Other Questions.
6 Deputy Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the local authorities that furnished the requested reports by the suggested date in view of circular letter MEM 01-09 seeking flood response information; the local authorities that failed to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2458/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraWritten responses to circular letter MEM 01-09 have been received from 22 of the major local authorities since the flooding event in November 2009. The authorities which have not provided written reports are Donegal, Fingal, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, South Dublin and Waterford county councils, and Dublin and Waterford city councils. A number of those local authorities were not seriously affected by the flooding and in some cases detailed reports are delayed until flood waters fully recede so that the full impact can be ascertained.
In the case of some local authorities, the local services primarily involved in the response to the flooding have subsequently been engaged in responding to the severe weather event. My Department is following up with all local authorities, and where written responses are not yet available, oral reports have been received. Interim reports have also been received from the local authorities most affected by the flooding. I made approximately €16.5 million available to 19 local authorities in December to meet unexpected expenditure incurred in dealing with the immediate response to the flooding in their functional areas.
I thank the Minister for his reply. As I understand it, 11 or 12 local authorities have not responded to the Minister.
I listed the local authorities that have not responded.
I was trying to count them as the Minister read them out and I think they amount to 11 or 12.
The Deputy has counted them.
I assume the Minister wrote to each local authority. It would be acceptable and understandable, given the workload faced by local authorities, not just with the flooding but taking into account the Christmas period and the snow and inclement weather that their priorities might have been to deal with the emergencies they faced rather than to write reports.
What will happen to the information? Where will it go and will it be brought to the attention of the national emergency committee in a particular format or en bloc? Will an independent assessment of the data be made?
I do not imply anything untoward of the local authorities but a certain level of performance indication would be derived from the information that has been sent to the Department. Will there be an assessment to ensure that the information is accurate and captures all local authority activity?
Yes. I can assure the Deputy that that will happen. The reports have been circulated to the relevant sections of my Department for consideration and any action that may be required. The reports were also sent to the Department of Transport, which has responsibility at central government level for national and non-national roads and also to the Office of Public Works, which is the lead Government agency for the implementation of the national flood policy in the matter of flood risk and mitigation. It is important that when we consider all of the reports, the one Deputy Lynch would be most familiar with is the one from Cork, that we focus on the areas that proved to be vulnerable on that occasion. As the Deputy is aware, areas flooded that had never flooded previously. We have to take that into account for future emergency planning and write it into the equation. All of that is being done. We are carrying out a full assessment of what occurred during the floods. All of that information will be fed into the assessment so that we can learn valuable lessons from the experience.
Some local authorities were more impacted by the flooding in November than others. For that reason they would have incurred extra costs. They may have had to spend more money on staffing hours and the clean-up afterwards. For example, when I was in Cork recently I read in the Evening Echo of how the county manager of Cork County Council has raised concerns about the costs of the clean-up following the floods and the recent snow given that the council is stretched to the limit of its finances. I raised the matter previously that Cork County Council had to let go a lot of staff in the past year. Will the Minister provide extra funding for certain local authorities that are struggling because they have had extra responsibility this year?
I thank the Minister for his supplementary comments. The emergency situation comes down to two single factors, one is the emergency plans themselves and the other is risk assessment. The latter determines the level and ultimately the quantity of the response. The reports being sent to the Minister are intended to capture information on both those matters and how the emergency responses were worked out. I assume that to a certain extent not everything was foreseen in the risk assessment. The Inniscarra dam was a case in point where 500 million metric tonnes of water were going through it in a single second.
As the Minister indicated, there is a particular difficulty in Cork where the western side of the city flooded as opposed to the traditional eastern end of the city which was prone to flooding during periods of inclement weather. What action will be taken ultimately? Will we see an adaptation to various emergency plans or to how risk assessment is carried out in future?
I welcome the request for the information concerned. Will the Minister broaden the request to take into account all factors that might have contributed to the flooding that took place in November and early December? Notwithstanding the reliance on climate change issues, there should be more reliance on drainage issues, the need for which has been clearly identified over a number of years. I accept the Minister is aware of the situation himself, although the recent replies to some of my parliamentary questions would not seem to indicate that. The public is concerned and the European institutions are ready to provide back up funding provided that a careful and adequate assessment is carried out of the contributory causes of the flooding. Will the Minister confirm to the House that this will be done, and that the emphasis will be put on the prevention of any recurrence, which can be done with a little effort?
