Written Answers Nos. 448-472
452. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if funding will be provided to local authorities in cases in which there has been a shortfall in rates income over the past number of months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19851/20]
View answerThe levying and collection of rates are legally matters for each individual local authority. Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes.
An initial three-month waiver of rates for businesses forced to close business due to COVID-19 was announced in early May.
In order to enhance the supports available for enterprise, and in recognition of the fact that not only have many ratepayers been forced to close business due to the public health requirements, but many others who remained open have suffered significant reductions in turnover, this waiver has now been extended for a duration of six months to the end of September and the categories of enterprise who will be eligible to avail of it has been expanded.
A 100% waiver will be applied to all businesses, for a six-month period to the end of September, with the exclusion of a small number of categories. The rationale for the exclusion of certain categories of ratepayers is that their operations were not as severely impacted by the pandemic, coupled with the need to direct resources appropriately.
To support both the local government sector and the ratepayers impacted, €600m has been allocated by Government to fund the cost of a waiver of commercial rates for six months for eligible businesses impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. This will take the form of a credit in lieu of rates.
The Credit in Lieu of Commercial Rates shall be administered by Local Authorities.
Credits in lieu of commercial rates applied to ratepayer accounts under this scheme shall be applied as a credit on the rate bill for 2020. Local authorities should automatically apply a 100% credit in lieu of commercial rates, for a six-month period, to classes and categories of occupied rateable property where the occupying business is not in an excluded category.
453. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of businesses that have been paying commercial rates to each local authority in each of the years 2015 to 2019 and to date in 2020, by local authority area, in tabular form; the amount of commercial rates received by each local authority in the same period, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19868/20]
View answerLocal authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation pursuant to the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015. The levying and collection of rates are matters for each individual local authority.
My Department does not hold any data on the number of properties paying rates in individual local authority areas.
The Local Government Audit Service provide an independent audit of local authorities annual financial statements and a summary of their findings, titled Overview of the Work of the Local Government Audit Service, is published annually on my Department's website at the following link:
https://www.housing.gov.ie/search/archived/current/category/local-government-audit-service/sub-type/annual-report/topic/activity/type/publications
2018 is the latest year for which audited local authority annual financial statement data is available. You will note that in the 2018 and 2017 publications a detailed summary of rates accrued and collected is at Appendix 12 and at Appendix 11 in the 2016 and 2015 publications.
461. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the amount of funding his Department provided for the fire service's Ctrí project in each of the years 2018, 2019 and to date in 2020, in tabular form. [19931/20]
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 Acts 1981 and 2003. My Department supports fire authorities through general policy setting and preparing legislation, providing a central training programme, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for priority infrastructural projects.
The CTrí Project, which is supported by my Department and led by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management, has been designed to deliver the next generation fire service communications and mobilisation system. While the current three regional systems have operated successfully since the early 1990's, the technology has now moved forward sufficiently to allow us to establish a single National system with three nodes in the three Regional Communications Centres, and facilitate the development of standardised national technological systems and operational processes. The core elements of the project are:
- the migration from our old analogue radio systems to the new Tetra platform;
- the development of a new national Fire Service Command and Control software platform which all three regions will use for receipt and despatch; and
- the standardisation, to a common national standard, of all operational process in the three regions, i.e. staffing, training, quality management, control room procedures, etc.
The project represents both a significant financial commitment from the Government and the effective collaboration of all local authorities. The purpose of the project is to improve the quality and resilience of fire services communications across the country, ensuring that we keep our firefighters safe and in turn, allow them to protect the communities they serve. Ctrí retains the ambition of delivering significantly better communication systems, integrating our controls and providing a platform upon which firefighters across the country can continue to deliver safer communities.
My Department provides 100% of the capital funding for the Ctrí project. The amounts provided in each of the years 2018, 2019 and to date in 2020, are set out in the following table.
|
2018 |
€2,807,579 |
|
2019 |
€3,909,895 |
|
2020 |
€362,528 |
|
|
€7,080,002 |
468. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of social houses directly built by planning authorities countrywide over the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19944/20]
View answerMy Department publishes comprehensive statistics on a quarterly basis on all social housing delivery activity under Rebuilding Ireland. This is published on the statistics page of my Department's website, at the following link: https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision. This will provide the Deputy with detailed breakdown of activity across multiple years up to end Q4 2019.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Q1 2020 returns have been deferred and will be collected in conjunction with Q2 2020 and reported in due course.
