Written Answers Nos. 488-501
488. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of significant wildfires that have occurred in forested areas since 1 January 2018; his plans to undertake a damage assessment of each of these wildfires; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20633/19]
View answer496. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of significant wildfires that have occurred in local authority areas since 1 January 2018; his plans to undertake a damage assessment of each of these wildfires; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20634/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 488 and 496 together.
The Local Authority Fire and Rescue Service is the Principal Response Agency in the case of fires and information garnered from attendance at incidents, including wildland fires, would be held at local authority level.
Over the course of the summer of 2018, during a period of exceptional drought conditions, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine issued Fire Danger Notices in response to the prevailing conditions which were conducive to wildland fires starting and spreading. Local authority fire services worked with Coillte, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and local communities to deal with wildland fires.
As part of its role in liaising between local authority fire services and the Department of Defence in relation to requesting Defence Forces assistance with fire-fighting, the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management in my Department took a number of actions. This included requesting daily reports of wildfires from each of the fire services three regional communications centres. Over the course of the four weeks in question, the following summary information on vegetation/wildland fires was reported to my Department.
|
Region |
Calls Received |
Incidents Attended |
|
East Region Communications Centre (ERCC) |
2,009 |
1,205 |
|
Munster Region Communications Centre (MRCC) |
2,609 |
1,292 |
|
West Region Communications Centre (WRCC) |
587 |
333 |
|
Total |
5,202 |
2,830 |
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine convened an inter-departmental group to review the experience of managing wildland fires over the summer of 2018 and the effectiveness of measures to minimise the number of such fires.
My Department has no role in relation to assessment of damage in respect of wildfires.
489. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if the funding announced in November 2018 for a project (details supplied) in County Cork under the urban regeneration and development fund will remain available; the length of time the funding will be available for; the steps taken to advance the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20333/19]
View answerThe Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is a flagship element of Project Ireland 2040, with €2 billion identified in the National Development Plan (NDP) to 2027. Of this, €58m is available in 2019 to provide initial support for the 88 projects approved for URDF support last November, while €550 million is included in the NDP to provide further support for these and other similar projects up to 2022.
Bids were invited from public bodies throughout Ireland for funding under the URDF and a total of 189 applications were received by my Department under the first call for proposals. On 26 November 2018, initial URDF support of €100m was provisionally allocated to a total of 88 projects throughout the country.
As part of this first tranche of approvals, Cork County Council was awarded initial URDF support for a number of projects including €1,875,000 towards the development of a strategic site as part of a programme to elevate the Passage West area.
While the progression of successful proposals under the Fund is a matter, in the first instance, for the relevant applicant, my Department has been actively engaging with successful applicants on the detailed progression of all successful proposals. At a recent meeting with Cork County Council, my Department was informed by the Council that it was no longer proceeding with this particular proposal for Passage West, as the site concerned is no longer available. It is a matter for the Council, in the first instance, to consider possible alternative proposals that may be submitted for consideration for future funding approval.
490. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the position in respect of the interest rate on local authority mortgages; if existing local authority mortgage holders can avail of the lower rates available under the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20335/19]
View answerFollowing a review of the two existing local authority home loan schemes, the House Purchase Loan and the Home Choice Loan, a new loan offering known as the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan was introduced, with effect from 1 February 2018.
The low interest rates for the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan have been secured through the raising of €200 million by the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) on a fixed-rate basis for periods out to thirty years' maturity. Based on the pricing achieved, local authorities can offer a first tranche of fixed-rate annuity finance to eligible borrowers at rates of 2.0% and 2.25% per annum, for terms of up to 25 and 30 years respectively, up to an aggregate maximum of €200 million.
As such, these conditions are solely available to new applicants under the specific terms and conditions of the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan. Existing local authority mortgage holders remain subject to the terms and conditions of their loans as originally agreed at the point of drawdown of their individual loans.
491. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 572 of 16 April 2019, if the areas (details supplied) will not be included in a rent pressure zone. [20451/19]
View answer492. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 572 of 16 April 2019, the processes that will exist for ensuring that electoral areas that have recently been redrawn potentially affecting the calculation of average rents and average rent increases can be included in rent pressure zones. [20452/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 491 and 492 together.
The expiry date of all deemed and designated RPZs will be extended to 31 December 2021 under the Residential Tenancies (Amendment)(No.2) Bill 2018. The Bill further provides that any area falling within the new Cork City Council boundary, which is not already within a RPZ, will become one from 31 May 2019.
Areas already designated as RPZs will remain designated and areas that are not designated nor due to become part of Cork City Council will retain their current undesignated status.