In reply to Deputy Tuffy, in December I made €16.488,257 million available to 16 city and county councils and three town councils to assist them with the unexpected expenditure involved in responding rapidly to the flooding in their areas.
Deputy Lynch inquired about risk assessment and how we will use the information. We must use the information to ensure that in those areas which have now been shown to be vulnerable, for example, the quays in Cork, that we put in place proper flood protection. We have increased spending on that provision. It is the OPW which is examining the matter of risk assessment in detail.
In reply to Deputy Durkan, the preliminary estimate would indicate that the total cost of the damage could be approximately €100 million. Most of the expenditure is associated with repairs to national and non-national roads and bridges and quay walls in Cork and Limerick. Other areas of expenditure are connected to water supplies, housing and the general costs of the clean-up.
I understand that the Department of Finance will shortly decide on whether it is possible to submit an application for assistance under the European Union's solidarity fund. The threshold of overall expenditure before any assistance would be payable is high at more than €973 million. I am trying to estimate what will be the total cost. I understand that the insurance industry has estimated that the total cost could be approximately €250 million. I do not have the cost for agriculture or other areas. We are trying to quantify the expenditure. It is clear from all of those figures that this is something that can cause major damage and personal hardship. I am aware of that. When one considers the cost associated with flooding, this is why investment in prevention is such a good investment.
7 Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will engage with other Departments to explore the possibility of developing new FÁS training programmes that focus on the development and maintenance of parks and landscapes of local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2542/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraFirst, as the Deputy will be aware, ministerial and departmental responsibility for matters concerning FÁS training programmes lies with the Tánaiste and Department for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, respectively. Local authorities have a strong record in carrying out work on behalf of local communities in areas such as the renovation of community buildings and general environmental work of great value at local level.
Arising out of a meeting between the Tánaiste, myself and the County and City Managers Association last year, local authorities are engaged with FÁS, with the support of my Department and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to explore the potential of their involvement in training and employment opportunities in this regard. A working group representative of county and city managers and senior FÁS personnel has been established to advance this work as quickly as possible. Among the issues being considered are general job placements, support for redundant apprentices and placements for graduates and recently unemployed professionals. The areas referred to by the Deputy will also be considered under the relevant FÁS schemes such as the work placement programme. I assure the House of my continued support in this regard.
I thank the Minister for his response. Will the Minister give an indication of the number of places that will become available? As he knows, many people are unemployed who would have no difficulty in getting involved and undertaking some of this work. Many of our parks have had cutbacks imposed on them by the local authorities as a result of the direct cut in local government funding. It is essential the public gets a proper service in our parks, that parks are properly maintained and rivers properly drained and cleared out. The Minister should seek to get these people working immediately and contributing to society.
I emphasise that this is a matter primarily for the Tánaiste. However, I would be very happy to highlight the Deputy's proposal to her and her Department. The maintenance of our public parks and our local authority landscapes is of great importance to local communities. The constructive proposals that have been made are worthy of careful consideration.
The Deputy asked about the numbers. I understand existing FÁS schemes, such as the work placement programme which has been designed to provide nine months' work experience for 2,000 unemployed individuals while they retain their social welfare entitlements, can be used to do the type of work envisaged by the Deputy. It will certainly be brought to the attention of the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Has the Minister information on how many places have been approved for the FÁS work placement scheme for local authorities? I understand many public bodies have been approved but how many local authority places have there been to date?
I will try to get that information. I have various figures in front of me but I will try to give an exact figure which I do not have at present.
The Minister can revert to the Deputy.
Yes.
I welcome the Minister's response to Deputy Terence Flanagan on taking this to the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I imagine that the intent of this question and what is proposed is to complement existing local services rather than to replace them.