In addition to the statistical overview of activity in each local authority, a detailed Social Housing Construction Status Report (CSR) is published which provides scheme level detail on new build activity under Rebuilding Ireland. The most recent publication covers the period up to the end of Q4 2019 and was published on 14 May 2020. This report is available on the Rebuilding Ireland website at the following link: https://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-murphy-publishes-social-housing-construction-status-report-for-q4-2019-2/
469. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of social houses provided by approved housing associations in the four Dublin local authorities over the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19949/20]
View answerThe allocation of homes to households on waiting lists by either Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) or local authorities is a matter for individual local authorities in line with their scheme of housing allocations.
My Department supports local authorities to engage with AHBs in the delivery of housing through a wide range of schemes.
AHB Delivery under build and acquisitions in the Dublin Region since 2016 is detailed in the following table. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Q1 2020 returns were deferred to be collected in conjunction with Q2 2020 and reported in due course.
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2016 |
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2017 |
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2018 |
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2019 |
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|
Local Authority |
AHB Build |
AHB Acq |
AHB Leasing |
AHB Build |
AHB Acq |
AHB Leasing |
AHB Build |
AHB Acq |
AHB Leasing |
AHB Build |
AHB Acq |
AHB Leasing |
|
AHB Build |
AHB Acq |
AHB Leasing |
Total AHB |
|
Dublin City Council |
99 |
68 |
N/A |
214 |
116 |
55 |
309 |
280 |
30 |
386 |
123 |
20 |
|
1008 |
587 |
105 |
1700 |
|
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council |
0 |
30 |
N/A |
132 |
45 |
9 |
35 |
29 |
1 |
84 |
11 |
1 |
|
251 |
115 |
11 |
377 |
|
Fingal County Council |
19 |
73 |
N/A |
120 |
44 |
38 |
155 |
107 |
27 |
333 |
44 |
21 |
|
627 |
268 |
86 |
981 |
|
South Dublin County Council |
0 |
29 |
N/A |
105 |
28 |
6 |
134 |
44 |
17 |
233 |
59 |
14 |
|
472 |
160 |
37 |
669 |
|
Totals |
118 |
200 |
0 |
571 |
233 |
108 |
633 |
460 |
75 |
1036 |
237 |
56 |
|
2358 |
1130 |
239 |
3727 |
* AHB Leasing Figures are not available for 2016. LA and AHB Leasing delivery was counted together in 2016.
Significant progress has been made by the AHB sector over the last number of years. There are a range of funding and delivery mechanisms available to local authorities to deliver social housing supports in partnership with AHBs through capital and current funding. The funding under these programmes is provided directly to local authorities who, in turn, advance the funding to AHBs, as appropriate.
470. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of private homes purchased for social housing by the four Dublin local authorities in the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19950/20]
View answerMy Department publishes comprehensive statistics on a quarterly basis on all social housing delivery activity under Rebuilding Ireland, including acquisitions. This is published on the statistics page of my Department's website, at the following link: https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision. This will provide the Deputy with detailed breakdown of activity across multiple years up to end Q4 2019.
471. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of persons presenting as homeless to local authorities in March, April, May, June and July 2020; the comparable figures for March, April, May, June and July 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19958/20]
View answerMy Department does not hold the specific details requested by the Deputy. My Department publishes a detailed monthly report on homelessness, based on data provided by housing authorities. The Report outlines details of individuals utilising State-funded emergency accommodation arrangements that are overseen by housing authorities. The Reports are available on my Department's website at the following link: http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/homelessness/other/homelessness-data
472. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of housing units which have been leased or purchased in March, April, May, June and July 2020, by local authority; the comparable figures for March, April, May, June and July 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19959/20]
View answerMy Department publishes comprehensive statistics on a quarterly basis on all social housing delivery activity under Rebuilding Ireland, including acquisitions and leasing. This is published on the statistics page of my Department's website, at the following link: https://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/social-housing/social-and-affordble/overall-social-housing-provision. This will provide the Deputy with detailed breakdown of activity across multiple years up to end Q4 2019.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the collation of Q1 2020 returns from local authorities was deferred. Q1 and Q2 data are now being collected and will be published in due course.
In 2019, 1,161 social homes were delivered through leasing, whilst 2,772 social homes were delivered through acquisition. A further 6,074 social homes were delivered under various build programmes by local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, meaning in total more than 10,000 social homes were completed last year.
The new Programme for Government commits to the delivery of an additional 50,000 new social homes with an increasing emphasis on new build.