New Local Electoral Areas (LEAs) and Municipal Districts were signed into law on 31 January 2019 for Cork City and County (which took into account the expanded Cork City boundary) for the May 2019 local elections.
Carrigaline and its hinterland will be contained within its own LEA and Municipal District, which will become wholly within the remit of Cork County Council on 31 May 2019. The areas of Carrigaline south of the Owenabue River and Crosshaven will be contained in the Carrigaline LEA and will come under the remit of Cork County Council and as such will not become RPZs by virtue of the change to the boundary.
The Boundary Committee Reports 1 and 2 which recommended these changes show the new LEAs – Report No. 1 contains Cork County and Report No. 2, Cork City. These reports are available at the following link - http://boundarycommittee.ie/.
493. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if a person who is separated from a spouse and part owner of the family home can be considered for the housing assistance payment or council housing waiting lists while trying to resolve the situation with the family home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20477/19]
View answerProvision has been made in housing legislation for persons who have separated and/or divorced or who are in the process of separation and/or divorce.
Under section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and Regulation 22(1) of the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, a household is ineligible for social housing support if a member owns alternative accommodation, to the household’s current accommodation, that is suitable for the household to live in. Regulation 22(2) of the 2011 Regulations provides that this ineligibility does not apply where an applicant for social housing support owns accommodation that is occupied by his or her spouse, from whom he or she is formally separated or divorced. Under the enactment, a deed of separation is sufficient to set aside this ineligibility ground and it is not necessary to await judicial separation or divorce to get a decision on social housing support in these cases. The rationale for this exception is that the terms of a formal separation or divorce will provide for the future ownership and occupation of the family home and it will be clear whether the household that has left the family home can return to live there.
In order to provide more flexibility to housing authorities to deal with cases where the ownership of the family home had not yet been finalised, the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 amended section 20 of the 2009 Act. Housing authorities may now provide such households with social housing support under the Rental Accommodation Scheme or the Housing Assistance Payment scheme until ownership of the family home is resolved in a formal separation or divorce settlement.
The 2014 Act amendment provides that support in these circumstances will be reviewed by the housing authority at prescribed intervals and the household will not be able to transfer to other forms of social housing support while ownership of the family home remains to be determined. However, where the household ultimately qualifies for the full range of social housing supports, the length of time the household was supported under RAS or HAP will be reckonable for the purposes of determining the household’s relative priority for a transfer to local authority social housing.
494. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he will address a matter regarding Rebuilding Ireland funding (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20479/19]
View answerThe issue referred to is a matter for Kerry County Council to consider, as it is the Council that identifies projects that are eligible and are to be prioritised in terms of the delivery of new social housing in their area.
Funding under Rebuilding Ireland is, in general, targeted towards the provision of permanent new social homes for those on housing waiting lists.
495. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the date the non-principal private residence charge was introduced; the effective date for the charge for each year; the amounts now payable in respect of each year while the charge was in existence in circumstances in which persons have not paid such a charge to date; the amount now due by an individual in such cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20511/19]
View answerThe Local Government (Charges) Act 2009, as amended, provides the legislative basis for the Non-Principal Private Residence (NPPR) charge. The Act was signed into law on 21 July 2009. The NPPR charge applied in the years 2009 to 2013 to any residential property in which the owner did not reside as their normal place of residence.
There were five liability dates - 31 July 2009 and 31 March for each of the years 2010 to 2013.
The amounts payable per year by an individual that is liable to but has not paid the charge is set out in the table below. If a liable person has not paid the charge to date, the total amount now due would be €7,230.
|
Liability Year |
Total Due |
|
2009 |
€2,070 |
|
2010 |
€1,830 |
|
2011 |
€1,470 |
|
2012 |
€1,110 |
|
2013 |
€750 |
|
Total |
€7,230 |
497. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government when he plans to sign the order to release the national taking-in-charge scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20635/19]
View answer498. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if there are impediments preventing him from signing the order to release the national taking-in-charge scheme; the steps he plans to take to relieve those impediments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20636/19]
View answer509. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the funding committed to the new scheme in view of the review of taking-in-charge initiative measure 2 report published in December 2018; and if he will now open the new scheme and invite local authorities to make applications. [20865/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 497, 498 and 509 together.
My Department launched the National Taking-in-Charge Initiative (NTICI) in April 2016 to trial new approaches and working methods in supporting and accelerating overall national and local action on the taking-in-charge process of housing estates, including estates with developer-provided water services infrastructure which can include stand-alone treatment plants. Under the terms of the NTICI, which was underpinned by €10 million in funding, developments subject to valid taking-in-charge applications were eligible for inclusion in the associated call for funding proposals. Ultimately, €7.5 million of the allocated funding was paid to local authorities in respect of 330 developments, containing some 14,930 homes.