On a similar theme, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment's reply to a parliamentary question of mine before Christmas showed there are 2,400 apprentices within six to 12 months of the completion of their apprenticeships who are without work and cannot complete their qualifications until they acquire work. Given that local authorities, particularly in today's economic climate, are among the biggest procurers of contracts and tenders, would the Minister consider putting a position in place whereby local authority tendering processes would in future take cognisance of the situation and ensure these apprentices could be taken on, even for a temporary period, to complete this training? At present, the breakdown is that there are 1,650 of these apprentices in the construction sector, more than 500 in the electrical sector, 68 in the engineering sector and more than 100 in the mechanical sector.
The simple suggestion I make to the Minister is that, as part of the tendering process, a number of these people in Cork, in the Minister's constituency and elsewhere could be taken on and given that six months' to 12 months' experience. Ultimately, the difficulty they have is that they cannot secure employment either here or abroad until they have that paperwork completed.
Again, I emphasise that these are primarily matters for the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which is why I could not give exact figures to Deputy Tuffy. The suggestions made by all of the Deputies are very constructive ones. I will be happy to bring them to the attention of the Tánaiste. I agree that what the Deputy says makes sense. In the current economic downturn, we have to be innovative in the way we approach these matters to ensure people can carry out this sort of very valuable work and, as the Deputy says, merely supplement what is already there. This is not a means of replacing people and we need to emphasise that point.
8 Deputy Tom Hayes asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of local authorities that have reduced affordable housing prices in line with the market fall; the way he will instruct other local authorities who have not reduced prices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2537/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe provision of affordable housing, including setting of the sale price, is primarily a matter for individual housing authorities. The sale price of an affordable home is determined largely by its cost. Where authorities consider it appropriate in the context of reduced open market prices and the continuing need to ensure value for money outcomes, they have the option to reduce the sale price of any affordable house by further subsidisation utilising Part V moneys, clawback or other internal capital receipts on hand. My Department issued comprehensive guidance to local authorities in April 2009 outlining a range of measures that could be considered in dealing with the build-up of unsold affordable homes.
Local authorities were advised that in cases where they believe price is the main factor inhibiting sale and where there would be a prospect of achieving a sale if additional discount was provided, they should consider the option of further discounting. My Department does not collect information on the number of cases in which local authorities chose this option because it is for local authorities themselves to decide, given their unique position to make judgments on market conditions in their respective functional areas, the most appropriate option to be pursued in individual cases.
I thank the Minister of State for his reply. It is disappointing he did not intervene or listen to what Fine Gael had to say about Dublin City Council reducing its affordable prices last year. He should have issued a directive to other local authorities to do likewise. There is now a situation where they have a glut of affordable housing on their books and it will be a long time before they get to sell those properties.
Does the Minister of State agree that the affordable housing partnership has not performed since it was set up in 2005 and that it has been a complete waste of taxpayers' money? The Minister of State said that more than 1,300 social and affordable housing units were provided last year but this is only a drop in the ocean. Much more needs to be done and should have been done over the years. Will the Minister of State comment on this and on the fact his policy has failed to link social housing with the private market? Clearly, the private market has not delivered.
I reject the claim made by the Deputy on this matter. There is not a glut at this time. As I explained in an earlier question, our local authorities have been innovative and in the first nine months of 2009 they were successful in selling 1,300 affordable homes, which is a success that should not go unrecorded. In addition, I have taken 1,300 units into long-term leasing. At this time, there are fewer than 1,000 units on the books of all local authorities and I am told the local authorities are quite confident of further sales in this area. On the suggestion of a glut, I am not in a position to direct local authorities to reduce their prices as I do not have the authority. The local authorities entered into negotiations and made contracts with developers.
I do not have the figures for every year but they were made available in an earlier question. I will supply them, but I assure the Deputies that the number of affordable homes provided has been considerable. The affordable homes partnership continues to play a supportive role with local authorities in the area of marketing and there is a special website for this purpose. People can also buy direct from the local authority and the affordable homes partnership has contributed in a positive way to making homes affordable.
A number of Deputies have indicated. I will allow extra time for this question but I ask everybody to be brief.
The Minister of State said that in April 2009 he gave directions to local authorities——
I did not give directions.
——regarding the disposal of what was becoming a bottleneck in the affordable homes sector, with some 3,000 properties held in stock at the end of the year. The Minister did not speak about discounting prices in April because I raised the issue with him and was told he had indicated to local authorities that they should do anything but drop the price. The current difficulty arises from the fact that local authorities are locked into a contract with developers made at the height of the property bubble.
