Wednesday, 12 Mar 2014

Written Answers Nos. 120-127

Local Authority Staff Data

Ceisteanna (120)

Brian Stanley

Ceist:

120. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the numbers employed by each local authority since 2008. [12312/14]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

The number of staff employed by each local authority since 2008 on a whole time equivalent (WTE) basis is set out in the table that follows this reply. From 2013, staff numbers for the combined local authorities of Limerick City Council and Limerick County Council are returned by Limerick City Council. It should be noted also that the 2008 and 2009 figures include Regional Authority staffing numbers; these have been reported separately from September 2010 onwards.

LOCAL AUTHORITY	December 2008 Quarterly Return (Total wte)	December 2009 Quarterly Return (Total wte)	December 2010 Quarterly Return (Total wte)	December 2011 Quarterly Return (Total wte)	December 2012 Quarterly Return (Total wte)	December 2013 Quarterly Return (Total wte)
Cork City	1,493.00	1,420.00	1,374.00	1,336.00	1,272.42	1,247.02
Dublin City	6,931.50	6,480.45	6,298.30	6,072.35	5,772.70	5,570.75
Galway City	535.00	487.50	442.80	438.34	435.33	419.86
Limerick City	554.90	528.30	485.41	465.14	443.54	1,035.89
Waterford City	464.00	410.32	379.93	367.09	344.18	335.58
Carlow	357.50	331.00	297.24	285.41	276.09	265.37
Cavan	479.90	446.35	434.09	416.30	380.90	370.10
Clare	907.90	828.36	810.19	785.50	750.98	749.88
Cork County	2,643.00	2,364.37	2,255.16	2,184.11	2,088.19	2,020.87
Donegal	1,193.30	1,007.86	999.11	959.14	911.00	873.31
Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown (DLR)	1,242.00	1,195.90	1,143.40	1,063.60	1,028.30	994.90
Fingal	1,589.79	1,490.39	1,441.90	1,391.90	1,330.70	1,296.33
Galway	1,066.23	934.27	846.87	811.61	770.28	746.02
Kerry	1,347.20	1,225.29	1,194.63	1,165.77	1,119.56	1,101.61
Kildare	1,094.50	946.50	925.40	880.90	843.62	815.40
Kilkenny	615.67	568.04	545.24	529.09	507.46	494.02
Laois	438.27	405.50	392.79	368.88	342.70	341.93
Leitrim	330.15	302.50	294.85	279.13	266.15	258.98
Limerick County	793.60	738.60	686.38	656.65	619.33	0.00
Longford	381.70	330.20	306.01	299.94	289.75	289.80
Louth	733.83	691.90	674.64	652.64	652.51	634.98
Mayo	1,296.30	1,177.80	1,103.65	1,061.50	1,000.53	963.73
Meath	800.04	702.58	668.82	640.64	623.58	611.56
Monaghan	454.57	433.99	412.72	404.69	385.05	369.83
Offaly	499.00	478.00	418.50	399.00	388.60	379.70
Roscommon	581.50	550.50	487.12	461.07	434.80	414.59
Sligo	586.80	529.92	510.45	488.74	453.98	429.28
South Dublin	1,472.25	1,402.55	1,344.70	1,277.60	1,176.47	1,098.79
Tipp North	512.15	504.22	515.57	468.83	450.36	447.85
Tipp South	707.00	654.30	651.10	632.26	606.31	576.53
Waterford	600.50	565.50	503.61	476.00	447.06	446.06
Westmeath	537.36	487.92	480.43	462.79	447.26	431.59
Wexford	863.47	804.51	788.38	765.76	723.60	715.65
Wicklow	903.65	827.25	789.45	747.05	716.65	709.65
OVERALL TOTAL	35,007.53	32,252.64	30,902.84	29,695.42	28,299.94	27,457.41

Water and Sewerage Schemes Provision

Ceisteanna (121)

Brendan Smith

Ceist:

121. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the up-to-date position regarding a new application submitted by Monaghan County Council in respect of a project (details supplied) in County Monaghan; if this application will be finalised and approved at an early date as this project has been under consideration for a considerable length of time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12334/14]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

I refer to the reply to Questions Nos. 170 and 177 of 20 February 2014, which sets out the position in this matter.

Departmental Functions

Ceisteanna (122)

Noel Harrington

Ceist:

122. Deputy Noel Harrington asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to provide to an applicant a tracking service for all applications to his Department and agencies under the aegis of his Department from members of the public for such items as licences and grants and other applications processed by his Department similar to the passport applications tracking scheme processed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12361/14]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

My Department is committed to improving and automating business processes where possible. In addition, my Department’s Website will be reviewed and revised during 2014. The objective will be to make application processes and the website as user friendly as possible and as part of that process the possibility of putting in place a facility to track applications will be examined. The management of Agency websites and the services available on such sites are a matter for the Agencies concerned.

