Written Answers Nos. 239-254
239. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of officials in his Department that are receiving the cost of club membership fees, including sports clubs and professional bodies, as part of their contract of employment; the total cost per year to his Department of paying these fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51365/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department does not pay membership fees in respect of any social or sporting clubs.
Expenditure in respect of staff membership fees of professional bodies in 2013 is outlined in the following table.
Fees to professional bodies are reimbursed in certain circumstances such as where there is a legal requirement for the staff member to be registered with a professional body (e.g. in order to maintain his/her professional qualifications) or where membership of the body enables the staff member to keep abreast of developments in a particularly relevant area of his/her profession.
Access to papers, training and development that accrues to my Department as a consequence of the membership of the range of relevant professional bodies represents considerable value for money in maintaining professional expertise and competency in key business areas.
Department of Environment, Community and Local Government
|
Year |
Organisations |
Staff Members |
Cost € |
|
2013 |
Association of Chartered Accountants Chartered Institute of Water & Environmental Management Institute of Certified Public Accountants Ireland Engineers Ireland Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland Certified Public Accountants Institute of Structural Engineers Mediation Institute of Ireland Royal Town Planning Institute Irish Planning Institute Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy Chartered Institute of Internal Auditor Membership Chartered Institute of Management Accounting |
||
|
Total |
64 |
24,000.00 |
Met Éireann
|
Year |
Organisations |
Staff Members |
Total Cost € |
|
2013 |
Engineers Ireland Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development |
||
|
3 |
586.32 |
240. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if his Department pays for any of its employees to receive third level qualifications; if so, the annual cost for each of the past five years; if the employee will receive a financial bonus as a result of receiving this qualification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51379/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department places considerable emphasis on relevant skills development by staff at all levels. It offers on-going educational and training support for staff, in respect of particular business requirements identified through the business planning mechanism and the Performance Management Development System. Under the Refund of Educational Fees Scheme, which operates on an annual basis, staff members can develop specific business related skills through a number of formal education programmes offered by third level Institutions.
The expenditure on third level courses for the period 1 January 2008 to date is as follows:
Department of Environment, Community and Local Government
|
Year: |
Costs: € |
|
2008/2009 |
194,530 |
|
2009/2010 |
194,698 |
|
2010/2011 |
138,830 |
|
2011/2012 |
192,824 |
|
2012/2013 |
134,218 |
|
2013/2014 |
102,175 |
Met Éireann payments shown below are in respect of the calendar year.
Met Éireann
|
Year |
Costs € |
|
2008 |
17,530 |
|
2009 |
24,124 |
|
2010 |
22,813 |
|
2011 |
6,154 |
|
2012 |
7,040 |
|
2013 |
9,590 |
My Department does not offer any form of financial bonus or merit award as a result of receiving qualifications under the Refund of Educational Fees Scheme.
241. Deputy Dara Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the amount Cork City Council received from his Department in relation to the housing adaption grant scheme for older people and people with a disability in 2013; the amount that will be available to Cork City Council in the 2014 allocation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51416/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraCork City Council received an allocation of €1,491,600 under my Department’s suite of Grants for Older People and People with a Disability for 2013. So far, some €1,438,536 has been drawn down by the City Council.
The 2014 Abridged Estimates provision of €28.6 million for the grant scheme will be supplemented by the recently announced €10 million in additional funding for this measure, giving an overall provision in 2014 of €38.6 million, some €4.3 million more than the initial Exchequer allocation in 2013. The increased allocation will facilitate the payment of more than 7,800 grants to assist older people and people with disabilities to remain at home for longer. I intend to announce details of the capital allocations to local authorities early in 2014.
242. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will list the 40 unfinished housing estates that are to be demolished. [51422/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe National Co-ordinating Committee, which I chaired, was established as a response to the report of the advisory group on unfinished housing developments and has harnessed the expertise and goodwill of the construction and banking sectors, local authorities, residents representatives and NAMA.
