Vol. 409 No. 6
19 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for the Environment the estimated total number of inhabited dwellings in the State which are still without (a) bathrooms and (b) indoor toilets; the number of these which are local authority owned and privately owned; and if, in the case of privately owned dwellings, he will outline the steps he proposes to take to ensure that all homes in the State have bathrooms and indoor toilets before the end of this century.
A Plan for Social Housing stated that there are about 6,500 rented local authority dwellings which still lack bathroom facilities — some 2,500 of which also lack an indoor toilet — and announced the introduction of a new sub-programme backed by a special provision of £2 million in 1991 to assist local authorities to progressively eliminate this deficiency in their housing stock.
In regard to the housing stock generally, preliminary results of the 1990 survey of the housing stock indicate a very significant improvement in the position regarding these facilities over the past ten years. The plan indicates that summary results of the survey will be published later in the year. The 1991 census of population will provide the usual ten yearly definitive figures.
The provision of bathroom facilities in private houses occupied by elderly or disabled persons can be assisted under the disabled persons grants scheme and the task force for the elderly. Under the new scheme of improvements in lieu of local authority housing, local authorities may also provide these facilities. Furthermore, the revised loan and income limits for local authority house improvement loans, announced in the plan, will help occupiers of private housing to provide these facilities.
As more information on the nature of the residual deficiency in these facilities becomes available, I will be reviewing the need for additional measures.
Does the Minister not acknowledge that it is estimated there are up to 25,000 households still without bathroom and indoor toilet facilities in the last decade of the 20th century? Does he further acknowledge that his Government abolished grants to assist people to provide bathroom and toilet facilities for themselves? Would he agree that the time has long since passed to reintroduce these grants to provide these very basic facilities so that before the end of this century every dwelling will have the basic facilities of a bathroom and an indoor toilet?
We would all like to see that target reached. I know that in the past the Deputy has concentrated his remarks on these matters to the deficiencies in local authority housing but now he has switched the emphasis to private housing stock. The only information I can give him in that regard is that a limited survey carried out in 1980 whan about 23,000 units are inspected showed that 19.5 per cent of the houses surveyed had no fixed bath or shower. However, in a survey carried out in 1990, and as I have said it was limited, that figure was reduced to some 8 per cent of houses without fixed bathroom or shower facilities. Obviously, a very big improvement has taken place in the housing stock over that period. We are now trying to get an analysis of the tenure of houses, that is a breakdown of the number of local authority houses as against the number of private sector houses. When that information comes to hand, I will be happy to make it available to the Deputy.
Good progress has been made. With the allocation of more money for the remedial works scheme and the introduction of a new sub programme to provide bathroom and toilet facilities in local authority dwellings we can look forward to seeing the matter disposed of finally in a reasonably short period. I think the Deputy would agree with me on that issue.
Would the Minister not accept, given the point he has been making about the allocation of resources to provide money for the provision of bathroom facilities, that if the moneys provided this year, are repeated in future years it will mean that people in local authority dwellings will have to do without bathroom facilities and indoor toilets for up to 16 years? Would he not accept that at the present level of expenditure it would take at least 16 years to eliminate the problem?
It will continue well into the next century.
I do not accept that for the following reasons. It is, as the Deputy knows, the responsibility of the local authorities themselves to provide money to deal with this matter from their own maintenance and management resources in so far as local authority tenants are concerned. An additional £16 million will be provided under the remedial scheme and this money can also be used to provide sanitary services. On top of that, as a further assistance, £2 million has been provided specifically for the provision of bathroom facilities. When one considers that, together with the increases in loans and the availability of both secured and unsecured loans of up to £3,000, we can look forward within a short period of years to disposing of this problem, which I agree needs attention.
A final question from Deputy Mitchell. I am anxious to deal with and dispose of the Deputy's remaining Priority Questions but time is running out.
Would the Minister agree that if he and the Government were seriously concerned about the housing crisis and the conditions in which people have to live in existing dwellings they would provide the money for these basic facilities? Would he agree also that the raw materials needed to execute the work are all available at home so this would give him a great opportunity to create some jobs, which are urgently needed, while providing these basic facilities?
I agree that it would certainly create some jobs. However, I would make the point that the disabled person's grant scheme and the moneys provided under the task force for the elderly, run by the health boards throughout the country, together with the £16 million for remedial works and the allocation of £2 million for the specific sub-programme to provide bathroom facilities for local authority houses and the increase in the limits for secured and unsecured loans——
It is a pittance.
——are substantial measures. The local authorities take in about £35 million in rent but they spend something over £60 million on maintenance and improvements of local authority houses. A great deal of money is available and is being used to eliminate this deficiency in social housing.
There is no money in local government.
I support everything that can be done to eliminate this problem.
