps private housing.
There is funding available to support local authorities in terms of the delivery of social and affordable housing from their own lands. Next year, €2.4 billion will be invested in housing and over the four years to the end of 2019, €6.6 billion will have been provided.
It is important that local authorities identify the most appropriate development proposals for each site, taking all of the available funding into account. For example, I understand that the site at Mount Avenue was approved for funding of €3.3m under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) for the provision of an access road which will support the initial development of 200 homes, with a potential for up to 1,200 homes on the wider lands.
In order to support local authorities further to prepare their sites for affordable housing specifically, the Government recently committed under Budget 2019 to provide €310 million under the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF). A first call for proposals under the Fund issued to local authorities in Dublin; the Greater Dublin Area (including Louth); Cork and Galway in June 2018, with a closing date for applications of end August. Fifteen proposals were received from nine local authorities under this first call and are currently being assessed. I expect this assessment process to be finalised and an announcement of the first successful bids to be made in the coming weeks. While Louth County Council did not make an application under the first call, further calls for proposals will be made and it will be open to the Council to submit applications at that stage if it considers it appropriate.
696. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his views on a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43697/18]
View answerResponsibility for the provision of emergency medical services, including pre-hospital emergency care, rests with the Health Service Executive (HSE) which operates the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and emergency departments in hospitals in accordance with health sector legislation and national policy. The HSE operates under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Health.
As Minister with policy and legislative responsibility for fire safety and the provision of fire services by local authorities, my primary concern, as set out in the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003, is that local authority provided fire services are meeting their statutory obligations in respect of provision of fire services and fire safety. These responsibilities include the important activity of community and other fire safety initiatives as well as response to 999/112 calls.
In general, there is a high degree of collaboration and co-ordination of emergency activity among the Principal Emergency Services. In some circumstances, the HSE’s NAS calls for assistance from fire services in responding to certain categories of 999/112 emergency calls. Such calls are typically in respect of, but not limited to, ECHO (life threatening) emergencies. As well as being able to call on Community First Responders, the NAS is aware that many fire services are equipped with automatic external defibrillators and have trained their fire-fighters in Cardiac First Responder and Emergency First Responder to Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council standards. Fire services are so equipped and trained in the first instance to ensure the health and safety of their own staff, but can also use their skills and equipment where they encounter casualties at emergency incidents.
Fire services generally respond to calls for assistance from external bodies in accordance with protocols operated within the three fire services Regional Communications Centres.
The feasibility of fire services (outside of the Dublin Fire Brigade area of operations) being commissioned by the HSE to provide a response service in support of the NAS in responding to ECHO emergency calls was discussed at national level at the Fire Services National Oversight & Implementation Group (FSNOIG), which consists of fire service management and staff representatives. FSNOIG produced a discussion document which could potentially be used as the basis to underpin discussions with the Health sector. The document was discussed at the Management Board of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management meeting of 18 July 2018.
Any proposal for formalising such assistance needs to be subject to appropriate governance, cost reimbursement arrangements and to be set in the context of a service agreement with the HSE/NAS which will not impact on or adversely affect fire services' primary roles. It would be important in such circumstances to ensure that local authority and fire services' resources are not diverted from their statutory fire service and fire safety responsibilities, where they are providing assistance for another public body. The potential impact on the current Community First Responders schemes would also have to be assessed.
As responsibility for the provision of emergency medical services, including pre-hospital emergency care, rests with the HSE, it would be more appropriate to engage with my colleague the Minister for Health in the first instance to advance proposals in this regard.
697. Deputy Darragh O'Brien asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if his Department has a contingency plan to mitigate the effects of Brexit; if so, if he will publish same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43712/18]
View answerPlanning for the U.K.'s exit from the European Union was initiated over two years ago and preparedness for different types of Brexit is well underway across Government.
To this end, co-ordination of the whole-of-Government response to Brexit is being taken forward through the cross-Departmental coordination structures chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In July of this year, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade presented a comprehensive Memorandum to the Government on Brexit Preparedness and Contingency Planning. On the basis of this Memorandum, Departments were tasked with developing detailed action plans to prepare for Brexit.
My Department is contributing to this process and contingency planning is well advanced. The priorities include assessing any potential impacts on housing and our other areas of responsibility. This is necessarily an iterative and ongoing process, monitoring the progress of the negotiations and working to mitigate the impact of Brexit, and my Department will continue to work closely in this regard with other Departments through the established structures.
698. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the categories of funding available to local authorities through his Department; the amount of funding provided for each scheme in 2016 and 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43733/18]
View answerMy Department has a diverse business agenda including delivering, in partnership with local authorities and other bodies, on a wide range of programmes in areas such as social housing, urban renewal, water services and fire services capital investment, each of which includes a number of different funding schemes. Information on funding provided by my Department to local authorities for such purposes in 2016, 2017 and earlier years is contained in chapter 4 of the Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2017: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities, published by the Comptroller and Auditor General in September 2018, which is available at the following link:http://www.audgen.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/annualreports/2017/Report/En/Chapter4.pdf.
699. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the fire stations in Dublin that benefitted from the five year fire services capital programme announced in February 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43758/18]
View answerThe provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Service Act 1981. My Department supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for priority infrastructural projects.
In February 2016, my Department announced a five-year Fire Services Capital Programme with an allocation of €40 million, based on an annual €8 million allocation, to be used for the purchase of fire appliances and specialist equipment, building or upgrading of prioritised Fire Stations, an upgrade of the Communications and Mobilisation system and improvements to Training Centres. The five-year programme proposed the construction/ refurbishment of twenty six (26) fire stations. This included sixteen (16) new builds and ten (10) upgrade/ refurbishments.
Each fire authority submits to my Department requests for funding for prioritised capital requirements. Continued investment in the fire appliance fleet has been identified as a key national priority. All requests for funding from my Department’s Fire Services Capital Programme for any fire appliances, equipment or fire station projects will have regard to local authorities’ priorities, the value for money offered by proposals and the totality of requests from fire authorities.
My Department has not funded any fire stations for Dublin Fire Brigade as part of the current capital programme. However, under the programme, funding has been announced for six new fire appliances for Dublin Fire Brigade at a cost of approximately €1.8million. Approval for 6 vehicles with 4x4 capability was also issued to Dublin Fire Brigade in May 2018. In addition to this, a fleet replacement proposal for 2018 to 2020 and a request for a turntable ladder costing approximately €800k have been received from Dublin Fire Brigade and these requests are currently under review.
The projects in the capital programme are reassessed on an annual basis and priority may be adjusted to bring forward projects offering best value-for-money and to take account of the state of readiness of the projects.
700. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if legislation can be amended to ensure that future planting of commercial forestry throughout Ireland is required to have local authority planning permission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43772/18]
View answerThe Planning and Development Regulations 2001 were amended in September 2011 by the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011 to provide that initial afforestation shall be exempted development, i.e. exempt from the requirement to obtain planning permission.
The justification for exempting this form of activity from the requirement to obtain planning permission is because such activity was subject to a separate statutory development consent system under the European Communities (Forest Consent and Assessment) Regulations 2010, administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The 2010 Regulations were subsequently revoked and have been replaced by the Forestry Regulations 2017, following the commencement of the Forestry Act 2014.
Similar to the 2010 Regulations, the 2017 Regulations make specific provision for public consultation in the application and approval processes relating to afforestation developments. As part of the statutory public consultation process, site notices must be erected at all entrances (to the proposed site) onto the public road in respect of forestry licence applications. Further, notice of applications are published on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s website, under public consultation.
I have no proposals to further amend the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 in this regard. However, taking account of wider planning and development considerations, my Department will continue to monitor and keep under review general development activity, in consultation with local authorities, relevant Departments and Agencies and other stakeholders.
701. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government when the new fire station in Manorhamilton will be permitted to advance to construction stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43777/18]
View answerThe provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Service Act, 1981. My Department supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for priority infrastructural projects.
In February 2016, my Department announced a five-year Fire Services Capital Programme with an allocation of €40 million, based on an annual €8 million allocation, to be used for the purchase of fire appliances and specialist equipment, building or upgrading of prioritised Fire Stations, an upgrade of the Communications and Mobilisation system and improvements to Training Centres. The five-year programme proposed the construction/ refurbishment of twenty six (26) fire stations. This included sixteen (16) new builds and ten (10) upgrade/ refurbishments.
A new fire station at Manorhamilton is provided for in the Capital Programme with an indicative commencement date of 2019. My Department is awaiting a design proposal from Leitrim County Council to enable the project to proceed to the next stage.
702. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the status of the allocation of funding for housing voids in County Leitrim; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43778/18]
View answerThe voids programme, introduced in 2014 by my Department, provides additional support to local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-letting. The purpose of the voids programme is to ensure that vacant units are actively targeted, with a view to minimising the turnaround and re-let time of these units and return them to use in an energy efficient condition. Without substantial refurbishment, these social homes would have been left vacant and in turn would not be part of the active social housing stock.
Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966, provides that the management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including the implementation of planned maintenance programmes and carrying out of responsive repairs and pre-letting repairs, is a matter for each individual local authority.
Local authorities are actively encouraged to ensure that all vacant properties are brought back into active use as expeditiously as possible. Earlier this year, local authorities, including Leitrim County Council, submitted to my Department details of their work proposals and related funding requirements for the voids programme in 2018. These proposals were evaluated and Leitrim County Council was given approval to proceed with refurbishment works to 21 properties under the voids programme, subject to the relevant funding thresholds, which are listed in the tables below. Given the availability of funding, the completion of the works concerned is now a matter for the Council.