Ministerial Meetings

Ceisteanna (123)

Patrick Nulty

Ceist:

123. Deputy Patrick Nulty asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of times he and officials in his Department have met a company (details supplied) or its representatives since he took office; if he will provide details, in tabular form, of the dates of each meeting; the names of the company representatives involved; the titles of the departmental officials involved; the reason for each meeting; the matters discussed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12371/14]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

No meetings with representatives of Communicorp have taken place.

Unfinished Housing Developments

Ceisteanna (124, 125)

Bernard Durkan

Ceist:

124. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which he has received applications in his Department for funding from Kildare County Council to complete development works in unfinished housing estates; the number of such applications received; the extent to which he expects to be in a position to respond to such applications in the short and medium term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12383/14]

Bernard Durkan

Ceist:

125. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the full extent of the funding allocated in the budget toward the completion of works at various unfinished housing estates as yet not taken in charge by their respective local authorities; the extent to which provision has been made to address the issue in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12384/14]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government

I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 and 125 together.

Budget 2014 contains a special provision, in the form of a targeted €10 million Special Resolution Fund (SRF), to further assist in addressing the legacy of unfinished housing developments. The SRF has been introduced to encourage the resolution of the remaining tranche of unfinished developments identified in the National Housing Development Survey 2013 and, particularly, those developments not likely to be resolved in the normal way through solely developer/owner/funder action because of the presence of specific financial barriers. It is envisaged that the SRF should be particularly targeted to address the remaining unfinished developments with residents living in them and, in particular, any developments that local authorities identified, for the purposes of the Local Property Tax waiver, as in a seriously problematic condition.

In December 2013, my Department wrote to local authorities seeking proposals for funding support under the SRF and the deadline for receipt of applications was 28 February 2014. There has been a significant level of interest across local authorities. Kildare County Council submitted an SRF application in respect of 4 housing developments. My Department is currently evaluating all SRF proposals and I anticipate that funding allocations will be approved in the very near future. I hope that the SRF will enable very substantial progress to be made in resolving as many of the remaining unfinished developments as possible.

Water Charges Introduction

Ceisteanna (126)

Bernard Durkan

Ceist:

126. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when he expects to be in a position to give an indication regarding the rate or level of water charges likely in respect of persons or households; the extents to which basic or free allowance is likely to apply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12385/14]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government

With effect from 1 January 2014, Irish Water is responsible for public water services. The Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides that Irish Water can collect charges from its customers in receipt of water services.  The Act also provides that responsibility for the independent economic regulation of the water sector is assigned to the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) and the CER has been given statutory responsibility for protecting the interests of customers.

Domestic water charges will commence with effect from 1 October 2014 and Irish Water will issue the first bills to domestic customers from January 2015. The approach to charging will be outlined by Irish Water in a water charges plan to be submitted by it to the CER in line with the provisions of the Act. The CER will be responsible for approving the water charges plan which will set the approaches to charging domestic and non-domestic customers.

The CER will announce its decision on the approved water charges plan in August 2014. In making its decision on the approval or otherwise of the first water charges plan, the CER will take into account the decisions made by Government on the funding model for Irish Water, including the funding available for a free allowance.

The Government has committed to the provision of a free allowance, above which charging based on usage would apply. The free allowance and the level of funding to be provided by the Government to Irish Water will have a strong bearing on the net charges to be met by households. Consequently, decisions on these matters will provide greater visibility on the expected level of charges in advance of the final determination of all aspects of the water charges plan by the CER. I expect to bring proposals to Government in this regard shortly.

Local Authority Housing Waiting Lists

Ceisteanna (127)

Bernard Durkan

Ceist:

127. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the total number of persons registered on the housing lists of the various local authorities throughout each of the past ten years to date; the extent to which such numbers have fluctuated annually; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12386/14]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government

The report on the 2011 Housing Needs Assessment, available on my Department’s website at www.environ.ie, contains details on waiting list numbers for each local authority which were recorded under the tri-annual social housing needs assessments carried out from 1993 to 2011 under Section 9 of the Housing Act 1988. The latest social housing needs assessment was carried out as at 7 May 2013 in accordance with section 20 of the Housing (scellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the results are also available on my Department’s website. 

The 2013 figures are the most up-to-date figures available on waiting list numbers, which are subject to ongoing fluctuation due to households being allocated housing and new households applying for housing support.  However, the 2013 results cannot be directly compared to previous results given that this latest summary employed different methodologies and was the first to be carried out under the 2011 Social Housing Assessment Regulations.