Written Answers Nos. 127 - 135
127. Deputy Anthony Lawlor asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide an update regarding the roll out of broadband to rural areas in County Kildare; when it is proposed to have full broadband coverage in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53489/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraIreland’s telecommunications market has been fully liberalised since 1999 in accordance with the requirements of binding EU Directives. The market has since developed into a well-regulated market, supporting a multiplicity of commercial operators, providing services over a diverse range of technology platforms. Details of broadband services available in each County, including County Kildare, can be found on ComReg’s website at www.callcosts.ie. The State can only intervene to ensure access to broadband services in areas where the competitive market fails to deliver such services, as in the case of the National Broadband Scheme (NBS). Broadband services under the NBS are available since October 2010 from the NBS service provider, “3”, to persons with a fixed residence or fixed business in the designated NBS Electoral Divisions. NBS services are available within 11 of the 90 Electoral Divisions in County Kildare.
The Government’s National Broadband Plan, which I published in August 2012, aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses, including those in County Kildare. This will be achieved by providing:
- a policy and regulatory framework that assists in accelerating and incentivising commercial investment, and
- a State-led investment for areas where it is not commercial for the market to invest.
Since the publication of the Plan, investments by the commercial sector are underway and in some instances have been accelerated in both fixed line and wireless high speed broadband services. These developments have been facilitated through the implementation of measures in the National Broadband Plan, including the conclusion of ComReg's multiband spectrum auction, and the new regulatory regime for fixed line Next Generation Access and service bundles. Both of these measures are designed to incentivise the rollout of services by operators.
In tandem with these developments, intensive work is underway in my Department to progress a State-led investment to secure the countrywide introduction of next generation broadband access. In order to progress the State-led investment for areas where it is not commercial for the market to invest, a full procurement process must be designed and EU State Aids approval must be obtained. My Department is engaged in a comprehensive mapping exercise of the current and anticipated investment by the commercial sector over the coming years, the results of which will inform the areas that need to be targeted in the State-led investment as envisaged in the National Broadband Plan.
Intensive technical, financial and legal preparations, including stakeholder engagement, are ongoing. The procurement process for the approved intervention will be carried out in accordance with EU and Irish procurement rules and it is expected that it will be launched in 2014.
Through the implementation of the National Broadband Plan, I am committed to ensuring that all parts of Ireland have access to high speed broadband, with a view to ensuring that all citizens and businesses can participate fully in, and maximise the benefits of, a digitally enabled economy and society.
128. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will bring forward legislation to ensure that essential power services can always be protected from the threat of industrial action; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53610/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Irish industrial relations legislative and institutional industrial relations system is framed in the particular context of, on the one hand, maintaining industrial peace and providing the State machinery to help that happen while, on the other, recognising our citizen’s rights to freedom of association, trade union membership and, with the singular exceptions of those charged with preserving our security, the freedom to take industrial action. Where disputes do arise in essential services which have the potential to have a major impact on the public and the economy due to the disruption of essential services, there are expert and experienced industrial relations mechanisms of the State available to assist in the resolution of the issues. The intervention and assistance provided by the Labour Relations Commission in the ESB dispute being the most recent example.
A reliance on criminal sanctions in the sphere of industrial relations, particularly in the context of any lawful industrial action, is considered inappropriate in the context of Ireland's voluntarist industrial relations system.
Eirgrid as Transmission System Operator has statutory responsibility for managing the electricity transmission system in Ireland, and working closely with ESB Networks, manages disruptions to electricity supply. The companies have detailed operational and communications plans in place to deal with a variety of scenarios with a view to minimising disruptions and mitigating the impact of any disruption. Every effort is made to keep as many customers supplied as possible, particularly vital services and infrastructure.
In the event of significant disruptions to electricity supply, my Department would take the lead in terms of arranging for Government Departments and Agencies to be briefed by Eirgrid and ESB Networks, as the responsible agencies for managing a disruption, on the likely impacts of power disruption. This would facilitate each Department and Agency identifying the impact on their area of sectoral responsibility and responding as appropriate to manage their own particular situations through appropriate contingency plans.
129. Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the total number of meetings he, his special adviser or his officials have had with a person (details supplied) since March of 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53627/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraSince taking office I have met with the Group Secretary and members of the ESB Group of Unions on two occasions.
Officials in my Department have, together with officials from other Government Departments, met with representatives of the ESB pension forum, including the Group Secretary of the ESB Group of Unions, on two other occasions. My special adviser was present on each occasion.
130. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the way he intends to protect and improve the rights of renters of residential property. [53426/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Residential Tenancies Act 2004 sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants in the private rented residential sector and represented the most significant legislative reform in the private rented sector in over a century. The Act provided real security of tenure for tenants in the private rented sector for the first time and, inter alia, provided access for both tenants and landlords to an inexpensive, informal and independent dispute resolution process operated by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB).
Nine years on from the passing of the Act, however, it is clear that there are aspects of the legislation that require amendment in order to improve the functioning of the rental sector. The Residential Tenancies (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill 2012 was published on 19 July 2012. The Bill builds on what has already been achieved by the 2004 Act, and by the PRTB, and is a key element in the delivery of the Government’s housing policy.
Among the main issues addressed by the amending legislation are the extension of the remit of the Residential Tenancies Act to Approved Housing Body tenancies; the Board of the PRTB to be reduced from 15 to 12 members; the separation of the governance and quasi-judicial functions of the Board; the merger of the PRTB and the Rent Tribunal; the simplification and streamlining of the mediation process and the introduction of a new procedure to enable the PRTB to deal effectively with tenants who do not pay rent during the dispute process.
