Vol. 732 No. 3
32 Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government if he will provide further clarity on the proposed utility charge for 2012; and if this will involve the introduction of a flat rate fee. [11794/11]
The EU-IMF programme of financial support for Ireland commits to the introduction of a property tax for 2012 and 2013 under its fiscal consolidation measures. The programme reflects the need, in the context of the State's overall financial position, to put the funding of locally delivered services on a sound financial footing, improve accountability and better align the cost of providing services with the demand for such services. In the light of the complex issues involved, a property tax, requiring a comprehensive property valuation system, would take time to introduce and, accordingly, to meet the revenue measure in the programme, I have indicated my intention to introduce an interim household utility charge in 2012 on a flat rate basis. I will bring proposals to the Government in the near future on the legislative and administrative requirements necessary to implement the charge. It is my intention that the revenues from the charge will support the provision of locally based services and, in turn, reduce local government's requirement for Exchequer support for the funding of such services.
The progamme for Government also proposes the installation of water meters in individual households and the introduction of water charges based on usage above a free allowance. My Department is preparing a strategy to implement these proposals, including the funding of the metering programme. Further details will be made available following Government consideration of the proposals. The EU-IMF programme of support further commits Ireland to introducing water charges for households by 2013 at the latest. However, no decision has been taken by the Government on the exact date for the introduction of water charges by meter.
I thank the Minister for his reply which is scant on detail. We are aware of the commitment in the four year recovery plan to introduce water charges and a site valuation tax, but I would like the Minister to elaborate on the new flat rate tax he has proposed because it has slipped in under the radar. I am sure his own party's backbenchers and coalition colleagues are disturbed about it. The many hundreds of thousands who voted for the Minister and his party are also alarmed that within their first 100 days in government he will introduce a new utility charge. How much will it be? How will it be levied? Who will pay it? Will there be exemptions for pensioners, the unemployed and those who cannot afford to pay? Will there be a waiver scheme? Could the Minister provide detail on the scheme, primarily, how much it will cost?
To what will the money be dedicated? Will it go into the local authority pot or will it be channelled in a specific direction? Will it be specifically earmarked for the provision of water meters and to cover the cost of their installation?
There is scant detail on the scheme. At the weekend The Sunday Times posed the question, “Will the real Minister Hogan please stand up?” in regard to the matter. We seek clarity as there is confusion and there has been a muddying of the waters on a site property tax, the introduction of water charges and the new charge.
There is no confusion on this side of the House. The schizophrenic confusion is due to the fact that the then Government, of which Deputy Collins's party was a member, negotiated with the EU-IMF programme——
That is correct.
——and with Mr. Chopra to introduce a household charge.
Hear, hear.
That is correct.
We are introducing what Deputy Collins's party negotiated. It is disingenuous of him to try to infer that there is a new charge. It is the same charge his party negotiated in Government.
Thank you.
We will come forward with details on the implementation of the scheme.
Water metering will have to be paid for. The roll-out of metering will start in 2012. It is a water conservation measure. A lot of water is wasted. The lack of water conservation is now coming home to roost. Following the past two winters people now appreciate more than ever the importance of having good quality and quantity of water rather than be forced to have an inferior system and to purchase bottled water in shops. I wish to ensure we have a good water conservation strategy based on usage rather than a flat rate and that every household would have a quality and quantity of water paid for by the State and by the taxpayer in a fair way over and above a free, generous allowance for each household. I do not take on board the suggestion put forward by the Deputy opposite that this is a new charge. It is the same one his party negotiated when in government.
33 Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that parts of County Offaly are now without any fire service; if his further attention has been drawn to the fact that substantial tracts of land have been damaged in bogfires since the closure of fire stations in Daingean, Kilcormac, and Bannagher; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11692/11]
The provision of fire services in local authority areas, including the establishment and maintenance of fire brigades, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of premises is a statutory function of the individual fire authorities under section 10 of the Fire Services Act 1981 and 2003.
Offaly County Council has adopted fire cover standards as part of its statutorily required fire and emergency operations plan, and requests for assistance are responded to promptly and in accordance with those standards from fire stations in the larger towns of the county. No part of County Offaly is without fire service cover.
I understand that factors which influenced the decision to stand down Daingean, Banagher and Kilcormac fire stations recently include issues relating to the provision of training for staff in less busy fire stations, and the substantial fixed overhead costs associated with running fire stations. I emphasise that it is through community fire safety — by ensuring that there are working smoke alarms in all dwellings — that we can prevent needless loss of life through fire.
