Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 January 2012
425 Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if consideration has been given to exempting traditional housing estates from the household charge in which management companies were imposed as part of the planning permission resulting in considerable additional expense; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3374/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra452 Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if a waiver will be granted for a disabled person (details supplied) in County Cork for the household charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3868/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra453 Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the way he can justify a disabled home owner receiving €188 a week having to pay the household charge when a Deputy earning €92,600 living in a local authority house is exempt; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3869/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 425, 452 and 453 together.
The Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 provides for a number of exemptions and waivers from payment of the household charge. The exemptions from payment of the household charge are—
Residential properties that are part of the trading stock of a business and have not been sold or been the source of any income since construction,
Residential property owned by a Minister of the Government, a housing authority or the Health Service Executive,
Voluntary and co-operative housing,
Residential property subject to commercial rates and wholly used as a dwelling,
Residential property owned by certain charities or discretionary trusts, and
Residential property which an owner has vacated due to long-term mental or physical infirmity (e.g. elderly person that has moved into a nursing home).
The waivers which apply concern—
Owners of residential property entitled to mortgage interest supplement, and
Owners of houses in certain unfinished housing estates.
There are no exemptions or waivers in the legislation in respect of residential housing estates to which management fees apply.
427 Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will clarify the situation in regard to the household charge whereby an elderly homeowner is in long-term care, thus qualifying for a waiver, with a family member currently living in the home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3385/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 owners of residential property are liable to pay the household charge. There are a number of exemptions and waivers from payment of the household charge. In particular, section 4 of the Act provides for an exemption where an owner of a residential property, which was that person's main or sole residence, is not residing in that property on a liability date by reason of his or her having had to vacate the property due to long term mental or physical infirmity and that person is residing in another property that he/she does not own. Subsection 6 of section 4 defines the meaning of "long term mental or physical infirmity" as requiring the person to vacate the property in which he/she had been dwelling for a continuous period of more than 12 months and provides that such an infirmity must be certified by a registered practitioner.
428 Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the reason behind the charging of €10 extra on the €100 household charge if a homeowner chooses to pay in cash at their local authority office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3389/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraA fee is not payable for attending at the offices of a county/city council for the purposes of payment of a household charge. The Local Government Management Agency, which has been assigned responsibility for the operation of the household charge system on a shared service basis on behalf of county and city councils, has informed and has subsequently reminded councils that fees are not payable in such circumstances. A fee of €10 has been introduced from 1 January 2012 for the payment of a charge on non-principal private residences by a person attending at the offices of a county or city council.
429 Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government following the publication of the list of exempted estates from the household charge that are not fully complete, if there is an appeals process in place for those estates not listed on this publication that are unfinished and have not been taken in charge by their local authority. [3392/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra445 Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will give a breakdown of housing estates which are exempt from the household charge due to their status as ghost estates. [3614/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra456 Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the specific categories used in determining exemption from the household charge with regard to unfinished estates; his plans for these estates that remain unfinished and have not been taken over by the relevant local authority with their homeowners obliged to pay the household charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3913/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra457 Deputy John Lyons asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the reason an estate (details supplied) in Dublin 9 was not exempted from the household charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3929/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra462 Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the criteria used by him to exempt estates from the household charge. [3994/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra465 Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the qualifying criteria for a housing estate to be included on the exempted list for the household charge; and the person who compiled the list for each local authority. [4018/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 429, 445, 456, 457, 462 and 465 together.
As part of the process of preparing the National Housing Development Survey 2011, launched by my Department in October 2011, local authorities provided details of all unfinished housing developments in their areas. Unfinished housing developments were divided into four categories as follows:
Category one, where the development is still being actively completed by the developer, or where no serious public safety issues exist;
Category two, where a receiver has been appointed;
Category three, where a receiver has not been appointed and the developer is still in place but effectively inactive; and
Category four, where the development has been effectively abandoned and is posing serious problems for residents
Other relevant factors for the purposes of the categorization process include, inter alia:
the state of completion of roads, footpaths, public lighting facilities, piped water and sewerage facilities and open spaces or similar amenities within the development;
the extent to which the development complies with the terms of applicable planning permission;
the extent to which it complies with the provisions of the Building Control Acts 1990 and 2007;
the provisions of the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act 1964 as they pertain to dangerous places and dangerous structures within the meaning of the Act;
the extent to which facilities within the development have been taken in charge by the local authority concerned and
where there is an agreement regarding the maintenance of such facilities, the extent to which this agreement has been complied with.
This categorisation formed the basis for the list of those unfinished developments eligible for a waiver on the annual household charge.
Only households in developments in categories three and four are eligible for the waiver from payment of the household charge. This list of developments in which households are eligible for the waiver in 2012 is set out under the Local Government (Household Charge) Regulations 2012. A revised list of estates will be prescribed for 2013 after which time the waiver for unfinished housing developments will end. Throughout this period it is anticipated that the numbers of categories 3 and 4 developments will decrease significantly as my Department continues to work with local authorities and other stakeholders to resolve outstanding issues, including through the Public Safety Initiative.
In terms of wider efforts to resolve problems associated with unfinished housing developments, my Department is also chairing the National Co-ordination Committee on Unfinished Housing Developments to oversee implementation of the Report of the Advisory Group, together with the Government's response to the recommendations. This Committee includes representatives from the Irish Banking Federation, local authorities, the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency, NAMA, Irish Rural Link and the construction sector.
The Committee is meeting on a regular basis with the aim of publishing a report on progress achieved before the end of this year. In the meantime, work is ongoing on implementation of the Report of the Advisory Group and real progress is already being made with regard to the public safety works required to improve the living conditions of existing residents on some unfinished estates.To date, my Department has made allocations totalling some €2.54 million to twenty three local authorities from the €5 million funding allocation made available to address immediate safety issues. The types of works that have been approved to date include the fencing off of unsecured and hazardous areas, capping of pipes, installation of street lighting, and other works to secure sites. My Department will be making further allocations as applications are received from local authorities and assessed.
Planning authorities are also making progress in securing the co-operation of developers, financial institutions, both domestic and foreign owned, and/or bond holders, thereby obviating the need to use Exchequer resources to fund such work.
