Pat Breen
Ceist:61 Mr. P. Breen asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of households and individuals who are living in local authority housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11014/05]
Other Questions.
Local Authority Housing.
At the end of 2004, it is estimated that the local authority housing stock amounted to 110,000 dwellings. The level of this stock continues to rise in line with the Government's increased investment in social housing measures.
In the current year, the Government is allocating record levels of funding to local authorities for their social and affordable housing programmes. The total Exchequer capital and current funding available for social and affordable housing in 2005 will amount to €1.3 billion which represents an increase of 20% on 2004. Total capital spending on social and affordable housing output in 2005, inclusive of non-Exchequer financing, will amount to approximately €2 billion.
To ensure a systematic and integrated approach to the use of these resources my Department has initiated the development by local authorities of new five-year actions plans for social and affordable housing. The preparation of these plans will sharpen the identification of priority needs and help to ensure a more coherent and co-ordinated response across all housing services, including those provided by the voluntary and co-operative housing sectors. The plans should also help to ensure that local authority housing provision will continue to increase on a sustained basis. My Department is giving strong encouragement to local authorities to press ahead with the implementation of these action plans which are being underpinned by very substantial levels of Government funding.
Since 1997, the housing needs of 86,000 households have been met, taking account of local authority housing vacancies arising in existing houses and output under other social and affordable housing measures. In 2005, it is anticipated that the needs of in excess of 13,000 households will be met from the same measures. In addition, it is anticipated that a number of households currently in private rented accommodation will transfer to the new rental accommodation scheme now being introduced. These households will continue to be mainly accommodated within the private rented sector.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He stated that this year or last year, 13,000 households were accommodated under social or affordable housing. Is it not a fact that the number of households who are on the local authority housing list is in excess of 55,000? The Minister of State's policy is going nowhere. It is a poor indication of the Government's commitment to look after those on the lowest incomes or on social welfare, who cannot afford to buy a house and now cannot get one from the local authority. The manner in which they are treated is a disgrace.
At the last assessment, the figure on the waiting lists was not 55,000 but approximately 48,000. Approximately 32% of those families were single people and another 30% consisted of one adult plus one child, but we include them all as families, even if they are single people. The needs of approximately 13,000 of those 48,000 families are met each year. I am not suggesting that the number on the waiting list reduces by 13,000 each year, as it does not. I admit that as 13,000 households come off the list, significant numbers are added to it. A major assessment of housing needs is carried out every three years. The figures I quote are three years old. The new assessment was carried out last month and it will take a number of months before the data are compiled. We will then ascertain what the updated figure is. As I have stated, the overall housing budget this year is €2 billion, of which €1.3 billion is for social housing.
Will the Minister of State confirm whether the figure of 13,000, to which he refers continuously, is the total number of lettings which are made by local authorities and social housing providers in the year? Will he tell the House how many of those lettings are transfers or people who are moved to facilitate refurbishment?
No, it does not include transfers, it includes casual vacancies. The needs of approximately 13,000 people on the housing lists are met by the new houses that are built, voluntary housing schemes, casual lettings and affordable housing and other schemes.
The figure includes affordable housing.
It includes any scheme that permits people to come off the current waiting lists, but does not include transfers. It includes new lettings and meets people's housing needs.
I compliment the Minister of State on introducing a scheme to install central heating in public housing. Has he considered the possibility of front-loading the funding — my understanding is that it will be carried out on a phased basis up to 2008 — for local authorities that are able to get the work done? Will the Minister of State consider introducing a standard housing application form, similar to that under consideration by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for planning applications? I have encountered a local authority that has an application form which is 11 pages long.
That is the new standard form.
Is that the new standard form? Could we have a "Cole's notes" version of it?
The Deputy is showing his age.
I thank the Deputy for his comments on the central heating scheme. It was introduced in the middle of last year. Of the 110,000 local authority houses I mentioned, approximately 45,000 do not have central heating. We introduced this scheme whereby the Department pays 80% and the local authority must provide 20%. It is up to the local authority to provide the money. We spent our allocation last year as it is a popular scheme. As to the Deputy's suggestion that it be front-loaded, it is up to individual local authorities to decide where it is installed . Let us see if the bids this year are for greater amounts than we are offering. We must get value for money for the taxpayer. There is no point in us sending out the message to central heating installers that Santa Claus has come. They are doing very well as it is. A considerable amount of money has been provided this year.
A new standard form has been introduced. I acknowledge that it is rather long but one tries to cover all bases when introducing a standard form. It will give us a considerable amount of additional information, much of which will not apply to any one individual.
I agree that the central heating scheme was a good one. Unfortunately, it did not go far enough. Does the Minister of State intend to respond to the finding of the NESC report that 73,000 social housing units will be required between 2005 and 2012? Does the Minister of State intend to provide that number of houses in that period and, if so, when will that significant increase commence?
