asked the Minister for the Environment when he last met representatives of the National Assocition of Tenant Organisations; if he will confirm that NATO is now recognised by his Department as the national negotiating body for local authority tenants; if he will make arrangements to meet representatives of NATO on a regular basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - Recognition of NATO.
16.
In so far as recognition of NATO is concerned I would refer the Deputy to my reply to his question of 25 November 1987. I last met with NATO on 30 September 1987. Since then two further meetings have taken place with officials from my Department to discuss local authority rents. Additional meetings will be arranged as necessary.
Central to my question is the restoration of NATO to their previous long standing position as the primary body for negotiation with the Minister's Department on behalf of tenants in all matters, at a national level, of rents, repairs, development schemes and related issues. Can the Minister confirm to the House that he intends to restore, or has restored NATO and that he will recognise it in that position for the future?
The number of meetings I have had with NATO indicates that I have restored them to the position of making a submission and consulting with my staff on an ongoing, regular basis on all matters related to rents. In fact, they were pressing very hard for the tenant purchase scheme. Mind you, I think I went a little further than even they had anticipated, but they were generous enough in recognising that. They were also generous enough in recognising that they had been in close consultation with us about that tenant purchase scheme and all other matters they had wished to talk about. We reached agreement with them on a huge number of the more non-controversial areas they wished to bring up and they had a large shopping list, as the Deputy knows. I have been very forthcoming with them.
I appreciate the time afforded. Will the Minister indicate when the proposed new rents scheme is to be introduced and whether NATO and their representatives have been involved in discussions with him on the terms of the proposed new scheme?
They have been involved from the start. They have indicated the matters they would like to see omitted and those they would like to see added. That is what the ongoing consultation is about. They have been in twice since the start of the year, no later than February. As soon as we have all the necessary documentation for the new tenant purchase scheme which is getting a huge response everywhere, following the issue of the circular last week, I intend to bring the representatives back in again and seek their advice and perhaps implement it to best effect.
The time has come to deal with questions nominated for priority, that is, Questions Nos. 74, 75 and 76.
Was the huge response to the Minister's circular sent to the Central Statistics Office?