While the Bill addresses a wide range of issues, there are some other aspects still under development which I hope to bring forward for consideration during the Bill’s passage through the Seanad. In particular, I am keen to progress the commitment in the Programme for Government to introduce a tenancy deposit protection scheme and I intend to provide for the establishment of such a scheme at Committee Stage of the Bill in the Seanad. The Bill is currently before the Seanad.
131. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of tenants of local authorities currently residing in one room bedsits which have been in violation of the Housing Regulations of 2008 since 1 February 2013; and the amount of funds being allocated to the renovation of these properties. [53400/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008 specify requirements in relation to a range of matters in rented accommodation such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, light and the safety of gas and electrical supply. The most recent data available, from the 2011 Census, indicate that 728 properties described as bedsits were rented from a local authority representing 0.6% of the total number of local authority rented units then recorded.
All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these regulations. Responsibility for enforcement of the regulations, including the inspection arrangements, rests with the relevant local authority supported by a dedicated stream of funding provided from part of the proceeds of tenancy registration fees collected by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB). In 2013, my Department allocated €3 million to local authorities towards their inspections activities.
My Department collates and publishes a wide range of housing and planning statistics including details on local authority inspection activity and these data are available on my Department’s website www.environ.ie. However, data in relation to the number of ‘bedsit’ properties either in compliance with or in violation of the regulations are not compiled centrally.
Local authorities, as landlords and owners of their social housing stock, are responsible for the management, maintenance and repair of rented properties. Under my Department’s Social Housing Investment Programme, local authorities are allocated capital funding each year in respect of a range of measures to improve the standard and overall quality of their social housing stock, including the regeneration of large social housing estates and flat complexes and estate-wide remedial works schemes.
132. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of enforcement orders intended to achieve compliance with the building regulations fire safety issued by fire safety authorities against non-compliant builders and developers since he became Minister. [53419/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have no function in relation to specific enforcement activity under the Fire Safety Acts or the Building Control Act under which the powers of investigation and prosecution are vested in individual local authorities acting in their capacity as Fire Authority or Building Control Authority. Neither does my Department maintain statistical records of such activity.
My Department continues to liaise with local authorities in relation to significant fire safety and building control issues, some of which have been reported in the public domain, that have arisen in a number of multi-unit developments across the country. I expect local authorities to continue to use all of the powers currently available to them to address serious building defects.
133. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the measures he proposes to adopt to recover the €10,000,000 allocated in the capital budget for remedial works to houses suffering major damage caused by pyrite from the quarry and construction industry and the HomeBond organisation. [53420/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra134. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will confirm if the HomeBond technical staff that inspected homes in the Dublin West constituency (details supplied) and incorrectly found that structural damage was not due to pyrite will not be involved in auditing building condition assessments under IS398-1. [53421/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 133 and 134 together.
The Pyrite Resolution Board is in discussions with HomeBond with a view to agreeing an open and transparent process for them to make a positive contribution to the implementation of a pyrite remediation scheme.
I have made my position very clear on the issue of responsibility for providing a resolution of the pyrite problem for affected homeowners. I believe that the parties identified in the report of the independent Pyrite Panel as having a direct or indirect responsibility for the pyrite problem should contribute to the resolution of the problem. It was against this background that I engaged in protracted discussions with the key stakeholders to try and put in place a framework within which those parties could bring about a resolution of the problem through an industry-led response which would include appropriate funding arrangements; regrettably, this did not prove possible. In the absence of such agreement the Government approved, in April 2013, the funding of a pyrite remediation scheme through the imposition of mandatory levies on the construction and insurance sectors. Unfortunately, due to legal difficulties it was not possible to proceed on the basis of those proposals and the Government has recently approved Exchequer funding for the scheme. The Bill to provide for the establishment of the Pyrite Resolution Board on a statutory basis and for the operation of the pyrite remediation scheme will be published in the next few days and I intend to bring it to the Oireachtas next week.
The auditing of the Building Condition Assessment process is an operational matter and as such it is a matter for the Pyrite Resolution Board to determine the appropriate process that should be put in place for this purpose.
135. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government in view of the years that have elapsed since the original proposal to extract water from the Shannon river at Lough Derg under the water supply project, Dublin region, as put forward by Dublin City Council, if he will re-examine all options in view of the concern being expressed from the mid-west region in terms of the impact such a proposal would have on the environment of the lake, on tourism and industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53433/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department’s Water Services Investment Programme 2010 - 2013 provides for planning of a large number of schemes and contracts, including a scheme to provide a new long-term water source to service the future needs of the Greater Dublin Area. There is limited potential to abstract additional water from existing sources in the region and it is necessary to consider new options for potential long-term sources to service growth in demand in the Greater Dublin Area. Studies conducted on behalf of Dublin City Council concluded that there were two feasible options to meet the future demand requirements of the region–abstraction from the Shannon or desalination.
Further work by consultants working on behalf of the City Council, and a Strategic Environmental Assessment of the proposal, have identified a preferred option which involves abstraction of raw water from the River Shannon at Lough Derg and pumping the abstracted water through a new pipeline to a proposed storage reservoir in County Offaly. This plan was adopted by the City Council and during 2012 was put on display for public information in a number of local authority locations, together with a Strategic Environmental Assessment.
Since then Dublin City Council has held a competition to procure Consultants to advance the project through the planning process. Following the conclusion of a tender process Consultants were awarded the contract in September 2013. The Consultants will prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment, and deal with other statutory procedures, prior to submission of these to An Bord Pleanála for determination in due course. As with all of these statutory procedures, public consultation will be an integral part of the process. All interested parties can fully participate in that public consultation process and can raise relevant issues or concerns, on which An Bord Pleanála will adjudicate.