That report was issued at Christmas, is being worked on and will be considered by the Cabinet. We have seen the NESC recommendations. Obviously if the number of social housing units were to increase, output would need to increase considerably. We have some additional funds in 2005 and I believe we will be able to commence building 6,000 local authority houses this year. However, we await the Cabinet's decision on the report. Obviously, the recommended increase would have to be rolled out over a number of years as it would be impossible to build all these houses in one year. Local authorities have presented their action plans for a five-year period and we have asked them to proceed with them and fast-track them.
Does the Minister of State know when the Cabinet decision will be made?
The Cabinet should decide soon.
The Minister of State spoke earlier about how demand in the private sector was being met by the number of houses being built. He said that 70,000 houses were completed in 2004. Clearly, there will be a shortfall in demand in the future. As demand is met, a capacity in the construction industry, particularly in the private construction industry, to build more houses will arise. Could the Minister of State devise a scheme whereby the Government would work with the Construction Industry Federation and other interested parties to involve them in building the necessary social and affordable housing? The way to close the gap is to take advantage of the additional capacity in the construction industry, thereby meeting the targets in the NESC report. It would be a dynamic new way of dealing with the problem of social housing.
I take the Deputy's point. Very little housing is built directly by local authorities. One or two counties build a small amount of social and affordable housing but the bulk is built by private developers. I imagine it is intended to increase the amount of social housing built over the coming years. The numbers that will be built remain to be seen as they depend on funding. The overall housing budget this year is €2 billion, which is a considerable amount. The Government must get value for money and one would wonder whether it was doing so over recent years given the demand from the private sector. If demand reduces slightly over the next few years, we should be able to get better value for money.
Environmental Policy.
Paul McGrath
Ceist:62 Mr.P. McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount generated by the plastic bag levy in 2004; the areas in which these funds were spent ; if he intends to propose changes to the Department of Finance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11041/05]
Total receipts for the plastic bag levy on disposable shopping bags for 2004 amounted to €13,498,491. Receipts from this levy are remitted to the environment fund, which is also funded by the landfill levy. The purposes for which payments may be made from the environment fund are prescribed in legislation.
In 2004, €49 million was spent from the environment fund on a wide range of activities, including the following: waste management infrastructure and the subvention of local authority recycling operational costs; environment awareness, including the race against waste campaign and various litter initiatives; the enhanced waste management enforcement initiatives being taken by local authorities and the Office of Environmental Enforcement; the national waste prevention and market development programmes; the North-South scheme for the management of waste fridges and freezers; research and development in the Environmental Protection Agency; and contributions to international environment funds.
Prior to the introduction of the levy, an estimated 1.2 billion plastic bags were given away free by retailers. The levy has led to a dramatic reduction with a consequent positive environmental benefit. There has been a 95% reduction in the level of litter arising from plastic bags. Analysis of plastic bag levy receipts on a quarterly basis in respect of transactions up to 31 January 2005 indicates a consistent pattern in the flow of income from the levy. While no changes to its operation are proposed at present, my Department will continue to monitor its performance.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply and for the contribution of the plastic bag levy to the environment. It is a very good tax that is supported by everyone. While I accept and acknowledge the excellent targets of the funding the Minister of State outlined, perhaps he or his Department would consider teaching people how to recycle in their homes, schools or communities. One of the reasons people do not recycle as much as we would like is that they do not know how to. The Government could possibly introduce a school-based programme where people would go into classrooms and explain how to recycle and what recycling bins cost. Alternatively, such programmes could be based in shopping centres. This would be a good way of spending the fund and would be useful as it would educate and inform the public.
I take Deputy O'Dowd's comments on board and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is reviewing educational programmes relating to this area.
Will the Minister of State trace the progress of the graph of the numbers of plastic bags in the environment since the introduction of the plastic bag environmental levy? It would be useful to find out the year-by-year figure, if it exists.
I do not have the figure with me but I will make the figures available to Deputy Gilmore. It is interesting to see the attitude of people to the levy. When the possible introduction of the levy was first examined by the Government in 1999, it was found that 40% of people opposed it. In our last attitude survey, conducted in 2003, it appeared that 91% of people strongly supported the levy and regarded as it as an environmentally friendly measure.
The Minister of State said that some of the money goes into research. Does he agree with me that the two areas that are particularly difficult with regard to disposal are composting — and the prevalence of rodents that this practice attracts — and disposable nappies. Will he look at funding research into how to deal with the prevalence of rodents caused by composting and how to deal with disposable nappies, either through providing a different form of disposable nappy or by encouraging facilities to deal with the more traditional type of nappy?
I do not have the specifics relating to the Deputy's question available today but I assure him that we welcome valuable contributions and that I will keep his comments in mind.
