Bernard Durkan
Question:1. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [45328/23]
View answerWednesday, 8 November 2023
Questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Alan Dillon
Question:2. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [46344/23]
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Peadar Tóibín
Question:3. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [46371/23]
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Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:4. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [46435/23]
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Paul Murphy
Question:5. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [46437/23]
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Mick Barry
Question:6. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [46495/23]
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Pádraig O'Sullivan
Question:7. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [47660/23]
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Paul McAuliffe
Question:8. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [47661/23]
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Jennifer Murnane O'Connor
Question:9. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [47662/23]
View answerMick Barry
Question:10. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [47664/23]
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Cian O'Callaghan
Question:11. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [47752/23]
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Rose Conway-Walsh
Question:12. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [48503/23]
View answerOral answers (15 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 12, inclusive, together.
The next meeting of the Cabinet committee on housing will take place on 27 November. The committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Housing for All and programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters. Housing for All is now in its third year of implementation. Next week, the Government will publish the second annual update of actions under the plan. In undertaking this review, we have committed focus on prioritising measures to speed up home building and sustain the momentum evident across many indicators, including new home commencements and completions. Despite considerable challenges in the external environment, building has started on almost 30,000 new homes in the past 12 months. In the first nine months of this year, 22,000 homes were completed, an increase of 8% on same period in 2022. We are now very confident that the target of building 29,000 new homes this year will be exceeded. The pipeline is also positive, with planning permission granted for in excess of 20,000 new homes in the first six months of this year alone.
Budget 2024 reaffirmed our commitment to increasing housing supply, with a record capital funding allocation of €5 billion for housing in 2024. We will continue to support affordable purchase initiatives introduced under the plan, including the first home scheme, the local authority home loan, local authority affordable purchase scheme and Project Tosaigh. We have also extended the help-to-buy scheme to the end of 2025. We are seeing large numbers of first-time buyers entering the market, with more than 30,000 first-time buyer mortgages approved in the past 12 months. That is well over 500 per week.
Under Housing for All, the Government is committed to improving the rental market by providing greater security, affordability and viability to both tenants and landlords into the future. The rent tax credit, which benefits 300,000 renters, will be increased from €500 to €750 next year. That is €1,500 for a couple and €2,250 for three taxpayers sharing.
Budget 2024 also introduced significant changes to the tax treatment of landlords to encourage them to stay in the rental market. Government has responded to the financial viability problems in the residential construction sector as a result of high inflation and rising interest rates. The Croí Cónaithe cities scheme is assisting the building of apartments for sale to owner-occupiers and the new secure
tenancy affordable rental, STAR, scheme will aid developers to build more than 4,000 cost-rental homes. We are also continuing to reduce vacancy through the significant grants available under the Croí Cónaithe towns fund.
As well as these schemes, a major emphasis for the coming year will be on reform of our planning system through the new planning and development Bill and the improvement of the long-term sustainability of the sector, including through the adoption of modern methods of construction. We will also focus on enhancing construction sector capacity through increased apprenticeships and implementation of the action plan to promote careers in construction.
Housing for All is working in terms of the number of homes available but also in terms of reforming and renewing the housing system in our country.
I acknowledge the announcement of the recent approval of social housing developments in County Mayo, with 33 units to be constructed on Turlough Road and a further 75 units proposed for Snugboro in Castlebar. These initiatives will undoubtedly contribute to alleviating the social housing shortages in the area. The pipeline in the years ahead also looks positive. However, the absence of affordable housing units within the projects stands out as a missed opportunity for many aspiring homeowners in our community. Despite previous discussions with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, to set forth a realistic goal of introducing 100 affordable houses in Mayo, it appears we are yet to see significant progress in that area. Balance is crucial, especially for a generation of young people who are encountering unprecedented barriers to securing their own homes. I ask that we consider setting affordable housing targets within each local authority, given the availability of government funding for such schemes and the distinct variability of housing costs among many local authorities. I also ask the Taoiseach to provide an update on work that is being put forward to the Government in this regard.
I wish to raise vacancy, which is probably the biggest sin of this Government in respect of the housing crisis. The Taoiseach has been asked why it takes an average of eight months for a public local authority to flip and re-let a vacant home while it takes three weeks for the private sector to do the same. That speaks to the enormous level of waste, bureaucracy and red tape that exists in the Government's approach to housing. Another such example is the vacant property refurbishment grant. In its first iteration, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, made the criteria so tight that to apply, one needed almost to be a homeless homeowner. It took a year for the Government to cop on that the criteria were not working. In its current iteration, 1,389 applications for the grant have been received since July with only 16 being paid. The Government keeps producing these grants and schemes, etc., but is making them so ridiculously bureaucratic that it is nearly impossible for people to draw them down and as a result, the Government is making no real dent in the level of homelessness in the country. What is the Government going to do to make it practical for people to be able to draw down these grants and get homes for themselves?