On the recent wild land fires in County Offaly, I understand that bog fires broke out in a number of locations, and strong winds led to a rapid spread of the fires. Up to 450 Bord na Móna staff using bulldozers assisted the County Offaly fire service in controlling the fires. The County Offaly fire service also deployed up to six units to deal with a bog fire in Ferbane. The non-availability of the stations in Daingean, Kilcormac and Banagher did not impinge on the speed or effectiveness of the fire service response.
During the recent bog fires, roads were closed and a significant amount of environmental damage was done. In the case of one of the fires there was a serious delay in response. The Minister will be aware from the inquiries he has made that County Offaly did have eight fire stations and it now has five. County Laois, which is a smaller county geographically, now has eight fire stations with a smaller budget of just short of €3 million. County Offaly has a budget of more than €3 million. The economic situation impinges on everything and I understand that. However, local frontline emergency services such as this must be retained. A response suggesting local services have not been curtailed or limited ignores the reality. Anyone who knows anything about local fire services is aware — as I am as a local authority member for a number of years — that when fire services are called out to a particular area, local knowledge is essential to a quick response. Firemen from a particular town, village or area will know how many people are likely to be in a house if a fire occurs in a house at night in a rural area. They are aware of how many people reside in a dwelling and whether an elderly person lives there. They may even know in which room an elderly person sleeps. This type of local information, knowledge of an elderly person living in a house and sleeping upstairs, is important if the house catches fire. Some people in the local fire service have this detailed knowledge.
Lives are being put at risk and I urge the Minister to take up the issue. I urge him and his officials to take another look at the situation, with Offaly County Council, to ensure there is a proper fire service throughout Offaly. Banagher is a long way from the centre of the county. I urge the Minister and his officials to examine the issue again and not to walk away lightly from it saying that five local fire stations are adequate for Offaly.
Responsibility for the provision of fire services is a matter for the local authority. That there are eight fire stations in Laois and only five in Offaly does not mean they cannot co-operate with each other to deal effectively with fires. Nor does it mean that counties cannot have a plan to ensure that every possible area is covered in the event of an emergency.
The Department's role is through the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management, which establishes policy through the local government system in order to implement changes. There is good reason the changes were made by people in the Department in the past and through the local authority system. There is a requirement for consolidation and efficiency in the current financial climate. However, that can be done at the same time as ensuring that people are safe in the knowledge that there is an adequate and appropriate response in the event of an emergency.
Whether co-operation can work depends on the geographical situation of the fire, for example if the fire is in the border area of two counties. However, services in the middle of County Laois cannot respond to or help out with a fire in west Offaly, and that is the problem.
I agree. However, Deputy Stanley, more than anybody, should understand that boundaries should not interfere with an effect response from fire and emergency services.
34 Deputy Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will be using mechanical biological treatment or incineration to deal with the country’s residual waste. [11793/11]
The programme for Government commits to the development of a coherent national waste policy, adhering to the waste hierarchy, which will aim to minimise waste disposal in landfill and maximise recovery. I am prioritising this commitment, as I am anxious to provide early regulatory certainty, in the form of policy and legislation, to ensure that the necessary actions and investments are progressed to achieve those aims.
During the Dáil Second Stage debate on the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill on 14 April 2011, I outlined the guiding principles which will inform the waste policy development process. These principles will serve to ensure that future waste policy will: be designed to minimise the volumes of waste generated and to extract the maximum value from those wastes which arise; be founded on a firm, evidence-based understanding of the many scientific, economic and social issues which are inherent elements of the waste policy discourse; and be designed to facilitate necessary investment in infrastructure, within an appropriately regulated waste market framework.
Our current over-reliance on landfill facilities is unsustainable and the move away from landfill must be accelerated. We must ensure that a range of infrastructure is available to treat the waste we generate in an environmentally appropriate manner. That process of infrastructural diversification must be guided not by a fixation in favour of or against any particular process or technology, but by a policy approach, consistent with the waste hierarchy, which creates the space within which the range of appropriate infrastructure that we need can be brought forward.
I look forward to engaging with parliamentary colleagues and the range of interests in the waste sector in the development of this policy framework. I intend that this work will be completed by the end of this year.
I thank the Minister. I still have not established whether he plans on going down the route of mechanical biological treatment or incineration. When I was a local authority member, the regional waste management plans were discussed at the county council. At the time the Minister was in opposition and there was considerable talk about how Fine Gael was planning on having a zero waste strategy. It was not naïve — believing we would have zero waste — but was a goal to strive for.
The Deputy should ask a supplementary question.
Has Fine Gael moved away from that policy and will it now follow the last Government's policy? Will we definitely go down the route of burning resources or will we go down the route of maximising the uses to which we can put these resources, bearing in mind the embodied energy used in creating these products that the Minister seems intent on burning?
