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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 18 Jan 2017

Vol. 935 No. 1

Questions on Promised Legislation

The Valuation Office commenced a process of revaluing how rates were charged to commercial customers a number of years ago. Letters have issued from that office. I can only speak for my constituency of Longford-Westmeath but these letters have issued in the past number of days and have proposed significant increases in commercial rates to customers. How businesses in Mullingar will be affected is the lead story in the Westmeath Topic today. I have been contacted by businesses in Granard, Longford and Ballymahon. To give the House a flavour of the increases, rates have increased from €500 to €1,270; €2,766 to €4,620; and €650 to €4,070. How can small businesses sustain increases like these? In the programme for Government, the Government committed to revamping how commercial rates are charged to small businesses. When will we see action on these proposals because businesses cannot sustain increases such as these?

The heads of the Bill in respect of valuations are being prepared. They will come to Cabinet and go from there for pre-legislative scrutiny in the normal way. I am quite sure everybody will have their opportunity to give their opinion at that stage.

The legislative programme published yesterday contains a commitment to introduce the mortgages special court Bill or courts (mortgage arrears) Bill. Will that Bill contain measures that will tackle the scandal that is the banks' handling of tracker mortgages? We have a situation where in excess of €100 million and probably closer to €200 million has been stolen from the pockets of hard-pressed citizens. Every single major bank in the State is implicated.

They took money from customers they should not have taken from. Not alone did they do that, but they also took the homes of a number of those families. More than 100 individuals have lost their family homes and others have been bankrupted. What has happened is unbelievable and yet for years the Central Bank did not pick up on it. Banks that we own-----

----- fought customers when they tried to raise the issue in the public domain. When they took it to the Financial Services Ombudsman, Permanent TSB, which the State owns, fought them in the High Court.

I thank the Deputy. The time is up.

When the High Court ruled that it agreed with the Financial Services Ombudsman and customers, the bank chose to appeal to the Supreme Court.

I thank the Deputy. The time is up.

Now is the time to introduce white-collar crime measures to ensure that bankers know they will face the full rigours of the law if they take such action again. Will those measures be included-----

The Deputy is way over time. Please.

----- in the Bills I have mentioned when they come before the Dáil?

The Deputy mentioned a number of measures. I understand the Attorney General has given some detailed advice in respect of the mortgage Bill being prepared. The outcome on that is awaited. I will communicate with the Deputy as to whether the issues relating to tracker mortgages will be included in that mortgage Bill.

The Taoiseach will recall that the issue of data sharing and data publication - access to public information - was a priority in the reform programme of the last Government. I hope it remains a high priority. The Taoiseach might indicate if that is the case. In order to advance that there is promised legislation, the data sharing and governance Bill, the heads of which were published last year. When will we see that legislation? I ask the Taoiseach to give an indication of his commitment to ensuring that public data are publicly available, obviating the need for freedom of information requests.

Work is being done here and the pre-legislative scrutiny has to take place. I believe the Minister of State, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, was in America last week dealing with elements of this. It is a priority for Government and will be dealt with in this session. I hope it can come to Cabinet and have its pre-legislative scrutiny carried out quickly. I think that is what is awaited at the moment.

Two weeks before Christmas, the former chairman of the Labour Court, John Horgan, issued a report commissioned under the Haddington Road Agreement, which recommended that gardaí who take industrial action should automatically lose their right to pension entitlements for five years. The Anti-Austerity alliance would be completely opposed to this proposal, which would, as it stands, be unlawful. Does the Government intend to try to change the law? Does it intend to introduce legislation to curb the right to strike for public servants?

The Garda has a very particular place in Irish society and nobody wants to see a situation where gardaí go on strike. The Government was willing to adopt the principle of allowing gardaí have access to the mechanisms of the State to resolve disputes. Deputy Barry is aware of the Labour Court result in that regard. Legislation will be prepared, which will be difficult. It is a matter to be considered very carefully by gardaí and their associations as to whether they wish to be part of the trade union movement. I do not want to see a situation where gardaí go on strike and nobody else does either and nor do the vast majority of gardaí themselves. The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality is working on the matter at the moment.

The present tenant purchase scheme is totally unworkable. I am sure the Taoiseach is aware that Kerry County Council wrote to the Department in 2015 stating that 80% of applicants would not qualify. Before the scheme was suspended four or five years before that, the local authority when it sold a house to the tenant then used that money directly to repair vacant houses and make them suitable for housing new tenants.