Local authorities are continuing to pursue developers and others to comply with their obligations under planning regulations. Predominantly developer/funder/receiver funded site resolution processes will remain the main vehicle to tackle unfinished developments, and 553 developments have been brought to a resolution point in this way over the past 12 months. I expect such processes will continue to make significant inroads into the remaining 992 inhabited unfinished developments.
Additionally, my Department has available a Special Resolution Fund of €10 million, provided in Budget 2014, to address the completion of infrastructure on developments which could not be resolved because of absences of, or inadequacies in, planning securities and other unforeseen cost and risk issues. The detailed criteria for this fund are now being finalised. The fund will be operated by the local authorities and will be carefully targeted mainly to address difficulties in public infrastructure that have arisen on certain developments included in the Department’s National Housing Development Survey 2013.
It is also necessary to explore resolution of those developments which appear to be commercially unviable due to location, build quality, commercial demand or other factors and where the most prudent course of action may be to seek the agreement of owners/funders to clear all or part of the site. Accordingly, the National Coordinating Committee established a group to oversee the development of a strategy for these residual developments and to work with stakeholders in identifying and agreeing such sites for full or partial clearance, thereby improving the lives of existing residents and removing dangerous structures from public access. Some forty such developments have been initially identified and fall to be addressed by the relevant owners, receivers and funders. The estates identified by the funders have not been identified to my Department for commercially sensitive reasons. The costs associated with this strategy are equally sensitive and I do not hold this information. Responsibility for the clearance of unviable estates remains the responsibility of the funders and I welcome their participation in this pragmatic approach which will further underscore a return to a properly functioning property market.
243. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the expenses paid to the board of An Bord Pleanála over the past five years in tabular form, under the headings, fees, travel and subsistence, collectively and on an individual basis. [51423/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe information requested in the question is not collated by my Department.
The 2012 Annual Report and Accounts for An Bord Pleanála were received in my Department on 14 November 2013 and will be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas, as required under section 118 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, shortly, following their submission to Government. Note 7 to the Accounts, on Operating Expenses, provides an analysis of the types of payments referred to in the question.
Annual reports for the years up to 2012 can be found at www.pleanala.ie
244. Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 468 to 470, inclusive, of 19 November 2013, when the information requested will be forwarded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51495/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe information requested is being compiled in my Department and will be forwarded to the Deputy as soon as possible.
245. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to introduce a new disbursement scheme from the Dormant Accounts Fund for the benefit of community groups around the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51505/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Dormant Accounts legislation, balances on dormant accounts with banks, building societies and An Post and the net encashment value of certain life assurance policies are paid into the Dormant Accounts Fund, which is managed by the National Treasury Management Agency. The primary purpose of the legislation is to re-unite the original account holders with their moneys, including all interest due. In addition, the legislation provides that disbursements from the fund may be made for charitable purposes or for purposes of community benefit.
The Disbursement Plan of 2009, put in place by the Dormant Accounts Board, will be replaced shortly by a new disbursement scheme in accordance with the Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Act 2012. The 2012 Act also provides for the preparation of an action plan, to give effect to the disbursement scheme. Allocations for disbursement will continue to focus on programmes or projects to assist the personal and social development of persons who are economically disadvantaged, the educational development of persons who are educationally disadvantaged and persons with a disability and will have regard to the policies and priorities of the Government in so far as they relate to the types of assistance being proposed, the amount of moneys available or likely to be available and ensuring that the moneys are expended in a cost effective manner.
In 2013, I allocated €6.385m for Dormant Accounts Measures, which includes €2.835m to be used to support labour force activation measures in local authorities. The corresponding provision for 2014 is €5.456m, which will allow for the continuation of funding to support the labour force activation measures and the implementation of a modest action plan.
