Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 December 2021
92. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the main policy achievements and initiatives undertaken by his Department during 2021; and his main priorities for 2022. [62198/21]
View answerMy Department's website, www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/ provides comprehensive information on our policy achievements and initiatives. Highlights during the course of 2021 would include:
- Publication of Housing for All: A New Housing Plan for Ireland. This is a whole of Government plan and sets out a pathway to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 homes per year over the next decade. Over 300,000 new homes will be built by the end of 2030, including a projected 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. The plan is backed by historic levels of investment with in excess of €20bn through the Exchequer, the Land Development Agency and the Housing Finance Agency over the next 5 years.
- The first ever standalone legislation for affordable housing in the Affordable Housing Act 2021 providing the basis for two affordable purchase schemes and the Cost Rental Scheme.
- Delivery and tenanting the first ever cost rental homes in the country with tenants benefiting from rents that are 40% below market rates.
- New planning arrangements for large-scale residential developments - the Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021 has passed all stages in both Houses of the Oireachtas.
- Reviewed the Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments, Guidelines for Planning Authorities to restrict future commercial co-living development in Ireland.
- Establishment of the Land Development Agency (LDA) as a Commercial State Agency.
- Publication of the General Schemes of the Local Government (Directly Elected Mayor with Executive Functions in Limerick City & County) Bill 2021 and the Electoral Reform Bill 2021.
- Major reform of the remuneration of local authority elected members - arising from the recommendations of the Moorhead Report.
- A further €61.6m allocated to the local government sector to cushion the impacts of Covid -19 bringing the total expenditure specifically related to Covid-19 to €558.9m for the year.
- €480m allocated by Government to fund the cost of the 2021 commercial rates waiver from January to end-September 2021 in recognition of the impacts of COVID-19.
- A further commercial rates waiver was put in place for Q4 2021 (and recently extended to Q1 2022) targeting certain sectors that may need ongoing support.
- A major collaborative project that sees Met Éireann join forces with national weather services in Denmark, Iceland and the Netherlands to advance short-term weather forecasting.
- €6m awarded to 562 projects under the Historic Structures Fund and the Built Heritage Investment Scheme.
- Publication of the draft River Basin Management Plan for 2022 to 2027.
- Enactment of the Maritime Area Planning Act
- Agreement of the North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy 2021-2030 under the OSPAR Commission
In terms of our priorities for 2022, my focus is firmly on delivery. Local Authorities will shortly submit their Housing Delivery Action Plans to my Department, setting out details of both social and affordable housing delivery, as appropriate, over the period 2022-2026, in line with the targets set under Housing for All.
In 2022 we have a delivery target of 4,100 affordable homes that will be delivered by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies and the LDA. We will establish and deploy the First Home Affordable Purchase Shared Equity Scheme; see the first homes made available under the local authority affordable purchase scheme and make more homes available under cost rental.
Other priorities for 2022 include:
- Publication of a Bill to reform the judicial review provisions in the Planning and Development Act.
- Publication of the Local Government (Directly Elected Mayor with Executive Functions in Limerick City & County) Bill.
- Enactment of the Electoral Reform Bill and establishment of the Electoral Commission.
- Continuation of work with local authorities on the review of municipal districts.
- Progress an expanded programme of biodiversity investment and the restoration and conservation of protected peatlands.
- Accelerate the Conservation Measures programme to enhance protections and supports for nature at more than six hundred Natura 2000 sites across Ireland.
- Launch of new National Heritage Plan- Heritage Ireland 2030.
- Finalise the separation of Irish Water from the Ervia Group and implement the final steps in the legal transformation of Irish Water into a stand-alone national, publicly-owned, regulated, water services utility.
- Enactment of the Water Environment (Abstractions) Bill.
- Establish Project Ireland Marine 2040 Governance Group to oversee implementation of the National Marine Planning Framework and its alignment with the National Development Plan.
- Publication of the programme of measures (2022-2028) for the marine environment under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