I am sure the Deputy would not expect me to make a policy statement on waste management today when I have already stated I will consult parliamentary Members and agree a waste policy at the end of the year. If he is asking me to make a decision now, I will, but I would like to consult people about it. The Deputy was a member of a local authority which, in conjunction with others, had to draw up a regional waste management strategy. It was up to local authority members and members of regional authorities to help in drawing up such a strategy by way of a devolved function. Unfortunately, at the time councillors abdicated responsibility on the direction they wanted to take in devising a waste strategy and ultimately the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government was forced to abandon the process of consultation and take responsibility for decision making from local authority members and give managers in counties and regions the necessary powers to make decisions without reference to those who had been democratically elected. I do not want to go down that road either. If people want to make decisions about the future of waste policy, to have devolved functions and responsibility restored to them, they must equally be accountable for the decisions they make. I will set out the process by which this can be achieved by the end of the year.
With respect, it was not the actions of local authority members such as me that led to power being taken away. In fact, when I was a county councillor, we did not have that power. It was weak-minded people such as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil local authority members who could not deal with the facts; they went with what the crowd was saying at the time.
The Deputy should ask a supplementary question.
What power did local authority members have, other than the power to talk about the matter in the past six or seven years? The power rested completely with the county manager. Surely, as a democrat, the Minister believes it should rest with elected local authority members who are closest to the problem. Where do local authority members have an input into the process? I never had one as a county councillor; it was an executive function.
The Deputy might not have been a member of Roscommon County Council, but I am sure he has heard that local authority members at the time had the power to draw up regional waste management plans.
Not in the past six years.
The Minister to continue, without interruption, please.
Rome did not start six years ago either. The Deputy started late, but he is making up for lost time. I want to return what is a devolved function to local authority members to deal with waste issues. However, they will do so based on guiding principles for national waste policy which the Deputy will have an opportunity to discuss while he is a Member of this House in the near future.
35 Deputy Michael P. Kitt asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for reviewing and updating the existing homeless strategy as committed to in the programme for Government; and if he will provide a time line for the introduction of this strategy. [11795/11]
The commitment in the programme for Government to review and update the existing homelessness strategy is timely as Departments and agencies, together with community and voluntary service providers, are midway through the implementation of The Way Home — A Strategy to Address Adult Homelessness 2008-2013. From my initial discussions with representatives of the sector, the appropriate strategies are largely under way, including measures to end involuntary rough sleeping and improve delivery of mainstream housing to enable those residing in emergency homeless accommodation to move to independent living. However, key targets intended to be met by the end of 2010 have not been achieved and the current strategy review will take account of demands on existing housing, assess how best to provide additional services and ensure more effective prevention strategies. The Government will work with the sector to target aggressively the root causes of homelessness. As part of the updated strategy, a "housing first" approach to accommodating homeless people will be introduced. In this way, we will be able to offer homeless people suitable long-term housing in the first instance and radically reduce the use of hostel accommodation and the associated costs for the Exchequer.
Following consultation within the sector, and in parallel with the Government's expenditure review, I intend to complete the homelessness strategy review and introduce an updated strategy this autumn, including clear performance targets and associated timelines.
I thank the Minister of State. Has he engaged with or will he engage with the housing authorities, particularly those in Dublin where homelessness is most pronounced? Has he had any engagement with the Minister for children given that more than 1,500 young people under 18 are homeless each year in Ireland?
I have already had preliminary discussions with the main service providers and relevant stakeholders, who believe the overall strategy is reasonably sound. What they are eager to see is an acceleration of the implementation of the targets that have been set. I will certainly be working towards this. I intend to complete the homelessness strategy review and introduce an updated strategy this autumn, including clear performance targets.
Youth homelessness is an important issue on which there will be a particular focus. The Government's commitment to reviewing and updating the existing homelessness strategy includes a specific focus on youth homelessness, as alluded to by Deputy Kitt.
Responsibility for the new homelessness strategy rests primarily with the Minister for Health and Children in view of the HSE's responsibility to provide care for children and youths up to 18 who can no longer remain at home. As indicated in my reply, I intend to work closely with the Minister for children, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, in the interest of having a joined-up service and proper care and discharge procedures to ensure 18 year olds moving on from child care services have appropriate follow-up care and accommodation arrangements to prevent homelessness.
I will take on board the suggestion of Deputy Kitt and work in that regard. I am certainly open to suggestion and am not averse to considering proposals by him or any other Member of the House. This is to ensure the scourge of homelessness, particularly youth homelessness, is ended once and for all. This is a noble objective but trying to achieve it will certainly not be easy. I am encouraged, however, by the extent of my engagement with the relevant stakeholders and I will continue to engage with them over the coming months.
