Mary Lou McDonald
Question:1. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [4719/22]
View answerDepartmental Functions
Questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Alan Kelly
Question:2. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [5962/22]
View answer
Paul McAuliffe
Question:3. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [6343/22]
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Jennifer Murnane O'Connor
Question:4. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [6345/22]
View answer
Ruairí Ó Murchú
Question:5. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [6482/22]
View answer
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:6. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [6392/22]
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Paul Murphy
Question:7. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [6395/22]
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Cian O'Callaghan
Question:8. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [6525/22]
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Peadar Tóibín
Question:9. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [6686/22]
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Mick Barry
Question:10. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [6747/22]
View answerOral answers (30 contributions)
I propose to take Question Nos. 1 to 10, inclusive, together.
The housing and infrastructure unit supports me and the Government in developing and implementing policy to support sustainable economic development, with a particular focus on the development and delivery of policies relating to housing and infrastructure. It supports the work of the Cabinet committee on housing, which oversees the delivery of housing for all. The unit undertakes ongoing monitoring and tracking of the actions in the plan and prepares quarterly progress reports. The most recent of these, for quarter 4 2021, was published in late January and shows significant progress, including affordability measures such as the new local authority home loan, the extension of help to buy, the delivery of cost-rental homes and a cap on rent increases. Other progress includes the launch of project tosaigh and our commitment to delivery, with more than 200 new staff approved for local authority delivery teams.
There are signs that the sector is rebounding from what has been a very challenging number of years due to the Covid pandemic. More than 20,000 new dwellings were completed in 2021, with more than 30,000 commencements in the same period. Planning permission figures are also strong. The housing crisis will take time to resolve but we are confident that with sustained momentum on implementation of the plan, its benefits will become tangible.
The unit supports the delivery of wider public investment through Project Ireland 2040, which falls under the Cabinet committee on economic recovery and investment. The unit is also responsible for developing the national risk assessment, which provides a high-level overview of strategic risks facing the country. The latest national risk assessment was published in December 2021, with inputs from a public consultation process through which more than 50 organisations, public representatives and individuals made submissions.
The experience of recent years has demonstrated the importance of strategic risk management and preparedness. By promoting an open and inclusive discussion on the major risks facing the country, the national risk assessment plays an important role in this work. The unit, part of the broader economic division in my Department, maintains an overview of progress in key policy areas in line with Government priorities, and provides me with briefing and speech material on infrastructure, housing and related policy issues.
Given the number of questions included here, we will take a maximum of one minute per Member.
Regarding housing and infrastructure, rural development comes under the Taoiseach's remit. He knows the importance of funding under the Trans-European Network for Transport, TEN-T. In December 2021, the European Commission published its proposals for a revised TEN-T, which remains largely unchanged. Crucially, it does not include the western rail corridor. Given the core funding of 85% that will be earmarked and provided between now and 2030, the western arc in the revised TEN-T is really important. The west of Ireland and, in particular, the north west is the only region in Ireland that is no longer a developed region. It has been downgraded to a region in transition. We need to see investment in the west and it cannot be shafted in place of the eastern seaboard. We are not looking for one or the other. We are looking for our fair share in the west of Ireland and we need it for transport. Why is there not more emphasis on the west, the north west and the western arc in particular, under TEN-T funding?
I thank the Taoiseach for the commitment he has shown in dealing with some of the difficult issues in the community of Ballymun that arose further to the recommendations from the Ballymun - A Brighter Future report. I know he has more work to do on that and he is due to visit the constituency and meet public representatives. A key element of that is the delivery of housing. We have 19 sites in public ownership with 28 ha of land which provide a great opportunity to deliver a mix of housing for a community that really deserves and will benefit from that investment. I am talking about public investment in public housing. Working with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will the Taoiseach continue to ensure Dublin City Council, which owns that land, shows ambition to deliver the type of housing the Government wants?
Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, delivers on Government policy relating to national roads. I spoke to the Taoiseach and regarding the southern relief road in Carlow. I am now glad that the strategic assessment report, SAR, has been completed by Carlow County Council and it has recently been given clearance to proceed to prepare a preliminary business case, for which I thank the Taoiseach. However, other projects like this one are not progressing due to lack of funding. The level of funding available in the first half of the national development plan is not enough to progress all the schemes committed to. Other Deputies have raised this with the Taoiseach and more will do so. My concern is for the N24 and N25 roads. I spoke to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on this on this and I am happy he has agreed to meet the Deputies and councillors from the area.