A point I have made to the Taoiseach many times is that for people who are working and whose income exceeds the social housing threshold, the only available option is a cost-rental home. However, the delivery of cost-rental homes is very small at the moment and, therefore, people who find themselves in housing difficulty and who are working and over the thresholds, or in quite a few cases people who find themselves homeless, have no options available to them. They do not get the housing assistance payment, HAP, or any rent support. They are not eligible for any social housing that comes onstream. They could be waiting years before cost rental will be available and even when it is, allocation is carried out on a lottery basis so there is no guarantee. I ask the Taoiseach to come up with some assistance for people in that situation. A lottery system is okay when cost-rental homes or affordable housing are available. It is fair at one level. However, some proportion of cost-rental and affordable housing should be prioritised for people who are actually homeless or in very difficult housing situations and threatened with homelessness and where there are children in homeless accommodation.
The Deputy is eating into other people's time. I call Deputy Paul Murphy.
It is more than 15 months since the Government received the working group report on building defects in apartments and duplexes. It revealed the scale of the crisis that up to 100,000 families are facing. They are facing serious fire defects and other defects with an average remediation cost of €25,000. The responsibility for this crisis lies with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and the regime of self-certification for which they are responsible. At the time, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, responded to the report, promising action and 100% redress. Those were very fine words. However, that is all we have had. More than a year on, there has been no emergency funding and no movement on the scheme. Two budgets have passed and almost no money has been provided for redress. For mica in apartments and duplexes, the Government has committed to providing more than €5 billion but no money was provided in the budget. We now hear that the legislation may not be passed by the time the Government is done and turfed out. Will the Taoiseach give a commitment that this is going to happen within the term of this Government, that it will be legislated for and implemented, and that the money will be paid out?
I have an urgent issue to raise concerning a hunger strike. Asylum seekers currently accommodated at the Kilbride Army camp on the Dublin-Wicklow border will march to Government offices tomorrow to seek a meeting with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman.
I ask the Taoiseach to request the Minister to meet with these men's representatives.
I have been informed by my colleague, Councillor Kieran Mahon, that approximately 20 of the 123 men at the camp, which is operated by a private operator, have been on hunger strike for nine days. This is a serious situation that requires urgent attention. The main grievance of these men is that they are living in a place that is totally isolated. It is 10 km away from the nearest bus route. The physical isolation is giving rise to increased stress, anxiety and mental health pressures. They need to be transferred to another facility before the bitter cold of winter is on them. Will the Taoiseach please treat this as an urgent case and urge the Minister to meet with the men and their representatives tomorrow?
I join the Taoiseach in acknowledging the progress that has been made under Housing for All. That is lost in here sometimes. We are making progress and we are likely to exceed our targets again this year, which is to be welcomed. However, I want to raise the issue of wastewater. It really irks me, at a time so many other variables are beyond our control and the control of builders, such as escalating costs and so on, that the prioritising by Irish Water of wastewater treatment units in certain areas leaves a lot to be desired. I give the example of the villages of Carrignavar, Whitechurch and Glenville on the outskirts of Cork city to the north, where the lack of wastewater treatment units is prohibiting any future expansion, whether in terms of homes or, in the case of Carrignavar, restricting the intake students in local schools. I ask that the Government would prioritise wastewater treatment plants in those areas that need them most.
I too want to welcome the progress being made on housing, including in my own area of Carlow. I welcome the improvements, although I know we have a lot more to do. There are still many challenges.
In 2021, I introduced the Housing (Housing Assistance Payment Waiting Times) (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Bill. I am very disappointed that I am still waiting for it to be put on the system. Can the Taoiseach do anything for me in that regard? The purpose of the Bill is to set out a new statutory deadline for the processing of HAP applications and social housing assistance applications. When people apply to local authorities, through no fault of their own, they are waiting for months. I am asking for a three-week deadline to be introduced as soon as possible. Furthermore, all local authorities should go back to the old way of processing applications. Before Covid, everyone was interviewed in one-on-one. Some local authorities are still interviewing people by phone but I do not agree with that.
I welcome the fact that Carlow County Council has received approval for a homeless prevention officer post. The only thing awaited now is the appointment of a homeless officer. I ask the Taoiseach to talk to the Minister for Housing, Heritage and Local Government and do what he can in this regard.
I raised with the Taoiseach previously the need to regulate management companies effectively. As apartments from the Celtic tiger era reach 20 years of age, management sinking funds will be needed increasingly to repair roof leaks, replace lifts and so on. When sinking funds are insufficient, repairs will not be take place or owners will be levied sums that they simply cannot afford. Failure to regulate management companies properly combined with sinking funds being used to fund building defects means that in the next few years this crisis is going to come to a head.
The commitment in the programme for Government to review the Multi-Unit Developments Act 2011 has not been progressed and while the Housing Agency drafted regulations on sinking funds and service charges last February, the Department of Justice has failed to publish these. I ask the Taoiseach to provide an update, as I have requested previously, on when the draft regulations will be published, when the commitment in the programme for Government to review the Multi-Unit Developments Act be implemented and when a regulator for management companies, with robust enforcement powers, will be established.