Housing Output.
Kathleen Lynch
Ceist:63 Ms Lynch asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the estimated housing output for 2005; the way in which this is likely to compare with the figure for 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11067/05]
The year 2004 was a further record year for house completions which totalled 76,954, an increase of 11.8% on 2003. Ireland is building at a rate of more than 19 houses per 1,000 persons, which is the highest rate within the European Union. Approximately 500,000 houses have been built over the last ten years, representing more than 30% of Irish housing stock. These figures demonstrate that the Government measures introduced in recent years continue to be successful in boosting the supply of housing to meet the unprecedented demand caused by population, economic growth, changing migration patterns and household formation. There is some expectation of a levelling off in overall housing output as the years progress and as the pent-up demand for houses decreases. A preliminary assessment by DKM Economic Consultants for the Department suggests a level of output for this year similar to 2004. Some other forecasters have indicated there may be some reduction in 2005 of between 4,000 and 5,000.
The key objective of the Government is to ensure that supply is responsive to the level of demand. In this regard, I am pleased to say that conditions are generally favourable to sustaining supply at appropriate levels as trends in house registrations, planning permission and service land availability remain positive.
I thank the Minister of State for this information. Of the 77,000 dwellings built in 2004, how many were holiday homes and how many were one-off rural houses?
We do not have exact data on the number of holiday homes built. Different studies of this subject have been provided. There is no holiday home category as many might be investment properties but the ESRI carried out a recent study, in which it estimated that 12% of houses are either holiday homes or are empty. In this regard, the data has not been collected in raw form.
If that figure is correct, almost 10,000 houses built in 2004 have no one living in them except for two or three weeks of the year. Is the Minister satisfied with a position wherein, notwithstanding the good housing output with which we are all happy, twice as many houses are being built as holiday homes than are being built for families by local authorities? What type of country are we becoming?
Hear hear.
As I said, they are not only holiday homes but investments etc. Many people have done well for themselves in recent years.
Sure.
Many tax schemes that encourage people to buy are under review. We do not have raw data on the number of holiday homes. The number of local authority homes built each year is approximately 5,000. The voluntary sector has built many homes, numbering approximately 1,600 units in 2004 and 1,800 this year. In or around 60,000 people are in receipt of rent allowance, implying that many new houses being built are being occupied by social clients. The position is not as stark as the Deputy has indicated.
How many of the 77,000 houses built in 2004 were one-off dwellings in rural areas?
I do not have that information here. From a housing point of view it is not of great interest. If I remember correctly, there are some counties in the midlands and the west where 75% of older houses are one-off dwellings. This is the way people lived. I do not know if this trend and its figures have changed in recent years but in many counties 60% to 65% of existing houses are one-off houses, though it is unusual in the part of the world I am from.
I express surprise that, on the day the Government announces its new planning guidelines for one-off housing, we cannot be told how many houses being built are one-off dwellings. It is a basic piece of information on which policy might be made. How many additional houses does the Minister of State expect will be built over the next year as a result of today's announcement?
The guidelines are under the planning section of the Department and are not my responsibility. I was tied up with business in the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and was not at the press conference. If I had been, I am sure I would have all these figures at my fingertips. I understand the focus of the planning guidelines is not about increasing the supply of houses. It has a different purpose and target. The Deputy is asking his question of the wrong person.
Will the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, who is sitting beside the Minister of State, answer my question?
Perhaps the Deputy should submit a different question.
I will answer it. According to what I have read in the document, this will lead to no additional houses. The Minister of State briefly mentioned the review of tax schemes for the encouragement of purchasing houses. During this process, I ask him to tell the Minister for Finance of a problem that may arise. It is the concept wherein, when buying an affordable house that will come on-stream in a tax scheme, people have slipped through the net in the past and abused the system. I am concerned that when an affordable house becomes available under a tax renewal scheme, it may lead to people claiming tax relief on it. I hope I have explained myself well. Someone may get an affordable house that would qualify under a tax scheme, be it a town renewal scheme or so forth, but have funding from elsewhere or purchase another property and use the house for tax relief purposes. I can give the Minister of State a note about this later.
I would welcome that as I am unsure of the Deputy's point. Under the three Government schemes that are producing affordable houses, we are very strict on who gets them. No investors get any of these affordable houses, as they are for first-time buyers.
I am aware of a number of affordable houses that have been rented out, not under tax schemes, where people have slipped through the net.
They might have rented them out but the individual who applies is still a first-time buyer. It may happen that a first-time buyer will decide to live with his or her mother for another year or two and subsequently rent out the affordable house but the affordable schemes operated by the Department are definitely targeted at first-time buyers.
I do not doubt that.