We spoke about the cost of living and housing. The biggest issue relating to adaptation grants for local authorities is that the grant is not big enough. Several people have come to my office in recent months saying they cannot afford to make up the shortfall after receiving the local authority adaptation grant. Given the cost of living and the cost of materials, we need to look at the grants because they are affecting older people and others who need them.
The Daft report showing annual rent increases of 10% for the past year demonstrates the utter failure of the Government's rent control measures. Earlier, I heard the Taoiseach ask whether Opposition Deputies had any solutions. Uniquely we have repeatedly argued for actual rent controls where we set rents. A transition year school student, Shyanne, is doing her work placement in my office this week. I asked her to see if she could find any rent control regimes anywhere else that might work here so that we could perhaps explain them to the Taoiseach. Within a few minutes, she came up with the example of France, which has just introduced a new regime of rent controls, just like the one we are proposing. Rents are now set on a district-by-district basis to ensure affordability, based on the size and the age of the property. There is a proposal from a transition year student, one that is actually being applied. Why does the Government not try that when its policies are so obviously failing?
I will ask a very straightforward question, which hopefully can get a straightforward response. What does the Taoiseach believe is an affordable rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Dublin? This week, South Dublin County Council announced that people will shortly be able to apply for its first affordable rental scheme. Rents for a one-bedroom apartment will be approximately €1,000 a month. Ten years ago, the average market rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the area was less than €750. We now have this so-called affordable option for €1,000. If the Government's definition of "affordable" is not actually affordability but instead taking a completely sky-high unaffordable market rate and then chopping 30% off it, it is still unaffordable. It does not make it affordable for ordinary people. Does the Taoiseach think €1,000 is affordable or does he agree we need to build genuinely affordable housing with rents linked to people's incomes and not to the market?
I want to ask about investment funds buying up homes. By the way, apartments are homes. Figures published today by PNB Paribas Real Estate show that institutional investors paid up to 32% more per home compared with individual household buyers. This is pushing up house prices and rents. While the number of homes being built is increasing each year, the number of homes available to buy is not increasing and remains stuck at only 7,500 homes a year. The share of new housing available for individual households to buy has decreased from more than half of annual output in 2017 to just one third last year. Will the Government end favourable tax treatment for investment funds to give individuals a fair chance to buy their own home? Is the Taoiseach concerned that the number of new-build homes available for individuals to buy is not increasing?
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael present themselves as parties of the free market. In many ways both parties have skewed the housing market significantly. A young family looking to buy a house needs to compete with an institution that has a tax regime not comparable to the young family's. It may pay no tax, but certainly pays a very small amount compared with the family it is competing against. It is getting an interest rate on international markets of 0% or a little above compared with what the young family must pay here. Those institutions are also basing their investments on the rental income that will be achieved. The Government is standing over a market that is stacked against young families being able to purchase homes at the moment.
In response to a parliamentary question this week I found out that the number of social houses being leased by local authorities has doubled in just three years. Last year, €100 million was spent on leasing social housing from institutions. When this is added to housing assistance payment, HAP, hundreds of millions of euro are going into the pockets of private developers when the State could be building those homes for these people and getting a rental income from it. It is wrong.
The Garda had to be called to Blackpool, on Cork's north side, this morning when an attempt was made to physically disrupt the start of the working day at Múin Preschool on Brocklesby Street. The disruption took the form of the erection of a blockade comprising a van and cones at the entrance to the site where the school is based, the diagonal parking of a car on the site where the school staff normally park their cars, and the parking of a truck extremely close to the entrance to the school. The actions involved the owner of the site and the school building, who wants to sell the site for development and apartments, which would involve knocking the school building. The school has legal rights as the tenant of the site. It is under no obligation to vacate in the immediate future. Will the Taoiseach join me in condemning these bully-boy tactics employed against a group of female teachers and the young children they teach?
Everybody accepts we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. As for housing, we all know that a major issue is delivering on supply. That will not happen straight away, no matter whose policies are implemented. The difficulty we have at present is that there are people paying huge and disgraceful rents to the extent that I just do not understand how they could have operated before this cost-of-living crisis. There is something we can do. We need to revisit a ban on rent increases because, obviously, the 10% increase in rents shows that anything that has been done, including rent pressure zones and caps, has failed to deliver. It is as simple as that.