Can the Deputy ask a question?
The Minister of State said local authorities could not take the hit when they reduce the price of a property by finding money from somewhere else. However, local authorities should go back to developers so that the latter can take their share of the hit. The Minister of State seems comfortable with developers holding onto agreements made at the height of the property bubble and holding local authorities to ransom.
We need to review the whole idea of affordable housing. Affordable housing was a contract with developers and was designed to keep the bubble inflated so that house prices continued to go up. It also addressed the fact that most people could not afford to buy very expensive houses. Many people now seem to view affordable housing as no cheaper than housing sold on the open market.
Correct.
The Government should consider using some affordable housing to allocate to people on the housing list. Local authorities moved away from providing housing and concentrated all their eggs in the affordable housing basket. It was the wrong strategy and we need to go back to providing council housing for people who need it.
I welcome the comments of Deputy Tuffy, which are very much in line with what I have put in place to make affordable housing available for social housing purposes under a number of headings. Following a number of requests from local authorities I have agreed that 200 properties should go into their stock in this way. I have also allowed 1,300 to go into long-term leasing, making a total of 1,500 to people on housing lists.
In April 2009, I issued detailed guidelines to local authorities on what they could do with their affordable homes. We have been successful in that we now have fewer than 1,000 affordable homes on our books as compared to 3,900 previously. The affordable homes partnership has played a part.
Does the Minister of State agree that many of the houses off-loaded to very vulnerable people in the middle and low income groups in the past 12 months were not at affordable prices? In fact, a debt was hung around their necks at a time when they were most vulnerable.
Does he agree that the long-term lease system is not a good one in terms of value to the consumer or the taxpayer? This is particularly the case at a time when there is an abundance of houses all over the country which are unoccupied but are in the market at prices far below those of the affordable scheme.
There are now almost 100,000 families on housing lists throughout the country, many of whom have to rely on rent support from the HSE and the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
I ask the Deputy to be brief.
This is as brief as I can be. This costs the taxpayers and the families in question up to €500 million per year. It is extraordinary that nobody has concluded that the obvious thing to do is acquire some of those houses and allocate them at rental prices, with an option to purchase them at a later stage.
Does the Minister of State accept that 1,300 houses represents an extraordinary failure, given the fact that 100,000 people are on housing lists? It is just over 1% of the total. The term "affordable houses" is a misnomer as houses on the open market are cheaper.
The figure of 1,300 houses represents only part of the overall delivery. In 2008, we dealt with 20,230 households.
This is 2010.
We do not have figures for 2010 but I expect the rental accommodation and long-term leasing schemes to deliver between 4,000 and 4,500. On the list available to us, which I presume is the same one as Deputy Durkan has——
The Minister of State knows those figures are not correct.
The list is from the Custom House. It states that 20,000 out of a figure of 56,000 are already being supported by the State with rent supplement.
I do not have the figures for 2009, but I believe the figure will be approximately 19,000. We are addressing the numbers on the lists. All over the world, particularly the United States which is a very wealthy country——
It was.
——there is no safety net. Our country is looked up to for the way we provided a safety net for homeless people under the rental accommodation scheme, even in the current difficulties. We are one of the few countries that have such a net. We are lucky to have had no deaths from homelessness because everybody is accommodated. There is a bed for everybody in this country and people are not on the side of the road for want of such a policy. The system may not be perfect but it addresses the difficulties people have at this time.
The Minister should see what is happening.
9 Deputy Pat Breen asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on whether the recent cold snap was a severe weather emergency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2485/10]
Amharc ar fhreagra10 Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason the emergency planning committee under the direction of his Department did not convene sooner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2487/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 10 together.
In relation to the recent sustained period of severe weather, the critical consideration was the response of the relevant statutory agencies tasked with addressing emerging events. The response arrangements of the statutory and voluntary agencies in dealing with the developing situation were substantially tested. Some areas of the country experienced more severe problems than others and required more co-ordinated responses by the various agencies. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all the staff of local authorities and other statutory agencies and to members of voluntary bodies for their dedication and contribution to ensuring that services were maintained as far as possible.
