I wish to share time with Deputy Quinn.
Social Welfare Benefits.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment. Earlier in the summer I began to receive telephone calls from a number of old age pensioners in local authority senior citizens complexes in my constituency. To say they were in a state of panic would be an understatement. One by one they had received notice that their fuel allowance was to be removed. The paltry sum of €12.90 per week for 29 weeks of the year which they had come to enjoy and which gave them a little comfort over the winter months was to be removed from them. This was totally unexpected and out of the blue. It would appear they are being picked off one by one — people who collectively have no voice because they are not able to organise themselves together to have a voice on this matter.
Senior citizens complexes in my constituency include Fr. Kitt Court, Rockmead and Lissadell. I have had queries from each of the complexes on the removal of this fuel allowance. It is about the meanest and sneakiest cut in social welfare that I have encountered. It is worse than those relating to the savage 16 last year. The amount of money involved is minuscule against the background of the debate we had last night and tonight. I appeal to the Minister for Social and Family Affairs to reverse this decision. I have written to him specifically regarding a number of cases but I have no doubt many more people over the coming weeks will also find that they are in the net and that their little fuel allowance is to be removed from them. I appeal to the Minister of State to reverse this miserable decision and to return to them the fuel allowance for that part of the year when they so badly need that extra money.
This is one of the meanest and cruellest types of bookkeeping and accountancy. It is coming from the same administration that can manage to lose millions of euro elsewhere in the public budget but still has the energy and capacity to scrutinise the €6 weekly contribution on top of rent in special senior citizens accommodation as their contribution towards the heating bill. Somebody somewhere spotted they were making this contribution but that it was not the full cost and has reduced the heating allowance accordingly. It is mind-boggling in its meanness. It is astounding in its attention to detail at a time when the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources claimed on radio this morning that the loss of €170 million was chickenfeed in the context of an annual €40 billion budget.
The Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children will realise the health contribution which secure and well-insulated heated accommodation provides for elderly people. Taking away this facility from pensioners to augment their heating could mean they get sick and present themselves to hospitals, meaning no overall saving to the health budget. This is meanness personified which represents all the characteristics of this Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Administration.
The aim of the national fuel scheme is to assist householders who are in receipt of long-term social welfare or Health Service Executive payments towards meeting their additional heating needs during the winter season. Under the scheme a fuel allowance of €9 per week is paid to eligible households during a 29-week winter heating period from end-September to mid-April each year. An additional €3.90 per week is payable in designated urban smokeless fuel zones.
Approximately 274,000 households receive a fuel allowance, at an expected cost of €85.4 million this year. In addition to fuel allowance, over 300,000 pensioners and other households qualify for electricity or gas allowances through the household benefits package, payable towards their heating, light and cooking costs throughout the year, at an overall cost of €108.8 million in 2005.
There is also a facility available through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme to assist people in certain circumstances who have special heating needs. To qualify for an allowance under the national fuel scheme, an applicant must be in receipt of a qualifying payment, live alone or only with a dependent spouse, partner or children or with other eligible recipients. As a long-standing policy within the scheme, fuel allowances are not payable in cases where a person is able to provide for their heating needs from their own resources through, for example, access to his or her own fuel supply or benefiting from subsidised heating services such as those provided by Dublin City Council at several of its housing complexes.
In Dublin City Council's communally heated dwellings, the cost to tenants for subsidised heating starts at €300 per year for a one roomed flat and increases pro rata depending on the number of rooms and the particular complex. The amount paid by tenants per week is on average €6 to €7. The subsidised heating is available from September to May inclusive, approximately ten weeks longer than the duration of the national fuel scheme which runs for 29 weeks from September to mid-April. To ease the burden on the tenant, payments to the corporation are spread over 52 weeks. In addition to heating each room in the flats, the local authority also provides hot water 24 hours a day, each day of the year, the charge for which is also included in the above costs. The central heating provided is not optional. Subsidised heating tends to be available mainly in the older flat-type complexes operated by the local authorities, rather than the new individual units being constructed which typically have their own individual heating systems.
As part of ongoing claim management by the Department, a project to identify customers in receipt of both subsidised heating and fuel allowance was carried out by certain departmental sections during 2005. A review of addresses at which heating is provided at low cost by Dublin City Council identified 237 customers at different local authority complexes who had been paid the fuel allowance in error. The allowance was terminated in all of these cases and as from 29-30 September 2005, the start of the new winter heating season. The non-payment of fuel allowance for these customers arises purely from the proper application of the existing long-standing conditions for the fuel allowance scheme.