I am also making a call in respect of regeneration schemes in Dundalk, particularly one in Muirhevnamore that needs to be revisited. I will contact the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage about that. It may be that projects that were shelved or put to one side need to be looked at. There are huge maintenance issues, and that is part of the retrofitting scheme.
I note that Questions Nos. 11 and 12 are to be taken separately. Maybe, because of the number of questions in this grouping, we could take an additional five minutes, a Thaoisigh, if that is okay. That would give you seven minutes to deal with the questions. Is that agreed? Agreed.
The first question was about the TEN-T and was from Deputy Kerrane. It related to the western rail corridor. The western rail corridor is now being considered in the context of the all-island rail strategy that the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has agreed with his counterpart in Northern Ireland. Through the shared island initiative, we have agreed to fund an overall strategic review of the all-island approach to rail. The majority of funding for infrastructure in the next ten years, be it rail or roads, will be Exchequer funding through the national development plan. I take the Deputy's point about the review that is under way involving the EU and the work on the TEN-T, but all the representatives of the west of all parties, including mine, have been very clear to us about the importance of the western rail corridor. There were earlier feasibility studies, as the Deputy will be aware, so we decided to have this as part of the broader all-island review, which is important to do.
Deputy McAuliffe raised the situation in Ballymun and the need for housing development on land owned by the local authority. I met recently with a range of community leaders and representatives of various organisations in Ballymun with him. Their presentation was very important insofar as they highlighted the enormous challenges facing the community across the board and the need for a range of initiatives to be undertaken from early education to education to employment and, in particular, to making sure we can accelerate the construction of housing on those sites. I said to the community leaders, and I would say to the Deputy and to the council involved - the city council, I think, in this instance - that they should move at all speed to develop plans and designs for those sites for housing. As I said earlier, we need supply. If we have State land available, it should be used. There should be no excuse for delay in the utilisation of State lands in the possession of local authorities. We have been asking other State agencies to provide land for realising the objectives of Housing for All. Where the council owns lands, that should be pursued.
Deputy Murnane O'Connor is a very active and persistent public representative and has pocketed one TII development with the southern relief road for Carlow and its proceeding with the preliminary business case. There are Deputies across the House who would like that news for other projects in which they are involved. I take Deputy Murnane O'Connor's point about the N24 and the N25. I am glad that the Minister for Transport is meeting with the Deputies concerned. The NDP has limits, but this is still an enormous sum and there are huge challenges in getting all of it spent in a proper way. Very significant increases are being given this year in respect of the adaptation grants. There was a lot of delay because of the Covid lockdown, but I hope we can get some progress. I hear what the Deputy says about the gaps, given the increase in the cost of materials and so on, which is leading to construction inflation.
To respond to Deputy Boyd Barrett, we have rent controls here.
They are not working.
The Minister brought them in in December, to be fair. The 2% limit was introduced by legislation in December. It will take some time to bed in. The rent control board will carry out its own engagement with landlords to make sure that the legislation is adhered to. The rent pressure zones have been around for quite some time and are similar to the measures in France that the Deputy suggested. The overall point I will make is that this comes back to supply. We need cost-rentals, private rental and private homes but we also need very significant social housing provision, which we are doing. We need to support affordable housing to get to 33,000 units of mixed tenure type per annum. A lot hinges on supply.
I would make the same point in response to Deputy Murphy. Rents are too high in Dublin, but cost rentals are well below the market rate.
Are they affordable, though?
I have no issue with linking people's income to rent. In fact, our social housing programme is quite good in that respect. Likewise, HAP is a support to many low-income families in getting access to housing. Our preference, however, is to build more houses and to build social housing through the approved housing bodies and the local authorities in order that people can get access to social houses rather than having to rent at excessive rates. Our preference is also to get more private rental supply. If we inhibit private rental supply, rents will go even higher. There simply are not enough apartments or houses being built. The good news is that in the past year there have been 30,000 commencements. We have to maintain that right throughout 2022.
Does the Taoiseach think rents will come down with all this supply?
Is the Deputy saying we should not build?
Does the Taoiseach think rents will come down?
There is no doubt but that the absence of supply is driving rents at present.