The councils do not have funding from the tenant purchase scheme available to them anymore because the scheme is not working. Approximately 80% of applicants for the scheme do not qualify. What is the Government going to do about this very serious matter? I ask the Taoiseach to investigate the matter. Kerry County Council wrote to the Government about this issue more than 18 months ago.

I am sure the Minister will be very interested in what Deputy Danny Healy-Rae has said about the assessment of Kerry County Council that 80% of applicants would not qualify.

It is the same all over the country.

The Deputy is aware of the unprecedented scale of the housing programme being put in place by the Government for the building of social housing as well as the purchase by county councils of housing for tenants. Funding is also being made available to renovate houses that are not up to standard and make them fit for purpose.

I will inform the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, of the Deputy's comments in respect of non-qualification for the tenant purchase scheme. That scheme used to work very well years ago. When a person got a house from a council he or she was given the opportunity once every five or ten years to sign up to buy the house. A previous Minister sold off all of the houses for very low fees and put an end to that.

He was trying to give people a chance to own their own home.

We will see what the best option is now.

A Programme for a Partnership Government affirms that the Government wishes to provide more accessible respite care to facilitate full support for people with disabilities. I have the social care and disability service plan for 2017 in front of me and while I do not doubt the commitment of the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Finian McGrath, who has just left the Chamber, I wish to raise an issue regarding Sligo. A purpose-built HSE respite facility was built four years ago at a cost of €1.2 million. There is no question that there is a big demand for respite services, particularly for emergency respite for parents following a death in a family, for example. It is a busy service but I was told recently by parents that the service is being reduced to six nights per month, which is a significant reduction. Effectively the facility will be closed for 24 nights per month, which is regrettable and wrong.

I contacted HSE management and was told that funding has been applied for and a response is awaited.

This sounds more like a topical issue than a matter -----

It is a very serious issue for the service users because it gives them a break -----

All right. The Deputy's time is up so I ask the Taoiseach to respond.

I am not sure what happens on the extra day in a month that has 31 days, if the service is open for six and closed for 24 days.

I spoke about an average -----

The Taoiseach is very funny.

In any event, I will bring the matter to the attention of the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, and ask him to seek a response from the HSE.

In October 2016 the Government engaged Mr. Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill to review and report on protected disclosures regarding An Garda Síochána made to the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald. I understand this report was delivered to the Minister on 7 December. As this is a matter of significant public concern, when will the report be brought to the Government and published? It would be a shame if it took the Government longer to deal with the report than it did for Mr. Justice O'Neill to produce it.

Normally when such reports are sent to the Minister for Justice and Equality they are referred on to the Office of the Attorney General for consideration as to whether it is in order to publish them. The Minister received the aforementioned report and I understand that it is currently with the Attorney General for consideration. I will advise the Deputy through the Minister for Justice and Equality as to when the process will be completed.

Following on from the announcement last week by the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and the publication of his working group's report on the high cost of insurance, I still do not believe that the measures proposed are enough to tackle the issue. We are not doing enough. Some of the proposed measures will not be introduced until the end of this year and that is simply not good enough. Families are being crippled by the astronomical costs being forced on them by insurance companies. I urge the Government and the Minister of State to do more with regard to the speed of implementation in order to help people with this very serious problem. I will give one example to illustrate my point. I know a businessman whose insurance two years ago was €10,000. He has had no claims in the interim but his insurance is now €47,000. That is totally unsustainable and the insurance companies must be brought to book in this regard.

This is an issue that affects everybody in one way or another, whether one is talking about house, business, motor or life insurance.

Claims have risen as well and costs are rising from these claims. The Minister of State, Deputy Murphy, has done an extraordinary amount of work on this, and he is anxious that its implementation is prioritised. He will work with Deputies to see this happens. Clearly it will not happen overnight.

I also wish to raise the issue of car insurance. Fianna Fáil welcomes what the Minister of State, Deputy Murphy, and the working group have achieved. The sad thing is we are speaking about two years before anything can be put into practice. Another difficulty has arisen. I have had three cases in the past five weeks where families purchased cars in Dublin which were nine, ten or 11 years old but have only 50,000, 60,000 or 70,000 km on them. They have a few repairs to be done at a cost of €400 or €500 and they have passed the NCT without difficulty. However, as with wheelchair accessible taxis, no insurance company wants to insure these cars. It is disgraceful.