This question is addressed to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and concerns the number of houses. On the day the Government is announcing its new planning guidelines for one-off housing, are both the Minister and the Minister of State serious when they say they cannot tell the House how many one-off dwellings were built in 2004 and how many additional such houses will be built as a result of today's announcement? This is extraordinary. We had a big ballyhoo——
Briefly. The Deputy has gone over his time.
——this morning about new planning guidelines but the Government does not know how many one-off houses were built in the first place and how many additional houses will result from these guidelines. What sort of policy-making is this?
As I understand them, the guidelines announced this morning are not intended to increase the housing output.
Then they are of no real benefit.
That is not the focus. The guidelines are about giving people the right to have houses in the rural areas they are from, in which they work or in which they must be. We can provide other statistics.
This is no help. It is a bag of wind.
It is about proper, focused planning.
I would like to see what the Minister would have to say if he were not embarrassed by this.
There is only one bag of wind in this House and he has just finished speaking.
Environmental Policy.
John Gormley
Ceist:64 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the progress to date with the proposals contained within the National Climate Change Strategy; when an updated strategy will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11170/05]
Mary Upton
Ceist:104 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the basis on which he believes that Ireland will meet its targets in regard to his statement issued on the anniversary of the signing of the Kyoto Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11087/05]
I will answer Questions Nos. 64 and 104 together with the agreement of the House.
The National Climate Change Strategy was designed as a comprehensive framework to reduce Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions in the most efficient and equitable manner. Progress is being made towards achieving the target. Latest EPA data show emissions in 2003 at approximately 25% above 1990 levels, down from 29% in 2002 and 31% in 2001. The aim will be to maintain the downward trend in emissions up to and through the Kyoto commitment period of 2008-12.
Current business-as-usual based projections indicate a reduction requirement in total annual greenhouse gas emissions of 9.2 million tonnes per annum during reference period 2008-12, that is, the commitment period under the protocol. This reduction will be achieved through a combination of emissions reductions throughout the economy and the purchase of carbon allowances on the international market.
Under the 2004 emissions trading regulations, 105 Irish installations are participating in emissions trading within the EU since 1 January 2005. These installations account for approximately one third of total greenhouse gas emissions here. In addition to cost effective emissions reductions, participation in emissions trading will enable the installations concerned to meet their overall targets in the most economically efficient manner through access to least cost emissions reduction opportunities.
My priority is to progressively reduce total domestic greenhouse gas emissions on a least cost basis, having regard to economic and social development considerations. However, where reductions in the non-trading side of the economy cannot be achieved on a cost effective basis, carbon allowances will be purchased by the State in lieu of emissions.
Work is currently in progress in my Department on a review of the national climate change strategy, taking account of developments since its publication at end 2000. I intend that this review will be completed in the coming months and published.
We are an embarrassment in Europe. The level of the increase in climate change emissions here is much higher than those of any of our European neighbours in the context of the targets set. The Minister is lucky that in the past two years, the closure of the Irish Fertiliser Industry plants have led to a temporary and small drop in emissions. The national climate change strategy set strong targets. It called for the issue of the tax treatment of leases to be examined by 2003 and the conversion of the Moneypoint station to gas. It also sought to maximise the sending of freight by rail. Has the Minister met any of these targets? Does he have any intention of revising the strategy? If so, when does he intend to revise it? Does he honestly believe we will meet the targets set for overall emissions to be 13% over 1999 levels within the 2008-12 period?
Will the Minister revise the strategy and if so, when? Does he seriously believe we will meet the targets? What about the substance of the strategy? Are we achieving any progress on the specifics in the strategy?
I think the Minister paid me a compliment towards the end of the last question.
I always compliment the Deputy.
Until I read what it was in the Official Report, I reserve the right to return it in kind at some suitable opportunity.
How much of the reduction in emissions is attributable to the closure of the Nítrigin Éireann Teoranta plants in Arklow and Cork?
As I said, a review of the strategy is ongoing and will be completed this year and published. Deputy Cuffe may have missed that point. The recent emissions statistics look good. They are not great but they are good. They are an improvement and they show an annual fall since 2001. I accept we must maintain that trend. Quite a number of factors have contributed to the reductions, including cleaner generation and a more efficient use of electricity, a change in industrial output specifically as a result of those closures and a reduction in livestock numbers.
In regard to the general point Deputy Cuffe made, it depends on the set of statistics at which one looks. I would be the first to accept there are lies, damn lies and statistics. If one looks at emissions per unit of GDP, which I do not believe is necessarily the most logical statistic, we are now at 54%. One can take any set of statistics one wants and put whatever construction one wishes on them.
If the Minister wants to use the illogical set, then by all means he should do so.
Emissions per unit of GDP, which are now at 54% compare very favourably to the EU as a whole. We are weak in per capita emissions and are among the highest in the EU. If I was writing a progress report, I would say we are doing well but must continue to do better.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.