Where customers have been in receipt of the fuel allowance in error on this basis, there is no question of any overpayments being assessed against them. Pensioners and other social welfare groups have received significant increases in their welfare payment rates in this and recent years. This has improved their income situation considerably in real terms relative to solid fuel cost increases and to price inflation generally. These higher rates of primary payments are payable for a full 52 weeks of the year. The issue of fuel allowance not being available to claimants with subsidised heating is under review in the Department.
Crime Levels.
I thank the Acting Chairman, Deputy Costello, and the Ceann Comhairle for giving me an opportunity to raise this issue on the Adjournment.
The rise of anti-social behaviour in our towns and villages, manifesting itself as vandalism and hooliganism, is a national issue but it is being ignored by the Government. Taking the specific example of Kilrush in County Clare, it has been subject in recent weeks to a spate of vandalism attacks on cars, houses and one bus. These include arson attacks, the smashing of windscreens and the damaging of car bodyworks. The result is that elderly people now fear for their safety and worry about their property. They are afraid to go out at night. Parents are fearful when their children are out. People's livelihoods are affected and the town's reputation as a maritime and heritage centre, attractive for tourism and new business, is affected. It is hard enough for any town in Ireland, let alone a town on the west coast, to attract industry and tourism without having its reputation tarnished for an excessively long time due to lack of action at a national level.
Kilrush has a population of 2,700 and is earmarked for decentralisation. Despite, the Government's mishandling of that process, Kilrush is oversubscribed. However, its rightful place as the capital of west County Clare is unfairly affected.
There has been some success by local gardaí in making arrests on this specific issue but this will not be the end of the matter. This issue has been allowed to fester, as have countless similar ones in other towns and villages, where small groups, usually of juveniles, run riot at night and cause thousands of euro of damage. This must be stopped.
I am calling on the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, to draw up a strategic plan to tackle such problems, using the resources of a special Garda unit to assist local efforts in dealing with the ongoing and escalating acts of vandalism and anti-social behaviour in Kilrush. Special operations such as Operation Anvil, targeting drugs and crime sprees in Dublin and Limerick, have met with success. What is needed in Kilrush is a similar operation but on a reduced scale where Garda expertise in tackling an entrenched problem is brought to bear. A special but temporary operation that was, in the words of the Minister, focused, sustained, targeted and relentless would augment the existing Garda presence in Kilrush of 27 members.
In reply to a parliamentary question earlier this year, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform informed me the special needs of towns like Kilrush are being taken into account when plans are drawn up to distribute and manage the 2,000 extra gardaí to be recruited to tackle areas with crime problems. I welcome the appointment of a new superintendent in the area. I hope during his stay he will have success in dealing with these problems. However, the people of Clare are tired of the Government replacing action with the drawing up of plans and consideration of approaches. It simply is not good enough.
In many towns there is an emerging crime culture with career criminals in the making. An urgent response is required now if these problems are not to mushroom out of control and cost taxpayers millions of euro in the future. A mix of overt and covert operations on a small scale would yield huge results. I ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to deal with this problem and take into account what has happened. The relative cost of such special efforts would be small in contrast to the long-term cost of such vandalism going unchecked and the ultimate bill of sending offenders to prison for lengthy periods.
The State has a duty to intervene early in such cases on both monetary and social grounds. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, has been advised repeatedly by experts in the area that moneys spent on Youthreach and similar intervention schemes pay enormous dividends. This contrasts with massive cost overruns when buying sites for prisons, let alone building such prisons and housing the prisoners.
Many of these problems have emerged from housing estates which the State has decided to abandon. From the beginning, it failed to provide adequate planning, neglected community facilities and dropped the word "playground" from its vocabulary. When teenagers in such estates begin to go out of control, there is an even greater responsibility on the State to provide enlightened intervention schemes before another generation is lost to society as useful citizens. I call on the Minister to make a special effort in towns like Kilrush to sort out the anti-social problems that have people living in fear.
I thank Deputy Pat Breen for raising this matter on the Adjournment. I am aware of his interest in this subject. I am speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform who is unable to be present. I assure the Deputy that the Minister and I share his concerns and those of the residents of Kilrush in this matter.
Strong provisions are already in place to combat vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The primary basis for the law regarding public order offences is the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994, which modernised the law in this regard. Furthermore, because of the Minister's concerns about the abuse of alcohol and its contribution to public order offending and broader social problems, he brought forward tough new provisions to deal with alcohol abuse and its effect on public order in the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003. One of the Act's provisions is to broaden the application of the temporary closure order penalty, which was originally introduced to combat under age drinking, to cover also convictions for a series of offences, such as a licensee supplying intoxicating liquor to drunken persons and permitting disorderly conduct on the licensed premises.
The Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 2003 has also been enacted, the main purpose of which is to provide the Garda Síochána with additional powers to deal with late night street violence and anti-social conduct attributable to excessive drinking. It does this by providing for the closure of premises such as pubs, off licences, late night clubs and food premises where there is disorder or noise on or close to the premises, as well as the making of exclusion orders on individuals convicted of a range of public order offences, in addition to any penalty they might receive under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994.
The Minister takes great satisfaction in the Government's decision last October to approve the recruitment of 2,000 additional gardaí to increase the strength of the force to 14,000. Clearly, the additional resources will be targeted at the areas of greatest need, as is envisaged in the programme for Government. In particular, the programme identifies areas with a significant drugs problem and a large number of public order offences, while it will also be possible to address other priorities such as the need to increase significantly the number of gardaí allocated to traffic law enforcement duties. One promise the Minister has already made is that the additional gardaí will not be put on administrative duties but will be put directly into frontline, operational, high-visibility policing.
The Minister is pleased to state that the Garda Síochána is now better resourced than at any time in its history. The Garda budget is now at an historic high of over €1.1 billion, representing an increase of 85% in the provision since 1997 when the provision stood at just €600 million.
The Minister was pleased to note a reduction in assault causing harm in 2004 compared with 2003. This trend has continued in 2005 with a 12% reduction in assaults causing harm in the second quarter compared with the same period last year.
The Minister believes the courts can give valuable support and protection to our communities in tackling anti-social behaviour. In this regard he is finalising legislative proposals to provide for anti-social behaviour orders. The Minister also intends, subject to Government approval, to introduce these proposals as Committee Stage amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill 2004. Anti-social behaviour orders are not a radical new legal concept. It is a deeply rooted principle of our law that persons should be able to apply to the courts for protection against behaviour which interferes with their basic rights. As a principle, it is very similar to the existing power of the courts to bind over a person to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
The Minister's proposal will allow the Garda to apply to the courts by way of civil procedure for an anti-social behaviour order which will prohibit the person who is the subject of the order from behaving in an anti-social way. The orders will be civil orders and the question of an offence will arise only if the person in question wilfully defies the order and continues to engage in the anti-social behaviour which is the subject of the order. The Minister believes that anti-social behaviour orders used in the most glaring cases will be of real value in curbing this type of behaviour.
I also draw the Deputy's attention to section 29 of the Bill which provides for a fixed penalty procedure for lesser public order offences. This procedure will apply to certain offences under the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 dealing with intoxication and disorderly conduct in a public place.
The Minister attaches great importance to the development of a real partnership between the Garda Síochána and local authorities on matters affecting policing. His intention and that of the Oireachtas, as set out in the Garda Síochána Act 2005, is that joint policing committees and local policing fora established under them will provide arenas where the Garda Síochána and local authorities can co-operate and work together to address local policing and other issues.
The Act provides that the committees will be mandated to keep under review the levels and patterns of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour in the local authority area, including the patterns and levels of misuse of alcohol and drugs and the factors underlying and contributing to those levels of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour. Local policing fora will discuss and make recommendations concerning these matters as they affect their specific neighbourhoods. These are significant innovations which will strengthen policing at local level and create strong partnerships. They will ensure that the new committees and their structures will provide permanent fora to address the issue of anti-social behaviour.
I have referred to legislation which the Minister has already introduced to combat the abuse of alcohol and the public order problems to which it gives rise. In addition, the Minister has recently published the general scheme of the proposed intoxicating liquor bill, which will carry forward this work. The main purpose of the proposed Bill is to streamline and modernise our liquor licensing laws.
With regard to Kilrush, the Minister has been informed by the Garda authorities that a special operation is in place there to assist local gardaí in their efforts to prevent and detect acts of criminality in the locality. Resources from throughout the Clare division have been and will continue to be utilised in this operation. Within the past week, one individual has been charged with four acts of criminal damage to cars in the town and is in custody. The Minister is further informed that one additional sergeant and two additional gardaí were recently deployed to Kilrush to augment resources. The present special operation will be continually reviewed and additional resources will be deployed if the necessity arises.
This Government is strongly committed to the reduction and prevention of crime through strong and effective crime prevention methods. However, I cannot stress enough that while legislative measures can help to curtail the problem of anti-social behaviour, they cannot be viewed as the only solution. All those with an interest in this area must play their role in helping to address the problems of vandalism and anti-social behaviour in society.
The Dáil adjourned at 9.30 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 6 October 2005.