That is not the question.
As for the issue Deputy Cian O'Callaghan raised, of course apartments are homes - I know that - but we have had an issue with the building of apartments in recent years. We have been in government for one year and a half and we have been endeavouring to deal with the issue of viability. Builders are saying they cannot build apartments and get a return. There has been a particular absence of compact growth. We want to build more in the city centres, where the services are. The Housing for All strategy has developed the Croí Cónaithe fund to see whether we can trigger greater investment in cost-rentals and greater apartment building. As for houses and housing estates, owner occupiers are no longer competing with funds because there are planning regulations and additional taxation measures there to prohibit that.
To respond to Deputy Tóibín, Fianna Fáil is not a party entirely of the free market. Fianna Fáil has always believed in State development and State involvement in the economy from its earliest days, from establishing State bodies and investment in public housing right across the board. We also believe in development and enterprise and the individual entrepreneur and entrepreneurial spirit. That is important. Likewise, however, there has to be a strong State in respect of health, education, childcare and so on.
I referred to a doubling of leasing on social houses.
Yes. We will reach 9,500 this year. That is the maximum.
But the leasing of social houses in Dublin-----
Please, Deputy. You have asked the question and we are out of time.
Leasing is not the big story anymore. The Deputy knows that. We will directly build 9,500 houses.
To respond to Deputy Ó Murchú, as I said, the 2% limit on rent increases came in last December. It is now February. It will take some time to bed in. I take his point that supply will take time. I appreciate his candour and honesty about that. There were 30,000 commencements last year. We need more than 30,000 every year for the next ten years.
Will the Taoiseach address the issue of the school in Blackpool?
I apologise; I do not know the detail of that. I do not know the background so I do not want to make any comments. However, I will say that no intimidatory actions or actions of the kind the Deputy has described should occur when children or teachers are in school or in an early education setting. Nobody should be endangered by any actions. There are better ways to resolve issues.
Departmental Functions
Questions (11)
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:11. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the public service, justice and police reform division of his Department. [5958/22]
View answerOral answers (9 contributions)
The public service, justice and policing reform unit is part of the social policy and public service reform division of my Department. The work of the unit supports me, in my role as Taoiseach, with regard to criminal justice, policing, community safety and related matters. The unit incorporates the policing reform implementation programme office, which oversees the implementation of A Policing Service for our Future, the Government's plan to implement the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland and supports the Civil Service management board, including in its work on the Civil Service renewal programme, and contributes to the oversight and governance of the new public services reform plan.
The unit also assists the work of the Cabinet committee on social affairs and equality and the associated senior officials' group established to oversee implementation of programme for Government commitments in the areas of social policy, equality and public services. Policy areas covered include gender equality, which encompasses efforts to address domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, and matters relating to arts and culture, children, justice, policing reform and community safety, disability, social inclusion, direct provision, the Irish language and sport. In addition, the section has departmental oversight of the National Economic and Social Council, participates in relevant interdepartmental committees and other groups and provides me with briefing and speech material on criminal justice and policing matters, as well as social policy and public service reform issues.
I understand that the long-awaited Tusla review on refuge provision is due to come before Cabinet next week. This is welcome. Action on the lack of refuge spaces and capacity across the State has been delayed on the basis that this work had not been completed. County Roscommon is one of nine counties across the State to have no refuge spaces for women or children. Together, Roscommon, Galway and Mayo have a population of more than 228,000 women. According to Safe Ireland, based on the Istanbul Convention, those three counties should have 46 refuge spaces. There are 14. We know there is a shortage of childcare workers, psychologists and other wraparound care providers and that many existing services are heavily reliant on fundraising. Where State funding is available, it is not provided on a multi-annual basis. There is no dedicated funding strategy to address how we are to reach the levels outlined in the Istanbul Convention. With regard to what is to come before Cabinet next week, will the Taoiseach confirm that the existing gaps in respect of refuge spaces will be addressed in what the Government will propose on the back of that review?