Given its focus, as set down in the legislation, a significant proportion of the funding disbursed from the Fund is channelled through community and voluntary groups. This is in addition to the other substantial supports provided by my Department to that sector annually through other programmes and schemes. The intention has always been to ensure that there is a broad and balanced range of potential beneficiaries from dormant accounts disbursements. I believe that this should continue into the future, rather than focussing on any particular sector.
Further data in relation to Dormant Accounts Funding is available on my Department’s website at www.environ.ie
246. Deputy Dara Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government with regard to the land aggregation scheme, if it provides that a local authority may transfer residential land on which there are outstanding Housing Finance Agency loans due for redemption; in relation to Cork City Council, where this scheme is at, the land that has been transferred; the cost that has been incurred by Cork City Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51511/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Land Aggregation Scheme was introduced in 2010 as part of revised arrangements for the funding of land for social housing purposes.
Since the introduction of the scheme, an estimated total loan value of €162m has been approved into the Scheme in respect of 73 sites in nineteen local authority areas . The figure of €162m includes €111m in respect of loans which have been fully redeemed by local authorities with funding recouped from my Department, under the original terms of the Scheme. The remaining €51m is in the form of annuity loans with the Housing Finance Agency (HFA), for which local authorities are making repayments to the HFA, and may recoup these payments from my Department.
Cork City Council has applied to have some 7 sites and 9 associated loans included in the Land Aggregation Scheme. I understand the combined outstanding value of these loans is in the order of €37m.
My Department is engaged in a review of the Scheme, which will shortly conclude, and pending its completion is not in a position to progress applications.
247. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will contact county councils requesting the following information in tabular form, namely, numbers of their social housing stock; numbers on the housing list; and numbers of tenants in the rental accommodation scheme. [51605/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department publishes a wide range of housing statistics, including data on the social housing stock. The most recent data relate to 2012 and are available online at www.environ.ie.
My Department does not hold any current information on the number tenants on local authority waiting lists. This number fluctuates continuously as households allocated housing and new households apply for housing support. I directed all local authorities to prepare a summary of social housing assessments carried out in their areas as at 7 May 2013. The results of this assessment are expected to be available in the near future and will detail the number of households on local authority waiting lists at that date. The last summary assessment carried out, at 31 March, 2011, found that there were 98,318, households in need of social housing support . The full results of this assessment are available on my Department’s website www.environ.ie and the Housing Agency’s website www.housing.ie.
It is not possible to give a specific breakdown by county of the number of units tenanted at any given time under the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS). Numbers in RAS constantly vary as contracts end, tenants move on to other properties, landlords withdraw from the scheme, new tenancies are allocated or vacancies in contracted units are filled. Figures in relation to RAS units are generally provided as the number of household transfers from Rent Supplement (RS) to RAS and other forms of social housing support. Data on the total number of households which have been transferred from RS to RAS and other social housing options since the scheme was initiated are available online at www.environ.ie.
248. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of social housing units being planned, by county, in tabular form. [51606/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn addition to the funding levels set out in the Abridged Estimates for 2014 in respect of my Department’s social housing investment programme a further €30 million in additional investment has also been approved for the delivery of social housing next year. The combined funding will facilitate the construction of a substantial number of new homes in 2014. I intend to announce details shortly of an ambitious programme of new house construction for the 2014-2016 period. This will include new local authority and voluntary homes as well as new replacement homes in regeneration areas. My Department will be liaising with local authorities with a view to shortlisting projects for inclusion in the new construction programme. I will announce details of the projects to be progressed across all local authorities in due course.
249. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of families and single persons in hostel accommodation, by county, in tabular form. [51607/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraWhile my Department publishes a wide range of housing statistics, data on the number of families and single persons in hostel accommodation are not included within this range. The most recent report available which would include this information related to hostel accommodation is the Central Statistics Office’s special Census report, Homeless Persons in Ireland, which was published in September 2012. This report identified a total of 3,744 people as housed in accommodation defined as emergency, transitional or long-term on Census night, 10 April 2011, with a further 64 individuals sleeping rough.
