Joan Burton
Ceist:5. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee D (infrastructure) last met. [38376/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 24 October 2018
Ceisteanna (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Brendan Howlin
Ceist:6. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee D (infrastructure) last met; and when it will next meet. [39448/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Micheál Martin
Ceist:7. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach the frequency with which Cabinet committee D (infrastructure) met in 2017 and to date in 2018. [41072/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Peter Burke
Ceist:8. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee D (infrastructure) last met. [41817/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:9. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when Cabinet committee D (infrastructure) last met. [43454/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (13 píosaí cainte)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 9, inclusive, together.
Following its establishment in July last year, Cabinet committee D met twice in 2017, on 2 September and 23 November. The committee last met on 1 February to help us finalise Project Ireland 2040 and its next meeting is scheduled for 15 November. It works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the delivery and development of policy in infrastructure investment, housing, and climate action. There is significant work under way in each of these areas across Departments and Government agencies, including through regular discussion of these matters at meetings of the Cabinet.
In particular, Project Ireland 2040, comprising the national planning framework and the national development plan, is now being implemented, providing €116 billion of investment in our public infrastructure. The Land Development Agency, another cornerstone initiative of Project Ireland 2040, has also been established and is working to ensure the optimum management of State land through development and regeneration, with an immediate focus on delivering homes, including social and affordable housing and cost rental.
We are seeing an increase in the number of new and refurbished houses available year on year. New housing output is projected to be up to 20,000 new houses and apartments this year, not including student accommodation or vacant properties brought back into use. However, we are aware of the huge challenge we are facing in meeting demand in the housing market. We will need to deliver approximately 35,000 units a year before supply meets demand. We are continuing to focus on increasing housing supply, tackling homelessness and increasing the availability of affordable and social housing. In addition to the work under way through Project Ireland 2040 and Rebuilding Ireland, budget 2019 provides for an increase of 25% in the housing budget for next year, to €2.3 billion.
Climate action is also at the heart of Project Ireland 2040, which provides for investment of €22 billion by the Government and semi-State bodies to ensure a step change in climate action performance. In that context, I and my ministerial colleagues met the Climate Change Advisory Council on 28 September to discuss its policy priorities. In budget 2019 allowances were introduced to help lower carbon emissions through a commitment under the rural development plan for agri-environmental allocations amounting to over €200 million, over €100 million for improvements in grant and premium rates for planting forests, a new accelerated capital allowances scheme for gas-propelled vehicles and refuelling equipment, the green public transport fund to improve the uptake of low-carbon energy-efficient technologies within the public transport sector and over €164 million to achieve Ireland’s energy efficiency and renewable energy objectives. The Government will continue to deliver Project Ireland 2040 and related housing and climate action commitments in the period ahead.
The issue of defective schools was raised on Leaders' Questions and I ask the Taoiseach to reflect on it. It is extremely worrying that this involves major contracts and that up to 40 schools could be affected and we do not know whether the same designs and construction techniques were used in other public works. We must reflect on how public works and public building contracts are awarded. After such issues are exposed, people often approach Members to say that the companies involved had a bad reputation. If asked, the contracting authorities would state that they cannot exclude such companies from tendering. We must look at building quality, the track record of such companies and the way they treat and treated subcontractors. Such considerations are taken into account to some degree but insufficiently so. In the light of the various issues that have arisen in public works contracts in recent times, is the Government giving consideration to ensuring that tenderers are robust and capable of delivering in addition to simply considering value for money?
There were no tenderers for certain recent public contracts from local authorities, which is of interest and concern. We need to have a deeper and more profound debate on how we will deliver the very extensive public works that are envisaged in the capital programme over the next decade.
It is nearly two weeks since the Taoiseach announced that delivering full national access to broadband would be his personal crusade. How many meetings, presentations and reviews has he had on the issue since that announcement? I acknowledge that he had a lot of other business to deal with last week, but he elevated the issue to being a crusade and was, therefore, clearly operating to a high level of urgency. He will certainly have time to discuss when the process of awarding the contract might progress and what are the likely costs. Does he remain confident of delivering it quickly and on budget? How quickly will the process review be completed? Such reviews are traditionally very quick as they do not involve the legal dimensions required in inquiries.
On Western Building Systems, I raised this issue in the House in September 2017 and specifically asked, in light of fire defects in schools, the likelihood of such defects being more widespread, as well as raising the fact that a college of further education built by Western Building Systems in Whitehall has been sitting empty for the past five or six years, which was not mentioned in the recent public discussion of the issue. This is incredible. I raised all of these issues last September. We were told that a review would be carried out by January of this year. I stated that Western Building Systems should be excluded from getting public contracts. It has taken until now for us to get to that discussion because nothing was done and we were ignored and told these are the rules and that is the way it is. It is a disaster. It would be helpful if people on the Government side of the House listened to us sometimes.