This morning, I attended a protest in front of the Central Criminal Court in solidarity with two climate change protestors, Orla and Zac, who are facing trial for their participation in a protest last year. In two weeks' time, a ROSA activist, Aislinn O'Keeffe, faces trial accused of organising a small protest in Limerick against gender-based violence. We have also seen more and more use of the law against striking workers, for example, the Debenhams workers last year. Does the Taoiseach agree that the right to protest is a fundamental human right and that protest should not be criminalised? Zac and Orla face the threat of imprisonment, Orla for allegedly painting "No more empty promises" on a Department building in reference to climate and Zac simply for allegedly filming that act. The real criminals are the big business polluters and the head-in-the-sand politicians. Activists like Orla, Zac and Aislinn should be congratulated, not criminalised.
On the issue of Tusla's report and the review of the provision of accommodation for victims of domestic violence, as the Deputy will know, the Minister for Justice said last week that she would be taking overall responsibility for policy and wraparound services. She will therefore be publishing that review along with both interim and medium-term plans to provide for and develop those places, which we need. The Deputy has highlighted this need in respect of Roscommon. The report was submitted to the Ministers, Deputies O'Gorman and Naughton, and presented to the monitoring committee for the national strategy. There is significant underprovision in eight counties and other counties could also do with more places. From a capital perspective, the funding is there to be provided. Operationally, we need to move much faster. My understanding is that, under the present arrangements, a group has to apply to become a social housing body. My personal observation is that this is too unwieldy. The Minister wants to talk to the NGOs and organisations involved and to put some further ideas to them. The strategy on gender-based violence will go for consultation again to make sure that people are comfortable with all of its aspects. The Minister wants to make sure that, when we publish the review, we also have a delivery mechanism.
In the interim, local authorities should work now with service providers to provide additional places. There will be some structural changes following the strategy but we cannot wait until then. We should start working now, where feasible. Deputy Fleming has been working with a local group in Laois and has said they have basically reached agreement with regard to the development of a centre there. That decision was arrived at locally and the local authority and others were involved. The group is going to apply for approved social housing body status.
We need to move faster with regard to the provision of places. We should design these centres properly. There should be, in essence, a national design. We must then provide the requisite funding to provide proper services because many services have grown from the ground up, acquiring buildings and adding onto them. We should design proper, comprehensive centres that accommodate all needs and facilitate the work of professionals. There should be proper rooms and facilities for proper engagement with children and women in such centres.
The Deputy mentioned the situation in Roscommon. We are quite happy to work with the local authority there. I will mention the issue to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and to the Minister for Justice. I am satisfied that this will work out in the medium term as the strategy is developing and that we will have a better system in place to deal with the provision of places but we need to do work in the interim to provide more places for the women who need them.
On Deputy Paul Murphy's question, these are cases that are coming before the courts and it is not appropriate for me to comment on them. I do not believe this country is criminalising protest at all. I am committed to parliamentary democracy and to the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of speech. I have always been committed to those universal rights. I am thankful that this country celebrates those rights. We are part of the European Union, which remains one of the last bastions protecting these rights. I agree with the American President that the world is becoming increasingly polarised between authoritarian regimes and democratic regimes.
He should know; he arms quite a few of them.
We in the European Union have been dealing with Belarus, for example. Let us not always try to dilute the core argument I am putting forward because what I am saying is the truth.
Look at Hungary.
I do not agree with what is going on in Hungary at all in some of what it is doing but equally let us not pretend either-----
Time is up on this question.
Programme for Government
Questions (12)
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:12. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach the mechanism by which his Department will review the progress made in implementing the programme for Government. [5960/22]
View answerOral answers (8 contributions)
The Government has been working hard to implement the commitments in the programme for Government across a wide range of issues in all Departments. The ten Cabinet committees established by this Government reflect the full range of policy areas on which it will work on during its lifetime, as set out in the programme for Government. Cabinet committees meet regularly to continue this work. Strategy statements prepared by Departments reflect the key national priorities as outlined in the programme for Government.
My Department has been involved in progressing some key programme for Government commitments in recent months, including ongoing monitoring and management of the impact of Covid-19 on the provision of Covid and non-Covid healthcare; driving delivery of our commitments to a shared island on a whole-of-government basis through the shared island unit in my Department; the establishment of a unit in my Department to help support social dialogue; the implementation of the Housing for All strategy, which is driving delivery of key housing-related commitments; the delivery of the economic recovery plan, which was published on 1 June, and for which a progress report will be advanced in the coming period outlining the considerable progress the plan has made in transitioning Ireland's economy; and developing a well-being framework for Ireland, the first report of which was approved by Government and published in July, while a well-being portal and well-being information hub have been developed, a follow-up phase of consultation and engagement on the initial framework has recently finished, and a second report will be published this year.
