Deputy Jim Mitchell has been given permission to raise on the Adjournment the question of the closing date for applications for grants under the Air Pollution Act for smoke control zones B and C in Ballyfermot. Deputy Mac Giolla indicated an interest in that matter.
Adjournment Debate. - Dublin Smoke Control Zones.
With your permission, Sir, I have agreed to share my time with Deputy Mac Giolla if he arrives in time. I understand he is on his way to the House.
I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this as today is the closing date fixed for applying for grants in smoke control zones B and C in Ballyfermot in my constituency. For the life of me I cannot see why there is a closing date. I do not see why there should be a closing date at all. I am glad to see here in the House the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Deputy Mary Harney, and I have to say in all honesty that since she became Minister of State action on the smog problem has gone into higher gear and has got more attention. It would be unfair of me to criticise the Minister of State in any way, but when I moved on the smog issue four years ago first and when at my request my Fine Gael colleague, Councillor Charlie McManus moved the motion at the city council, it was a motion to declare all 6,237 houses in Ballyfermot as one smoke control zone. Instead of that the city manager at the request of the Government went for a ridiculously small patch of 800 houses called "smoke control zone A". It was simply a stalling device to delay the spending of a few bob on sorting out this problem.
That long fingering meant we now have four separate smoke control zones in Ballyfermot which means four separate motions by the city council, four separate hearings by the environmental sub-committee and then the general purposes committee, then four oral hearings, then four inspector's reports and then four decisions by the Minister. Then the Minister goes on to criticise CDL and other vested interests who, he claims, delay the process by raising objections. It was the Minister who delayed the process by creating so many separate zones when there should have been one single zone.
Smog has become a trendy issue at last. God be with the days when I, a lonely voice, was laughed at in this House for raising it on the Order of Business every day. Now they come in with a high profile announcement about banning bituminous coal. I want to see the problem solved. It has never been solved in this way anywhere else. What will happen to the poor people who live outside Ballyfermot this year and all the people next year when they have to pay higher costs for fuel? I think that is most unfair. It is a highly questionable decision.
I will confine myself today to urging the Minister of State to extend the closing date for grant applications in the smokecontrolled zones, B and C. I will not delay the House further as I want to give Deputy Mac Giolla the opportunity to contribute. The corporation have told me that they have received only 1,300 applications from a possible 3,900 to 4,000 houses in the two zones.
I thank Deputy Mitchell for allowing me to speak. I had a Private Notice Question tabled on this issue but it was ruled out of order.
As Deputy Mitchell has said, very few applications have been processed; I believe 1,200 out of a possible 4,000 applications have been processed but the reason for this is not due to the tenants. The application form is such that they must provide information about the contractor such as the VAT number, etc., which is not readily available. I think the applications from individuals should have been accepted and the information found later. This has led to delays. Today is the final day for applications. Some of these applications are from people in zone A which should have been made a smokeless zone on 31 May last, but was postponed until 30 September and then postponed again to the end of December. People who had opted for the full burning fire have had to re-apply before the closing date of 8 February 1990. It is most unfair to people, who have been pushed around for 12 months not knowing what to do, to be given a closing date of 8 February. Last year, they were told that the full burning fire was OK but Eolas did not pass it and their applications will not be accepted unless the Minister extends the closing date. I hope the Minister will announce an extension of the date.
Banning coal is no substitute for implementing the Air Pollution Act, 1987. By banning coal, we are throwing the Air Pollution Act out through the window. Dublin Corporation, who had been in the process of surveying Cabra, have now ceased because there will be no more smoke controls. The Air Pollution Act involves banning smoke, but this will not be achieved by the Minister for the Environment. Once an area has been made a smoke controlled zone you cannot even burn leaves in your garden because that makes smoke and you can be prosecuted for it. If the Air Pollution Act is not being implemented as laid down, then you will not be able to prosecute people responsible for making smoke. All over Ballyfermot, and in other parts of the city, people burn logs and I hope the Minister will not start banning the burning of logs. In any case, they will be burned all over the place. What we require is the implementation of the Air Pollution Act. By simply banning coal, the Minister is avoiding the expense of giving people grants for conversions so that they can burn smokeless fuels. The Government are saving money while having the name of banning coal, which everybody thinks is a marvellous thing and the only solution. It is not the solution at all.
Hear, hear.
I ask the Minister whether she intends to implement the Air Population Act at Ballyfermot and other areas, as Dublin Corporation wish to do. Second, I ask the Minister to extend the final date for receipt of applications in zones A, B, and C.
First, I thank Deputy Mitchell for his complimentary remarks. The reason we had a closing date is that we want the special control area orders to come into being as quickly as possible. If you do not have a closing date people have a very flexible approach to these matters and would not make applications quickly, the work would not be done and the order would not be effective.
Unfortunately, even though in the past two years £5,250,000 was assigned for grants in the Ballyfermot area generally and the areas which we made special control areas, only £152,000——
£1 million.
In all, £5,250,000 has been allocated by the Government to the different special control areas which are confirmed in Ballyfermot and other areas.
Four million pounds of that was allocated only in the past couple of weeks.
Only £152,000 has been taken up and paid out in respect of 200 grants. It has been extremely slow. As the Deputies know, the grant scheme is administered by Dublin Corporation and applications are made to the loans and grants section of the corporation who inspect and process the applications.
It was only yesterday that the corporation made informal contact with my Department regarding the need to extend the dates for both submitting applications for grants and for completing work in the case of both zones B and C in Ballyfermot. The current closing date, as Deputies know — although some seem to think it is today — for applications is tomorrow, 9 February 1990 and the work has to be completed by 31 May. A letter was received in my Department from the corporation formally seeking the extension of dates and giving reasons for such an extension. I have also been approached by both the Tánaiste and Deputy Lawlor in this regard. I have acceded to the requests today and with the consent of the Minister for Finance I have extended the date for submitting applications to 31 March 1990 — a seven week extension — and I have extended the date for the completion of the work until 31 July 1990 in the case of grants to householders in those areas, a two month extension for the completion of the work. The corporation have been notified of the extension of the closing dates.
I urge Deputies from all sides of the House, who represent the Ballyfermot area to impress on the householders the need to get their applications into the corporation loans and grants section, civil offices, as quickly as possible so that applications can be processed, grants paid and the work completed, and so that matters can be finally sorted out once and for all.
With regard to the general comments on the Government's decision to ban the sale, distribution and marketing of bituminous coal in Dublin from 1 October 1990, the reason that was done is that we believe it is the only effective way of dealing with the smog problem. Deputy Mac Giolla seems to think that we should be implementing the Air Pollution Act because, as he said, the burning of leaves also causes smoke but it has been agreed by Eolas that 80 per cent of smoke in Dublin city and county is caused by the burning of bituminous coal in households. That is the problem and that is why the Government have taken the most effective way of dealing with it
What is the alternative?
A sum of £250,000 per week will be made available for the three winter months of this year, which will be paid to low income families and social welfare recipients to make up the price differential——
People will die of the cold.
——between low smoke fuels and bituminous coal. I am satisfied that £250,000 per week or £1 million per month for the three winter months of this year will be paid out to people in Dublin. I think that that will be sufficient to make up the difference.
Could the Minister clarify something? Does the decision to extend the closing dates apply to those in zone A?
I did not get a request for zone A.
Deputy Mitchell, the question was put and the answer was given in accordance with the question put.
Would the Minister consider extending it to zone A?
Of course.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.30 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 13 February 1990.