I know the Taoiseach has no silver bullet to solve these issues, but I ask that the Government deals with the motor insurance companies head on because they are playing holy hell and I do not believe a lot of what they come out with. We do not have a great public transport system and by all reports, listening to Deputy Troy, it could be worse. What are people in rural Ireland to do? This needs to be tackled without delay.

Many of those cars might continue to have very little mileage put on them by those who use them. I understand this. There is also the issue of people who are increasing in age having difficulty getting insurance. The simple issue here has been the cost of claims and the way it has drifted over recent years. The Minister of State, Deputy Murphy, is working on this, but there is no single solution to every issue which arises, as the Deputy pointed out. I keep him informed of developments.

The Garda Síochána (compensation for malicious injuries) Bill has been promised for some time. The legal advice is being studied and analysed. When is the analysis likely to conclude and when is it likely that the Bill will be published?

I do not have a date for Deputy Durkan. The legal advice is being examined. I will get a report for the Deputy.

Yesterday, the Committee on Budgetary Oversight was presented with a report which showed an increase of €782 million over the allocated amount for 2016 for health. If we take this €782 million overexpenditure and add it to the more than €15 billion in the annual allocation and the approximately €4 billion in private insurance, it adds up to €20 billion for a health service for 4 million to 4.5 million people. There is something radically wrong here.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

We have overexpenditure of €782 million. Will the Taoiseach establish a small committee with representatives from the committees on budgetary strategy and health to report within three months on the exact reason, and I mean the exact reason, for overexpenditure of €782 million? Give the committee three months to examine in detail every single cent to find out what is going on in the health service with regard to the amount of money being spent.

Deputy Barrett has put his finger on an issue that has been around for a very long time. This matter has been considered on many occasions by the Cabinet subcommittee dealing with health. The Deputy will find endless reasons for expenditure increases. One of the issues being addressed by the Minister, Deputy Harris, with the co-operation of members of various parties, is to put in place a ten-year strategy.

It will remove a lot of the politics from health and will enable us to decide which areas of the country should be providing which services. We are building primary care centres in many places around the country and these are being designed and built for a purpose, namely, to save people from having to go to hospital in the first place and yet it is as if it never happened. This is an issue that needs to be addressed. I will give the Deputy the information I have on overexpenditure but without setting up a committee at this moment. Maybe we will return to the matter again.

I propose setting up a committee to examine why there is an overspend.

On 25 January 2013, almost three years ago, a large number of Garda stations were closed around the country and communities were devastated and left vulnerable. Under the programme for Government a commitment was made to introduce a pilot scheme for six Garda stations to be opened. Kildare has the lowest number of gardaí per head of population and we have the second lowest number of Garda stations so we were devastated when we lost the stations in Ballitore and Ballymore Eustace. Can the Taoiseach give an update on this pilot scheme to reopen six Garda stations? On behalf of the people of south Kildare I call for the reopening of the Garda stations in Ballitore and Ballymore Eustace.

Kildare and the counties surrounding greater Dublin are growing very swiftly in terms of population and these are services that are needed. The Government wants to increase Garda strength to 15,000 and, despite the recession of the past number of years, we have been in a position to provide facilities for gardaí to do their job. That is important. I take the Deputy's point but the day-to-day running of the Garda is a matter for the Commissioner. The programme for Government contains that commitment and the Commissioner must now set out the criteria by which the scheme can operate, both for rural and urban stations.

Stepaside is okay.

When that process is completed, the Commissioner will provide the criteria for particular stations.

There is a commitment in the programme for Government to deliver a better health care system. Following Monday night's very powerful documentary on the experience of Brendan Courtney and his family as they tried to access better health care for their elderly parent, what commitment can the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health give to roll out the fair deal scheme to the home, particularly for people with elderly parents?

I did not see the programme but I heard about it. I understand it was a very powerful documentary and I offer my compliments to the family involved. I understand the father had a stroke. It is not a case of putting onto a statutory basis the care and consideration given by families to family members who are patients but the Government understands that people want to be in their own homes and should be able to live in their own homes for as long as possible before it is necessary to go to a hospital or a longer-stay institution. A review of the fair deal scheme, which has by and large been successful, is under way and this issue is a matter of concern to the Minister because of the rising age of our population. There will be increased demand over the next 15 or 20 years for this particular service.

The domestic violence Bill has been long promised and I welcome the fact it has been placed on the priority list for legislation for this term. When can we expect it to be introduced to the House?

I expect that Bill to be published next week and it will thereafter take its course through the Houses.