|
Table 1 |
|
|
Energy Efficient Measures – 50% ERDF Co Funded |
Max Grant |
|
300mm Attic Insulation |
€500 |
|
Cavity Wall Insulation or Dry ling Wall |
€1,000 |
|
External Wall Insulation in lieu of cavity wall insulation or dry lining Terrace/End Terrace |
Terrace €4,500 End Tec €7,500 |
|
Window & External Door Replacement |
€4,750 |
|
Replacement Boiler or Installation of Renewable Heating System with fully Integrated Heating Controls with exception for solid fuelled central heating appliances. |
€1,750 |
|
Replacement Radiators and Pipework |
€750 |
|
Installation of Room Space Heating Stove |
€1,000 |
|
Total |
Terrace: €14,250 End Terrace: €17,250 |
|
Table 2 |
|
|
Ancillary Measures if required |
Max Grant |
|
Installation of Kitchen |
€1,200 |
|
Installation of Bathroom |
€1,000 |
|
Rewiring of Smoke Alarm |
€2,300 |
|
Plumbing |
€800 |
|
Internal Joinery |
€800 |
|
Internal Painting |
€1,500 |
|
External Painting |
€1,100 |
|
Gutter Downpipes/Foul Water Systems |
€500 |
|
Wheel Chair Access |
€500 |
|
External Works Upgrade |
€800 |
|
Waste Disposal |
€250 |
|
Other Necessary Works not specified Above. |
€2,000 |
|
Total |
€12,750 |
703. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of houses leased by local authorities by local authority in each of the years 2014 to 2017 and to date in 2018, in tabular form; the overall cost of those leases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43908/18]
View answerThe Government has set out an ambitious set of targets for the delivery of social housing in the period to 2021 in its Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan. A commitment to deliver 50,000 new social housing homes through a range of delivery mechanisms is being supported by a multi-annual Exchequer commitment totalling €6.5 billion over the period of the plan. These targets will be achieved using a combination of building, purchasing and leasing high quality properties to meet the needs of households on local authority waiting lists around the country.
Of the 50,000 social housing homes to be delivered under Rebuilding Ireland, 10,000 will be leased by local authorities and approved housing bodies under leasing arrangements from a range of different sources.
Data on social housing leasing, funded by my Department, in respect of all local authorities from 2016 to end Q2 2018 is published on my Department’s website at the following link: http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision. Data in respect of Q3 2018 is currently being collated and will be available shortly. Details in relation to Leasing output for 2014 and 2015 are set out in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Leasing Output 2014 and 2015, by Local Authority
|
Local Authority |
2014 Leasing |
2015 Leasing |
|
Carlow |
3 |
31 |
|
Cavan |
2 |
3 |
|
Clare |
12 |
41 |
|
Cork City |
4 |
39 |
|
Cork County |
102 |
115 |
|
Donegal |
20 |
32 |
|
Dublin City |
64 |
185 |
|
Dun Laoghaire - Rathdown |
0 |
0 |
|
Fingal |
52 |
45 |
|
South Dublin |
94 |
120 |
|
Galway City |
22 |
25 |
|
Galway County |
4 |
30 |
|
Kerry |
26 |
51 |
|
Kildare |
26 |
30 |
|
Kilkenny |
0 |
43 |
|
Laois |
14 |
12 |
|
Leitrim |
0 |
5 |
|
Limerick |
3 |
0 |
|
Longford |
3 |
31 |
|
Louth |
67 |
14 |
|
Mayo |
45 |
31 |
|
Meath |
6 |
42 |
|
Monaghan |
0 |
4 |
|
Offaly |
67 |
57 |
|
Roscommon |
0 |
0 |
|
Sligo |
2 |
6 |
|
Tipperary |
37 |
31 |
|
Waterford |
14 |
13 |
|
Westmeath |
51 |
39 |
|
Wexford |
3 |
21 |
|
Wicklow |
3 |
7 |
|
Total |
746 |
1,103 |
Leasing is an important component of the suite of delivery options available to local authorities in meeting housing needs, the costs of which are met from my Department's Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP).
The SHCEP budget funds the ongoing current costs of homes delivered using a variety of different delivery mechanisms, including properties built or acquired by AHBs using funding under the Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) and Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund (HAA), and leased to local authorities; properties leased on a longterm basis from private property owners by AHBs or local authorities, including properties secured through specific programmes such as the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) and the Enhanced Leasing Scheme.
Exchequer funding for SHCEP in 2018 is €115m, increasing to €155m in 2019. This is expected to fund the ongoing cost of the existing social housing homes secured with the support of the Programme at the end of 2018, which will amount to almost 14,000, together with over 4,800 new social housing homes, targeted for delivery across the build, acquisition and leasing streams in 2019.
Details of the total funding drawn-down by local authorities under SHCEP from 2014 to 2017, and for the first half of 2018, are provided below in tabular form. The total cost of leased dwellings funded under SHCEP for Q1 and Q2 2018 was €13,278,131 (Q1 total €8,072,551; Q2 €5,205,580). A detailed breakdown of payments made to local authorities by my Department, by leasing type, is not available before Q1 2018.
Table 2: SHCEP Expenditure 2014-2018
|
Period |
SHCEP Expenditure |
|
2014 |
€34,844,780 |
|
2015 |
€42,275,724* |
|
2016 |
€54,028,752 |
|
2017 |
€84,050,743 |
|
Q2 2018 |
€23,945,263 |
*Of this figure, a total of €7,933,651 was self-funded by local authorities using funding from their RAS Reserve.