Findings and recommendations from the NTICI process were included in a report on the initiative that was published by my Department in December 2018. the report is available at the following link:
www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/publications/files/national_taking_in_charge_initiative_report_dec2018.pdf.
The publication of the NTICI report is of value to local authorities and other stakeholders in applying the lessons from the pilot authorities, in a more general roll-out of a streamlined approach to taking-in-charge, including through coordination with capital works by Irish Water. In this regard, my Department is liaising with Irish Water in relation to the report.
Ultimately, however, progression of individual developments through the taking-in-charge process is a matter for the relevant housing developer, the residents in such developments and the relevant local authorities, following the procedures laid out in section 180.
The National Development Plan, published last year, includes provision of €31 million for the period 2018-2021 for developer-provided infrastructure, commencing with an estimates provision of €6 million in 2019. The multi-annual programme will be initiated through the invitation of project bids from local authorities followed by their evaluation by an Expert Panel, set up by my Department, to independently evaluate the bid projects to be approved for funding.
My Department is currently finalising the details of programme and it is expected that the invitation of project bids from local authorities will issue shortly, with approval of projects for this first cycle multi-annual programme to take place once proposals submitted have been assessed.
499. Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his plans to amend the Roads Act 1993 in view of the review report on severe weather events recommendations by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20655/19]
View answer500. Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if the Government task force on emergency planning has completed consideration of the review report on severe weather events in 2017 and 2018; if a requirement has been made to ensure that appropriate protection and management of trees and hedgerows on both public and private roads will be put in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20656/19]
View answer503. Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he will address the issue of trees and public safety in view of the review report on severe weather events recommendations; if he will require all local authorities to appoint a qualified arborist or tree officer to provide professional advice to local authorities and private landowners to assist with the risk management of trees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20706/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 499, 500 and 503 together.
My Department is the Lead Government Department for coordinating the response to severe weather events, including those involving high winds. One of the most widespread and potentially dangerous consequence of high wind is the risk of trees breaking and/or falling, posing a danger to motorists and pedestrians in the vicinity. This was the case with ex-Hurricane Ophelia on 16 October 2017, where trees down were reported in many areas across the country, with especially high numbers of roads blocked in the south and south-east regions.
Tragically, the three fatalities which occurred during ex-Hurricane Ophelia, were associated with falling trees and breaking branches. The fatalities underlined the public safety risk of this event which informed the decision of the National Emergency Co-ordination Group to advise the public against undertaking any non-essential activities or travel on 16 October 2017.
In its role as Lead Government Department, my Department has prepared a review report on the severe weather events which affected Ireland between August 2017 and September 2018. The review report includes recommendations for a risk management approach to address the issue of trees and public safety. This issue cuts across a number of Departments and public bodies as well as landowners. Under the Roads Act 1993, local authorities have responsibility for trees in public areas while trees on private lands, including lands adjoining public roads, are the legal responsibility of the land owner.
While my Department does not have primary responsibility in this area, it has made recommendations on the issue of a risk management approach to trees which can impact on public safety.
Implementation of recommendations in the report that fall within the remit of my Department are in hand, and work on those within the remit of the Principal Response Agencies (An Garda Síochána, the Health Service Executive and local authorities) will continue under the aegis of the National Steering Group on Major Emergency Management.
Recommendations in the Report which are cross-cutting and which relate to national co-ordination arrangements will be considered and taken forward through the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning.
501. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government when funding will be released for housing adaptation grants and housing aid for older people to Limerick City and County Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20659/19]
View answerFunding allocations for 2019 for all local authorities, including Limerick City & County Council, were announced on 11 March 2019 in respect of the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability living in private houses. Nationally, funding of €71.25 million was announced, with €3,351,630 in respect of Limerick. The Council has drawn down some 21% of their allocation to date in 2019.
My Department also provides funding under the Disabled Persons Grants scheme to local authorities for adaptations and extensions to the existing social housing stock, to meet the needs of local authority tenants. In line with previous years, all local authorities, including Limerick City & County Council, were asked to submit details of their work proposals and related funding requirements for the year. These work proposals have been evaluated and the funding allocations for 2019 will issue shortly. However, in the interim, to avoid any delay in undertaking works, local authorities were advised in early 2019 to proceed with works of up to 65% of their overall 2018 allocation.
