JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT, HERITAGE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 23 Jun 2009

Business of Joint Committee.

Chairman

The minutes of the meeting of 26 May have been circulated. Are they agreed? Agreed.

I will go through the list of correspondence before we proceed to the main business which is a meeting with the County and City Managers Association.

Item No. 2009/472 is a detailed reply from the Comptroller and Auditor General to the request by the joint committee to have the accounts of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority examined. The Comptroller and Auditor General states it is not within his function and regrets that he is not in a position to assist the committee in this matter. Deputy Hogan raised this issue. As he has not had a opportunity to look at the reply, we will defer the matter and consider it at the next meeting.

Item No. 481 is a newsletter from Europe's World. Item No. 482 is a press release from the Minister on housing markets. We note that. The next item is a press release from the Minister on Sligo town wastewater treatment. Item No. 484 is a newsletter from GLOBE. We note that. The next is a list of decisions taken by the Joint Committee on European Scrutiny. We note that. The next item is a European Water Partnership newsletter. We note that.

The next item is a circular on access by Oireachtas Members to local authority information. It is a reply to our query. Essentially, as I recall, that circular just asked to confirm that there is an annual meeting in each local authority to which the Oireachtas Members are invited. It is happening in most counties or all counties of which I am aware.

Item No. 488 is the Irish Human Rights Commission Bulletin. We note that. Item No. 489 is the Institute of Public Health newsletter. We note that. Item No. 490 is a letter seeking feedback from the select committee on how to improve the annual scrutiny of Estimates and output statements. We completed our Estimates and output statements for this year. We were the first committee to deal with it. We will take on board all the suggestions that arise from this review for next year.

The next item on residential tenancies is a letter from Lahiffe and Associates for Irish Property Owners Association requesting to make a presentation to the committee. Coincidentally, next week the main item is a delegation from the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB. There might be an opportunity to give that organisation, the Irish Property Owners Association, 15 minutes first. Is that agreed? Agreed. We have not contacted that organisation yet. The clerk to the committee will telephone the organisation this evening to see is it available next Wednesday. We will give it 20 minutes before moving on to the PRTB. I am sure it will have something relevant to say.

The next item is a letter from the German ambassador regarding the delegation that has just left, and we note that. The next item is extracts from the minutes of a meeting of Galway County Council which gave rise to a request from the council to make a presentation to the joint committee to discuss the effect of excessive designation and the future development of the county. This possibly follows on from the discussion we had on the Mayo county development plan. I propose that this be considered in the context of the forthcoming planning Bill. Are members agreed this is a reasonable approach to take? We do not wish to get into a detailed examination of the matter. If members so wish, we will again send the package of correspondence received to date.

Deputy Pádraic McCormack

Will the Chairman clarify the nature of the correspondence?

Chairman

The first letter seemed to be a notice of a motion at a council meeting, but this was not entirely clear. Having requested further information, council officials have now sent us extracts of the relevant minutes. We might consider these at the next meeting. Is that agreed?

Deputy Pádraic McCormack

Yes.

Chairman

Agreed.

The next item is No. 494, a press release on home ownership for tenants of local authority flats. That correspondence is noted. The next item is a press release on the blue flags and green coasts awards 2009, which is noted. The next item is a press release on the social housing investment programme. We note that. The next item is a press release from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on funding for cycling infrastructure. I saw articles on this in today's newspapers. That correspondence is noted.

The next item is a report on new European Union legislation from the Joint Committee on European Scrutiny. We are not required to take any action, so the correspondence is noted. The next item is the world heritage site draft management plan in regard to Clonmacnoise's candidacy as a world heritage site. That correspondence is noted. The next item is a letter seeking information on our climate change policy from the Northern Ireland Assembly's environment committee. We will refer that to the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security. The next item is No. 501, the Navan Town Boundary Alteration Order 2009, which was agreed at local level before being confirmed by the Department and which is noted by the committee. The next item is a document from Chambers Ireland on best practice in local government. It is noted by the committee. All members have seen that publication. The next item is a list of decisions taken at a meeting of the Joint Committee on European Scrutiny on 16 June 2009. That correspondence is noted. The committee notes the following statutory instrument, Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2009. I understand this relates to delegation of housing functions to a Minister of State.

We also note the following circulars from the Department to city and county managers, which have been copied to us since the last meeting: IPPP 4/2009, outlining savings in addition to the 8% in professional fees sought by the national public procurement operations unit in the Office of Public Works; WPRR 04/09, update on progress in respect of implementing the waste management provisions; LG (P) 08/09, allocations under the national disability strategy to each local authority; BCI/2009 to BC6/2009, commencement orders relating to building controls; PD 9/09, circular providing information on a European Court of Justice case, Mellor v. Secretary of State, regarding the requirement for consent authorities to provide reasons when screening for environmental impact assessments, which reasons do not require to be published but must be clearly stated and documented on the public file; HU 2/09, funding for the national implementation plan on accommodation for the homeless and homelessness strategy; N8/09, house lettings and vacancies; LG 9/09, reconstituting of joint policing committees following the local elections; LG 10/09, reconstituting of strategic policy committees following the local elections; LG 11/09, reconstituting of county and city development boards following the local elections; LG (P) 2/09, initiative to provide wheelchairs for local authorities under the national disability strategy, to ensure access to local authority buildings for wheelchair users; WSP 5/09, water services pricing policy implementation; and PHS 5/09, private rented accommodation functions, comprising a final reminder to submit inspection targets for 2009 and confirmation of bank account details for payments. That ties in with the matter of the Private Residential Tenancies Board which we will be discussing at next week’s meeting.

We are nearing the end of about 30 items of correspondence. We asked local authorities to respond to a circular on raid and protection strategies and a couple have still to reply. I hope by the next meeting all replies will be in, at which stage we will review them.

I propose to proceed to the main item of business, a discussion of local government management and the role of the County and City Managers Association.

Sitting suspended at 3.45 p.m. and resumed at 3.47 p.m.