Other aspects include, harnessing digital, with the digital Ireland framework having been published on 1 February and which is a high-level framework with clear targets and deliverables to support Ireland's ambition to be a digital leader, to the benefit of our economy and society; the signing into law of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021, the marine planning framework, the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 and the publication of the climate action plan 2021; engagement with European Union leaders to advance a range of high-level objectives in the programme for Government, particularly concerning those aspects relating to Brexit, Covid-19, the European Union budget and the European Green Deal; the implementation of Global Ireland 2025; supporting the work of the United Nations, through our membership of the UN Security Council; the establishment of a future of media commission; the completion of the work of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality; and ongoing oversight of the implementation of A Policing Service for our Future, which is the Government's plan to implement the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland.
Ensuring progress on implementation of the programme for Government will continue to be a priority across all Departments, as well as through the work of the Cabinet committees. The Government will also shortly publish an annual progress report.
I want to ask the Taoiseach about a specific commitment in the programme for Government to increase the availability of activation schemes, including those run by local employment services, LES. Far from increasing their availability, local employment services, along with job clubs, are being dismantled. The Taoiseach will know that many of those involved in local employment services - I see them in Ballaghaderreen and Ballinasloe in my constituency, while the Taoiseach will have seen similar people in his constituency - have given 25 years of service and dedication and they are vastly experienced.
The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, has repeatedly told me there was an EU requirement that required her to procure and tender out for local employment services and job clubs. The directive and the European Commission have been clear, however, that member states are not obliged to contract out the provision of services where they wish to provide them themselves. Regardless, even if there was a requirement to tender for these services, there is no requirement to change the model.
We are removing the community, not-for-profit basis that has worked so well and moving to a payment-by-results model, which we have already seen through JobPath has not worked. More than 320,000 people have been referred to JobPath, 6.8% of whom have sourced employment that has lasted for a year, at a cost of €250 million to taxpayers. The Taoiseach knows the local employment services and job clubs in his constituency, as I do in mine. They are being dismantled. It is going to remove the walk-in and wrap-around services being provided. For some people, it is not a case of getting a job or any job. Some people require wrap-around services they could get through the LES and the job clubs within their community. That will now be gone.
I know the Irish Local Development Network, ILDN, has raised this issue with the Taoiseach. I would like to get his views on this matter because, to date, the relevant joint committee and the Committee of Public Accounts have not been listened to regarding the LES and job clubs. We want to see the community-based, not-for-profit model, which has worked, being retained.
The programme for Government makes many commitments regarding dealing with the homelessness crisis and the provision of affordable housing. I have raised two instances of people in homeless emergency accommodation who have secured employment, which has put them over the relevant income thresholds, and who have then been threatened with being, or actually have been, put out of emergency homeless accommodation. I have now encountered a third family in that situation this week. Two people working are in homeless accommodation because cannot afford the rents, which I remind the Taoiseach in my area average €2,200, so who could afford them, and they are being told they have to leave emergency accommodation. Will the Taoiseach please do something about this?
It is bad enough we have the housing crisis and cannot deliver social housing. By the way, if there was the social housing the Government has said it is going to supply, these people would not be thrown out of it because their income happened to rise, or even if it were to rise above the threshold, because there would be a differential rent. Ironically, however, if they are homeless, because the State has not delivered social housing, when people go over the income threshold, they are evicted from their homeless accommodation. This is bizarre, and as I told the Taoiseach yesterday, this is happening in a council area run by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party and where, last year, zero council houses were built. This year they are going to get five. This is the supply the Taoiseach is talking about. This is a Fianna Fáil-Green Party council, and I just wonder if the Minister is aware of this. Does he know that is what is going on? When the Taoiseach says the Government is going to deliver housing supply, does the Minister know there are local authorities that are producing zero council houses or five next year? Seriously, there is a big disconnect between the plans, the rhetoric and the promises and what is happening on the ground.