We were told that the transition to the new pyrite/mica scheme would be seamless. Eight home owners in Mayo are still in phase one and have fully completed remediation works. They were told that they would not be penalised for getting in early but now, four months later, they are still waiting. The shortfalls in the scheme are staggering because of construction inflation. People are being refused due to the damage threshold and the accommodation shortage is atrocious, with extortionate rents being sought. I ask the Taoiseach to ask the Minister for Housing, Heritage and Local Government to consider the use of modular housing for those people who cannot move out of their homes to get the work done. On top of that, there is no feedback from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI. On accommodation, what we are finding is that families are being asked to move to other counties because there is no accommodation in Mayo that they can afford. I ask the Taoiseach to raise this with the Minister and to instruct him to get in touch with Mayo County Council directly to address these issues.
We have to review how we deal with wastewater. I spoke earlier about Dundalk and the fact that in most of the town, we have combined wastewater systems that deal with both storm water and sewage. We have infrastructure and a pumping station system that simply do not have the capacity to deal with current rainfall and flooding. We do not have the capacity to deal with the houses and factories that we have today, not to mention the capacity to deal with more factories or housing estates that need to be built. This is something that needs to be dealt with.
In terms of dealing with emergencies like the floods we had in north County Louth recently, we need to look at protocols and ways for local authorities to form central hubs. From time to time, they may need to bring in added resources from State agencies and central government.
I thank Deputies for their contributions. I join Deputy Dillon in welcoming the approval of more than 100 new social houses in Mayo. We are seeing very good numbers now in new social housing provision. We will probably build more new social housing this year than any year since the 1970s. It looks like the 2020s will be a record decade in terms of public housing provision in the history of the State. I agree with the Deputy that there needs to be a greater focus going forward on affordable purchase provision and cost rental so that more people have more opportunities to buy their own home.
Deputy Tóibín raised the issue of vacancy. There is always going to be a proportion of homes that are vacant for one reason or another. When it comes to public or council housing, the vacancy rate is approximately 2% and a lot of those units are designated for demolition, refurbishment or re-letting.
Why does it take eight months when it takes three months in the private sector?
When it comes to Croí Cónaithe, that is going very well, with approximately 4,000 applications submitted. We will review the process. It is still a new grant. We want to make it as simple as possible so people can draw down the money as quickly as possible but we need safeguards as well because ultimately, this is taxpayers' money. There will always be issues and we have to make sure that we have checks and balances.
Deputy Boyd Barrett again mentioned the issue of the social housing income thresholds. They have been increased, as Deputies will be aware, and they are under regular review. I believe they will be increased again, taking into account increased incomes and house prices. When it comes to cost rental, the system at the moment is a lottery system, which is fair, or at least equally unfair to everyone, depending on one's view of these things. We do not have any plans at the moment for a system of prioritisation but it cannot be ruled out in the future.
Deputy Paul Murphy raised the issue of defective apartments and duplexes. Since Government approval in January, the Minister for Housing, Heritage and Local Government has been working to progress the various programmes of work required to place the scheme on a statutory footing. This includes the remediation of fire safety, structural safety and water ingress defects in purpose-built apartment buildings and duplexes constructed between 1991 and 2013. It is expected that draft legislation will be published in 2024 and, hopefully, enacted by the Houses in early course. Subject to the legislation being enacted, a statutory scheme will be in place shortly thereafter. The Minister is working on this as a matter of priority.
Deputy Barry raised the issue of some people seeking international protection who are on hunger strike. I will certainly make the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, aware of the situation, although I imagine he is already aware of it.
Deputies Pádraig O'Sullivan and Ó Murchu raised the issue of wastewater. It is absolutely the case, unfortunately, that wastewater is a constraint on new housing development in large parts of the country. Irish Water has a budget of more than €1 billion per year and there is a pipeline of projects that it is getting through. It will never be possible to do them all at the same time or even as quickly as we would like but Irish Water is ramping that up. There is a specific scheme for rural towns and villages and the Minister for Housing, Heritage and Local Government is going to make an announcement on that before the end of the year.
Deputy Murnane O'Connor raised her legislation on HAP applications and people having to wait a long time for their application to be considered. I am not sure that three weeks is achievable but I absolutely agree that people are waiting too long and we need a better standard of service.
I will certainly bring it to the attention of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. I recognise the Deputy's call for a homeless officer to be assigned to County Carlow.
Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked about the regulation of management companies. That is being examined in the context of the review of the Multi-Unit Developments Act and some regulations that have yet to be published. I do not have the timelines on that but I will come back to the Deputy by means of correspondence.
As regards Deputy Conway-Walsh's suggestion of using modular housing where people are waiting for their home to be rebuilt or repaired, I will bring that to the attention of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien.