Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 October 2017
1. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government his plans to address the finding of the European Committee of Social Rights that Ireland has substandard social housing conditions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45567/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI thank the Acting Chairman for allowing this question now.
While we are all aware of the Government's failure in recent years to meet its social housing targets with 135,000 people languishing on waiting lists, this week we learned that the European Committee of Social Rights has indicated that the Government has violated its charter and that local authorities had failed to "ensure the right to housing of an adequate standard for a not insignificant number of families". The committee found that "the Government has failed to take sufficient and timely measures to ensure the right to housing of an adequate standard for a not insignificant number of families living in local authority housing and therefore holds that there is a violation of article 16". What is the Minister's response to this? How will he seek to redress it? What provisions has he made in the context of the recent budget in order for an audit or a planned increase of the available funds for local authorities to address this properly?
The decision on the complaint to the European Committee of Social Rights by the International Federation for Human Rights regarding social housing issues has just very recently been notified to the Government. It is appropriate that we now study the report and identify the responses required.
For quite a number of the points of the complaint, as lodged, the committee found there were no violations. That said, we take seriously those other aspects on which the complaint was upheld.
One of the findings of the report was in relation to the conditions in a number of social housing areas, with Dolphin House and St. Teresa's Gardens in Dublin specifically cited. I accept the committee’s findings based on the conditions that prevailed at the time of the various studies that supported the complaint. It is important to note, however, that we now have multimillion euro regeneration programmes well under way at both these locations and, when completed, they will result in vastly improved living conditions for the residents there.
There are other aspects of the committee's findings that I will be studying over the coming weeks and my Department will be responding to the committee shortly. We respect the role of the European Committee of Social Rights and while it is important to note those aspects of the complaint where no violations were found, we will also consider carefully those aspects of the complaint that the committee upheld.
I would have thought the violation was plain and obvious. That being the case, what timeframe has the Government put in place to address this issue? For example, is the Minister considering establishing an independent complaints commission whereby local authority tenants will have access to independent assessment of their complaint regarding violation? Many local authorities are placed in an unfortunate predicament because they do not have the funding available to them to address many of these issues. What budgetary measures has the Minister taken or will he take in light of this in order for this issue to be addressed? It is bad enough to try to deal with the failure to meet the targets for the provision of social housing. We now have this issue on the table which needs to be addressed. We need to hear from Government a clear pathway as to how it might be addressed, the way it is being dealt with and a copy of the Minister's response to the European charter.
It is important to note that in approximately four cases no violations were found. That is in the correspondence. I will not repeat what those were but in terms of the timelines and in so far as our response is concerned, my Department is in the process of drafting it in conjunction with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. A written response will be made available by 21 November. There will then be an initial discussion of the decision and Ireland's response, which is scheduled to take place in Strasbourg on 28 November. This initial consideration of the matter will be undertaken by a rapporteur group of the committee of Ministers. It will not be in public, but we are not contesting the findings where they have been made and recommended.
In so far as the funding that has been made available, if we look at the voids programme, for example, and the remediation programme, approximately 7,330 social housing homes were refurbished by local authorities in the period 2014 to 2016. We have an energy efficient programme and between 2013 and 2016, the period in which the complaint was first made, funding of €107 million went into that programme, which saw 58,000 social homes upgraded in that same period. We also have a preventative maintenance programme and all local authorities which have not already done so are to undertake stock condition surveys in respect of their social housing stock. This will commence in the fourth quarter of this year to be completed by the fourth quarter of next year. On the basis of what we get back from those surveys, we will know how to move on from there. Also, as I cited in my initial response, a multimillion euro investment programme is going into regeneration of a number of sites.
The voids programme and the retrofit programme, commendable as they both were, are separate from this issue. The final part of the Minister's answer paints a clearer picture in so far as he said there is an ongoing survey or audit of existing stock. When will that be with the Minister? That having been identified, has he increased the allocation to local authorities for ongoing maintenance programmes and to what extent has he done so? Will he make public the findings of the audit and allow us scrutinise it to ensure that the relevant funding, if it is being increased, will be adequate? As I said, it is putting local authorities in an unfortunate predicament in so far as they do not have the available funds to address many of these issues. Now that this has been found, it could lead to other cases being taken, which might have greater repercussions.
It is important to note that these are legacy issues. The case was taken in 2014 and in the period since then, a huge amount of money has been invested and will continue to be invested by local authorities to make sure they are retrofitting stock and bringing stock up to the proper standards. All Deputies get representations from our constituents who live in social housing as to the standard of that housing, be it regarding problems with ventilation, draughts, mould and so on. We need to make sure that the local authorities respond to those adequately and sufficiently. We will respond to this and we will detail all of the things we are doing where those complaints were upheld.
On the point the Deputy made about an independent complaints procedure for local authority tenants, that is something that is worth discussing in greater detail to see if a mechanism can be put in place to allow that to happen. In so far as this audit is concerned in terms of what needs to happen, that will commence in the fourth quarter of this year and the local authorities across the country will complete that work over the course of next year.