I wish to raise the ability of institutes of technology, such as IT Sligo, to merge into new technological universities and obtain the benefits that would bring. When will the Technological Universities Bill become an Act? I am aware that it awaits Committee Stage.

I think the Business Committee will have to deal with this, given the process by which legislation gets on the agenda now. It is awaiting Committee Stage and I am anxious that it would proceed as quickly as possible. Perhaps that might be facilitated by the committee and the powers that be there.

Serious questions have to be asked about the effectiveness of oversight concerning both the assistance and benefit schemes operated by the Department of Social Protection. I received a reply which stated that between 2011 and 2016, €420 million was recovered by the Department due to overpayments. It also stated that cases of social welfare fraud totalling €53 million were detected. The vast majority of social welfare recipients are honest, are entitled to it and do not commit fraud. I am concerned, however, that €420 million should have been recovered. Apart from the cost of the recovery process, it also has an effect on those getting payments. Many of them would have received overpayments unknown to themselves. They may have spent that money on very necessary living expenses, but are then forced to repay it or have it deducted from their payments.

Serious questions must be asked in the Department as to how overpayments are reaching that level. Anguish and distress are caused to families in trying to pay it back. Something is wrong in the Department, and it goes back to what Deputy Seán Barrett said about the HSE. People in the Department are accountable, yet they are not doing their job.

I am glad the unemployment rate has fallen and, therefore, the requirement to have to provide social protection for 15.3% of unemployed people has now been reduced to something like 7.2% or 7.3%.

That is not the question I put.

Unemployment of that nature is based on conditions. Those conditions stem from information supplied by people in respect of their eligibility to draw social welfare.

If the Deputy is saying that all these people have suddenly received money they should not have, he needs to reflect on that. There has been quite a deal of fraud detection in social protection.

Some €53 million. It is a lot more than €20 million.

Nobody wants to see people unemployed. They need to have an opportunity to get a job and pay their dues. Nobody wants to see fraudulent activities either, so it is only right that such money should be recovered.

Some time ago the Taoiseach made a commitment that people who had been adopted would have a right, as they have had in most other countries for the past 40 to 50 years, to get information about their birth families when they came of age at 18. There is no mention of it in this legislative programme, however, so has it fallen off the legislative shelf? The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, made a number of commitments in the House and in writing about this matter, but I do not see it anywhere in the draft legislative programme.

I know that Deputy Burton has a real interest in this matter. The legislation is in the Seanad, as far as I know, and will move through that House before it comes here. Therefore, it is not a case of it being waylaid or forgotten about; it is before the Seanad at the moment.

Inné, d'fhoilsigh an Taoiseach an clár reachtaíochta don téarma seo sa Dáil. Ní fheicim aon tagairt ar chor ar bith ann do Bhille nua na dteangacha oifigiúla. Cathain a fhoilseofar an Bille seo? Ná déanaimís dearmad gur gheall an Taoiseach sa téarma deireanach go mbeadh sé foilsithe faoin mbomaite seo. Sheas sé san áit ina bhfuil sé anois an bhliain seo caite agus dúirt sé go mbeadh an Bille seo foilsithe roimh dheireadh na bliana. Níl sé foilsithe fós. Bhris an Taoiseach an gealltanas sin. Iarraim air a bheith ionraic leis an bpobal agus insint dúinn cathain a bheidh an Bille seo foilsithe.

Nílim ag briseadh gealltanais ar chor ar bith. Ní raibh aontas idir na polaiteoirí faoin mBille a bhí foilsithe. Is éard atá i gceist anois ná go bhfuil oifigigh nua tofa agus tá siad ag obair ar Bhille nua. Rachaidh sé trí choiste na Gaeilge ionas go mbeidh aontas ann idir na polaiteoirí faoi.

In May last year, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar, announced the long-awaited and long-sought scrapping of the JobBridge scheme. In correspondence with the Minister last September, he said he would announce his proposals for a new replacement scheme for JobBridge just after the Indecon report, which was due last September.

We are now in 2017 and there is no replacement for the bad scheme that was JobBridge. Among his priorities for 2017, the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, included the development of a new work experience programme to replace JobBridge. At what stage is that process and when will we see the long-anticipated and long-called for replacement to the bad scheme that was JobBridge?

The Minister, Deputy Varadkar, has done quite a bit of work on this area. I will ask him to communicate directly with the Deputy to give him the current state of play in regard to a replacement for JobBridge.