The reason these families are being thrown out of their accommodation is because of the income thresholds set by the Taoiseach's Government and successive governments before this one. The Department has been reviewing the income thresholds since Deputy Alan Kelly was Minister with responsibility for housing. I have been appealing and asking about this of five different Ministers at this stage and I have received the same answer from every single Minister: we are reviewing them. It is the longest review I have ever seen in my life. It is never completed. What I think, when a review of income thresholds goes on for that long, is that it reduces the numbers on the list and makes the statistics look good. That is why the Department does not want to review them upwards because it does not want to increase eligibility for social housing. That is what is going on - honestly. It is obvious at this stage. There cannot be any other explanation, unless the Taoiseach is going to tell me the limits are going to be varied next week. I would love if the Taoiseach told me that, but I do not believe he will. He is going to tell me they are being reviewed.
On the point made by Deputy Kerrane concerning the local employment services and job clubs, there has been considerable discussion about this in the House and, indeed, within the Government. The Minister has received significant legal advice in respect of the European directive and the need to adhere to it. The Minister, in the designing of the tendering process and framework, has put a fairly high premium on community involvement and engagement. In some cases, that is a key factor in terms of capacity to be successful in tendering for a variety of these services. The Minister has received very strong legal advice regarding what she can and cannot do.
We acknowledge that in certain areas there has been a more community-based approach, especially in areas of high disadvantage. We will continue to look at those. The Minister has taken on board quite a number of the representations people have made on the issue. There is only so far she can go, however, because of legal constraints in respect of tendering, the need to tender and so forth.
The situation right now is that there are shortages all over in various sectors, including the hospitality sector and construction. I can recall not so long ago people in the House saying we should keep the pandemic unemployment payment going and keep this and that going. The reality now is that many sectors have lots of vacancies and they do not have enough people within society and within the economy to fill the jobs that are available. We have a different kind of problem now in respect of economic growth and development, coming back from the Covid situation when restrictions have been lifted not just here but everywhere. That is creating its own challenges in terms of inflation and so on. It is impacting on our economic recovery insofar as the cost of living is very much impacting on people and causing them a lot of pressure.
I will raise with the Minister again the issue the Deputy has raised here today. I am familiar enough with the issues. There is a need in certain areas to make sure we have tailor-made services. I spoke recently to a community representative who said to me it is not really about job activation or about jobs first. It is about getting people in terms of training and acclimatisation, because with the difficulties and challenges people have had in their lives, we need a whole range of programmes to get them even thinking of progressing to employment. That has to be factored in to whatever services are provided.
To Deputy Boyd Barrett, my view is that no one in a homelessness situation should be removed or asked to leave a homeless accommodation environment just because his or her income went up. If that person is still homeless, he or she should be facilitated to stay in the facility until that person gets a social house. There needs to be a common sense perspective applied by the local authorities in that situation.
Will the Taoiseach instruct them on that?
In terms of the Deputy's question about whether there is a disconnect with local authorities, I just said in my reply that the Minister has provided an additional 200 staff to local authorities. He recognised that, and we have been, since we came into office, very serious about social housing. There have been a number of years where it has taken a while to catch up. We want to do 9,500 this year in terms of direct builds. The approved social housing bodies have taken up a lot of the slack in providing housing. Those bodies have done good work and we have great trust in them in terms of Housing First and the homelessness strategy. The local authorities are being resourced now to ramp up their housing programmes and get projects under way. Some local authorities are doing very well, others not so well. Some local authorities quite simply had lost the human resources capacity to deliver meaningful social housing programmes. That has been rectified by the Minister and I think we will see, in respect of social housing, stronger and higher outputs from local authorities to balance the output from the approved social housing bodies. It is preferable that we would build more social houses as opposed to relying unduly on the housing assistance payment, HAP, system. The HAP system has been in place for almost ten years now.
Absolutely.
We cannot just move on from that with a click of our fingers or wish it away. What we can do is rebalance that equation over time. If we did that, we would then free up more houses for the private market as well, for cost rental and so on. We can have all the politics about it and I respect people's views and different perspectives, but I keep coming back to the point that we need to get supply up. Twenty thousand houses are not going to solve our housing crisis. Before that it was even lower. There is no question that Covid affected it in 2020 and 2021. Without housing supply, however, we are not going to resolve the issues around housing. We need to give people access to a whole range of options in terms of owning and renting homes and apartments. That involves cost rental and affordable housing. The State has allocated €4 billion per annum for the next ten years.
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Written Answers are published on the Oireachtas website.
Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 2.05 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 3.05 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 2.05 p.m. and resumed at 3.05 p.m.