Up to the Christmas period, local authorities acted to ensure that the national road network remained open for purposes of public transport and access for the private sector for the delivery and receipt of goods and services. My Department monitored the emerging position and, in light of a deteriorating trend, I convened the national emergency response co-ordination committee. There was no unnecessary delay in this regard. The committee facilitated a whole of Government approach and provided a forum for different Departments and agencies to exchange information, agree priorities and ensure that any matter which required a national response was dealt with expeditiously. This complemented but did not replace the continued co-ordination and inter-agency arrangements at local level.
The response of the local authorities and the other principal response agencies, with the support of the Defence Forces and other statutory and voluntary agencies was active and sustained. At all times, the co-ordination and inter-agency arrangements set out in the framework for major emergency management were implemented at local and regional level by the principal response agencies working together with other statutory and voluntary bodies.
I concur with the Minister in his praise of those who worked very hard. I would liken them to troops in the field who fought bravely to maintain the roads and services. Is there something about the Minister's constituency and being leader of the minor party in a Government with Fianna Fáil that leads the general to abandon his troops in the middle of battle? That happened with the leader of the Progressive Democrats who upped and left in the middle of a war. The Minister's invisibility during the course of this distressing crisis for many householders throughout the country was extraordinary. I do not know whether he was in the sun enjoying himself along with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, while the people here suffered and therefore was not aware of the hardship they were enduring.
There is a quarry with salt stocks in Carrickfergus in the North of Ireland. I understand it is the only such quarry in the country. Salt can be purchased there for €44 per tonne. In my area of Fingal only 50% of the roads were gritted. Most people were running out of their supplies of salt and when they went to buy more it was all gone. The North of Ireland retains 50,000 tonnes of salt for emergency purposes. What is our reservoir — which can be a space to accommodate anything — or stockpile of salt? I understand it is 50,000 tonnes. Yet, if we were to take a lead from the North of Ireland, proportionally, we would have more than 217,000 tonnes of salt.
I ask the Minister, as I asked this morning in this House, will he put in place a clearly identifiable individual who will retain authority for salt stocks in this country? I referred this morning to the excellent work done by Met Éireann in predicting this crisis. Will the Minister put in place such a person similar to the person who is responsible for our oil reserves?
As the Deputy knows, this is primarily a matter for the local authorities, which report directly to the Minister for Transport and this matter is co-ordinated by the National Roads Authority. That authority, which was part of the emergency committee, ensured we had adequate supplies of salt at all times.
If one was to consider our response compared to Northern Ireland, which the Deputy mentioned, or that of our nearest neighbour the UK and countries beyond there, we succeeded in keeping the national primary route ice free at all times. That was a remarkable achievement.
The Government did not.
We did.
It did not. I drove on it and I know it did not.
Where was the Minister at that time?
We certainly did do that.
People in the rest of the country could not access the primary roads.
What is said is simply the case. I watched the response of the Prime Minister of the UK in the House of Commons who revealed that the UK at that stage had only six days of salt supply. They have six days' supply while we have ten days' supply. I am giving the Deputy the facts and he may not accept them but these are the facts.
It is a figment of the Minister's imagination that the roads were open.
Allow the Minister to reply.
No, it is a fact.
The Leas-Cheann Comhairle took his life in his hands when he travelled from Wexford up to Dublin on the N11. The Minister should try to give us the facts.
We got approximately 3,000 tonnes of salt from Carrickfergus. I must compliment the Department of Foreign Affairs and others who were engaged in this process. We managed to access salt from all over Europe. Our embassies were engaged in this process. I attended a ministerial Council meeting at the weekend and I am aware that our Spanish embassy was involved in accessing salt. Salt supplies were a problem across Europe. I spoke to my ministerial counterpart in Germany who told me that Germany had a problem in this respect. This is a country which is used to heavy snowfalls and gets severe weather during the winter period, yet it was struggling during this period.
I want to comment on what the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran said earlier. This was a whole of Government response, including dealing with the homeless.
There was a large hole in the Government.
I am more than happy for anybody to review our response because it compares very favourably with the responses elsewhere.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