The report identified that over 40% of the homeless population was enumerated in accommodation which was categorised as emergency. This category includes hostels as well as other forms of emergency accommodation such as B&Bs. Full details of the report are available on the Central Statistics Office’s website.
250. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of private landlords registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board in each of the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and to date in 2013. [51608/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have no function in the operational matters of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), an independent statutory body established on 1 September 2004 under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. The PRTB’s annual reports are available on its website www.prtb.ie and the reports include details on registration figures.
251. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when funds will be made available from his Department in respect of a unit (details supplied) in County Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51611/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn July, 2012 my Department approved a 3-year construction programme to deliver some 111 houses for special needs accommodation for the voluntary housing sector. This included the construction of 9 units for the Saint Joseph’s Foundation at a cost of €1.4 million.
The tender report for this project, submitted by Limerick County Council, is currently under consideration in my Department and a decision will be made as quickly as possible.
252. Deputy Derek Nolan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for the Town Hall facility in Loughrea, County Galway which is currently being renovated; the timeframe within which it will reopen; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51617/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have no plans in relation to the Town Hall facility in Loughrea, Co Galway. I understand, however, that an application for LEADER funding has been submitted to Galway Rural Development (GR D), the Local Development Company (LDC) contracted, on my Department’s behalf, to deliver the LEADER elements of the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 (RDP) in that area.
In line with the ‘bottom-up’ approach to rural development the LDCs are the principal decision-makers in relation to the allocation of project funding. Such decisions are made in the context of the local development strategy and in line with Programme’s Operating Rules and EU regulations.
253. Deputy Peter Mathews asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of persons employed at count centres for referenda and elections since 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51704/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra254. Deputy Peter Mathews asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of persons employed at polling stations for referenda and elections since 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51705/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra263. Deputy Peter Mathews asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the number of local authority employees employed to work at polling stations and count centres; the grade of each employed person, by county council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51760/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 253, 254 and 263 together.
The primary role of my Department in electoral matters is to provide an appropriate policy and legislative framework for a modern and efficient electoral system. Within that framework, local returning officers are responsible for all matters in connection with the actual conduct of elections and referendums, including the selection, appointment and training of polling station and count staff in accordance with the relevant provisions of electoral law.
My Department issues guidance to Returning Officers in advance of each election and referendum. The guidance emphasises that the smooth conduct of polls is dependent on maintaining a cadre of sufficiently skilled and experienced people. Having regard to that overall objective, returning officers are advised to employ competent and efficient persons as polling staff and asked to give consideration, where possible, to employing suitable persons who are unemployed, particularly when seeking to fill the post of Polling Clerk, where the responsibilities of the post can be fulfilled under the guidance of the Presiding Officer.
As employment in connection with polls taken at elections and referendums is a matter for returning officers, my Department does not compile statistics on the employment provided. However, certain information on employment provided by returning officers at the Childrens Referendum held in November 2012 was compiled by my Department. This information, which is based on information provided by Returning Officers for 35 out of 43 constituencies and which showed that 28.6% of those employed were unemployed at the time, is set out in the following table.
|
Positions |
Total number of staff employed |
Number of ‘unemployed’ persons employed |
‘unemployed’ persons as a % of the total |
|
Poll Clerks |
4,524 |
1,780 |
39.35 |
|
Presiding Officers |
4,527 |
1,120 |
24.74 |
|
Supervisory Presiding Officers |
352 |
33 |
9.38 |
|
Special Presiding Officers |
124 |
10 |
8.06 |
|
Emergency Presiding Officers |
23 |
3 |
13.04 |
|
Count Supervisor |
186 |
14 |
7.53 |
|
Calculator |
110 |
6 |
5.45 |
|
Counter |
1,603 |
321 |
20.02 |
|
Other Staff |
205 |
41 |
20.00 |
|
Total |
11,654 |
3,328 |
28.56 |