I thank the Minister for his answer. Focus Ireland stated that, at any one time in Ireland, there are 5,000 homeless men, women and children. Will new legislation be required when the Government introduces an updated homelessness strategy? Will the Minister of State consider the introduction of the new youth homelessness strategy, particularly within his first six months in office?
As I stated, I am prepared to consider every suggestion to ensure that the Government's objective will be achieved while maintaining funding at its existing level, that there will be no reduction in the provision of essential front line services in 2011, and that the reconfiguration of services currently under way in Dublin can be completed. That is an extremely important objective in addition to that of offering continuous support for the roll-out of the regional homelessness action plans across the country.
The 34 local authorities have adopted homelessness action plans and their doing so will allow for greater integration of responses at local and regional levels. Our objective now is to accelerate our response to meet the targets set out in The Way Home: A Strategy to Address Adult Homelessness in Ireland 2008–2013. We will certainly be reviewing these issues. I would be surprised if additional legislation were required but, if so, we will certainly take cognisance of it in the context of submissions by Focus, Threshold and all the other groups involved.
36 Deputy Seamus Healy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will remove the embargo on the filling of posts in the local government service in view of the fact that the reduction of numbers is having a perilously detrimental effect on services to the public by local authorities. [11804/11]
The embargo on the filling of posts in the local government service was introduced on 24 March 2009 following a Government decision to implement savings measures across the wider public service. My Department received a delegated sanction from the Department of Finance in August 2009 for implementation of this general moratorium on the filling of public sector posts across all local authorities. This is on condition that the overall staffing levels in the sector are reduced significantly by the end of 2013.
The local government sector reduced numbers in terms of whole time equivalent staff by some 6,600 between June 2008 and March 2011. The total staff number, in whole time equivalents, is now 30,600 and the employment control framework target for local authorities is 30,000 by end 2013. Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each county and city manager is responsible for staffing and the organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible. In this regard, it is a matter for county and city managers, in the first instance, to ensure that the reduction in staff numbers is managed so that the appropriate service level is maintained.
Where vacancies arise, local authorities must consider all options for reorganisation and reallocation of work to meet requirements. Any exceptions to the moratorium require sanction from the Department. All staffing sanction requests are examined on a case-by-case basis having due regard to the continued delivery of key services and the need to further reduce overall staffing levels in the local authority sector. The Department works closely with local authorities to ensure that key posts are filled. In this regard, the majority of the sanctions granted are for the filling of posts in front-line service areas such as water services, roads maintenance, housing, community and enterprise, fire and emergency services and in the case of some capital projects.
In view of the financial position facing local authorities and the country as a whole, we must continue to focus on achieving the greatest possible savings. The Department and local authorities will continue to make every effort to ensure that further efficiencies and savings are attained by the sector while an appropriate level of service to the public is maintained.
This embargo has devastated local authority staff. It was commenced by the Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government and has been continued by the Fine Gael and Labour Party Government. More than 6,500 staff have effectively been removed from the local authorities. There are now no replacements for retirements and resignations, and temporary staff have long since gone. There are also no replacements for staff on maternity leave, sick leave or annual leave. Local authority staff are trying to cope with a massive work overload but, despite their best efforts in working above and beyond the call of duty, the service to the public is being affected and is being significantly reduced. The pressure on the staff is having a detrimental effect on their health. The recent suggestion by the Tánaiste that the remaining staff should take up the slack shows that he is completely out of touch with the local authority scene. There is no slack and the staff are working above and beyond the call of duty. In circumstances where services are being reduced and staff are under huge pressure, does the Minister not agree it is time to lift the moratorium and begin filling posts in local authorities?
The moratorium will not be lifted in the foreseeable future. It is clear that local authorities could not maintain key services with a blanket embargo on recruitment and for that reason they have the option of making representations and requests to the Department. These are examined on a case by case basis, particularly in the context of maintaining full front-line services. If the Deputy or others can outline some key requirements regarding the filling of posts, they will be examined by the Department, regardless of previous sanctions. It would not be possible to maintain front-line services with the blanket embargo mentioned by the Deputy but the moratorium will remain in place and the filling of key posts in local authorities will require the sanction of the Department.
We have 440,000 people unemployed and the last thing we should do is add to that number. We should also not add to the direct cost to the State of unemployment, given that each additional person on the live register costs approximately €20,000. There is also the knock-on effect of the loss of jobs in local authorities. It is accepted that each new job generates approximately three jobs in downstream employment.
Similarly, one job loss in a local authority means the loss of another three jobs downstream. Given that there are 440,000 people unemployed, surely this is madness. We need to retain staff, remove the embargo, inflate the economy and create jobs.
The time for Priority Questions has expired. We must move on to ordinary oral questions.