The Pyrite Resolution Act 2013 was enacted by the previous Government. In response to parliamentary questions I tabled before Christmas, it was indicated that since 2013 fewer than 500 houses nationally have been remediated. Those that have been are mainly along the east coast and in my area of Dublin Fingal. The Taoiseach will see in The Irish Times today the testimony about the thousands of families who have been left in limbo because their houses have pyrite but are not damaged badly enough for the scheme. Will the Taoiseach commit to a full review of the pyrite remediation scheme and an overhaul of it, which I have asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, to provide on a number of occasions? It needs the Taoiseach's direct intervention to ensure that the pyrite remediation scheme is brought up to standard so that thousands of home owners see light at the end of the tunnel and see their houses fixed and brought up to specification.

I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, about it. I know it has been a cause of great stress to those involved. I am not sure that it needs a full review but obviously people are anxious that where pyrite has been detected in their homes, they will be remediated as quickly as possible. I will advise the Deputy in that regard.

Will the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance call in the boards of two State-owned banks, AIB and Permanent TSB, to question them on their role in the tracker mortgage scandal whereby they have wrongfully taken over €100 million from customers? Those same banks along with others have repossessed the family homes of over 100 individuals, more than sit in this Chamber at this point in time. Can the Taoiseach imagine if each of us was overcharged by a bank and, as a result of that overcharging, lost our family homes? There would be uproar. There are approximately 100 citizens in that position while others have been bankrupted as a result of the process. In total, 15,000 individuals are affected. The least we can expect is that the Taoiseach, acting on behalf of Irish citizens, calls in the two State-owned banks and asks the boards about their role in denying these individuals what was rightfully theirs in the first place.

Obviously, the Minister for Finance is in touch with banks on a regular basis. I will consult with him to see what action has been taken here.

Will the Taoiseach, as holder of that office, call in the boards?

Deputy Doherty has described a situation there that nobody likes to see, and banks have a responsibility in this, clearly.

The Taoiseach has a responsibility.

I will come back to the Deputy.

In relation to the commitment in the programme for Government focused on reinvigorating and protecting infrastructure throughout rural Ireland, I welcome the initiative being overseen by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Heather Humphreys, to put in place a grants system to enable dwellings and accommodation in villages and small towns to be refurbished, renovated and made available for habitation. In the context of the revaluation process which has commenced, proposed valuation certificates have issued which are exorbitant by any measure. They are completely theoretical, desk-bound assessments which will wipe out and damage businesses and shops in rural villages and towns. In Longford and Westmeath, demands have issued which will see a fivefold increase in rates. In my own village of Ballynacargy, three businesses whose owners I spoke to last night will go to the wall in 2018. What can be done to address this madness where one arm of the Government is acting contrary to the objectives of the other arm? What is the Taoiseach going to do in terms of the programme for Government commitment to protect businesses in rural Ireland and to offer relief in respect of the huge burden of rates? In one business, rates went from €400 to €2,300. One may make Larry and Tom of that. It is a nearly sixfold increase.

We will take Deputy Martin Kenny as well before going to the Taoiseach for a wrap-up. I ask the Deputy to be brief.

The programme for Government contains a commitment to bring investment and jobs to rural Ireland. One of the biggest impediments to that is our infrastructure. Chambers of commerce from across the north west came to Dublin before Christmas to campaign for investment in the roads infrastructure, in particular the N4 and N5 links to the north west. I am sure the Taoiseach is well aware of the particular stretch of road between Collooney and Castlebaldwin, which is one of the sections the chambers are talking about, but there are many others. We need urgently to get this roads infrastructure in place if we are going to get a recovery into those parts of rural Ireland. Regional regeneration must be a priority if we are going to make this so-called recovery spread out.

I referred earlier to the valuation Bill, the heads of which are being pursued and which will go for pre-legislative scrutiny shortly. Obviously, we need a programme for investment. There is a €40 billion programme which runs to the mid-2020s. The difficulties about public private partnerships have been ironed out and a new office of the European Investment Bank has opened in Dublin. Obviously, a major capital review will be carried out in the middle of the year. I am aware of the Collooney-Castlebaldwin difficulty, which has existed for a very long time. It is part of the programme for improvement along with many other road sections. We need a serious capital investment at many locations nationally. A review of the programme will be under way very shortly and carried out in June this year.

When will it be completed?

I thank the Taoiseach. That concludes questions on promised legislation. I point out to Members that many of their questions were much more relevant to Topical Issues or standard parliamentary questions.

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