I wish to ask about Dún Laoghaire Harbour, which is of national, cultural and economic importance as well as vital for transport and many other matters.
I am very glad to see that after years of campaigning by the local community, including myself, the harbour company is to be dissolved and transferred to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. However, we now discover, as I said to the Taoiseach when he was Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, that there were massive governance and financial problems in the harbour company. I told him about massive salaries, bonuses being handed out and crazy money being spent on consultants and projects. Now we discover that after all the delay on the part of the Taoiseach and successive Ministers for Transport, Tourism and Sport, although we get the victory of the harbour being handed over, there is a major financial mess involving debts and maintenance work that was not done. Meanwhile, the individual who was chief executive officer, CEO, during the years when the Taoiseach was Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is suing the company of which he was CEO for a performance-related bonus of €410,000. Last year, the harbour company did not even put in the accounts for 2017. It is an absolute mess and the Government allowed it to happen. Will the Taoiseach intervene and help Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to sort out the financial mess that successive Ministers, including the Taoiseach, created in Dún Laoghaire harbour?
Yesterday, the EPA produced its urban wastewater treatment report for 2017. The report found that wastewater treatment is completely insufficient in many areas and highlighted the fact that despite some improvements, 38 towns and villages across the State still discharge raw sewage into the environment. The report also stated that wastewater treatment in 28 of the State's 179 large towns fails to meet standards set to prevent pollution and protect public health. This list includes Passage West, Monkstown and Carrigaline in my own constituency. As a result of the failure to treat wastewater adequately, the European Commission is taking the State to the European Court of Justice. Because of decades of underinvestment in vital infrastructure and specifically because of cuts made in 2013, 2014 and 2015, the State could be liable for huge fines as a result of that process. This is quite shocking. When the EPA appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning Local Government last May, it outlined serious problems with our wastewater infrastructure. It told the committee that only €620 million would be made available between 2017 and 2021 to fix problems. However, what is actually required is closer to €1 billion. Given that Irish Water has received additional funding for this work and some works are being carried out, which I acknowledge, although I would ask that Irish Water improve its communications with local communities, can the Taoiseach give an assurance that this work will be expedited and that Irish Water will ensure that no area experiences untreated wastewater discharge by 2021?
Deputy Howlin makes a very valid point in respect of tendering and the possibility of barring companies from tendering for past bad behaviour or bad practice, be it poor or shoddy building-----
I made that point to the Taoiseach in December 2017.
I will answer if the Deputy will let me. The point was made regarding barring companies from tendering for such things as shoddy building in the past or failing to pay subcontractors. It is under examination but I understand that under EU public procurement directives, the bar for excluding somebody from tendering is actually very high and requires a burden of proof rather than a degree of suspicion. That is the law as it stands under an EU public procurement directive but perhaps it needs to be changed.
Another thing we should bear in mind is the issue of rapid build. I often hear people call for rapid build housing and I certainly do not rule it out as part of the solution but Ardgillan was a rapid build school. It was built in 24 or 25 weeks. We need to bear that in mind. Things that are done quickly are not always done well.
I am not sure how many meetings I have had with regard to broadband. I have had a couple anyway but I do not think crusades require many meetings. I am not sure the crusaders spent much time around the conference table. Peter Smith, who is the independent procurement and process adviser, is doing his work. The terms of reference were agreed by Government last week and published. We will anticipate that he will have completed that part of his work in three weeks. Deputy Haughey is right to point out that because of the nature of what he is doing, it can be done quite quickly. Deputy Bruton is the new Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. I have asked him to take a few weeks to examine the national broadband plan and see how we can bring it to fruition. We commit to bringing it to fruition and extending high-speed broadband to the 540,000 premises in Ireland that will not get it by commercial means.
I am pleased that Dún Laoghaire Harbour has at long last been transferred to the local authority
So am I.
It is happening as a consequence of legislation I introduced as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport providing for the transfer of smaller ports and harbours to local authorities and the new ports policy, which I launched as Minister. Yes, there are financial implications regardless of whichever port or harbour is transferred to a local authority. These implications mainly relate to works that may need to be done in the future. However, it is also an asset. When a company or a piece of infrastructure is transferred to a local authority, we should not just look at the liabilities and costs. We should also weigh up the assets. It is a considerable asset as well and has assets.
Deputy Boyd Barrett is correct that the former CEO is suing the company for not paying him a bonus. I presume Deputy Boyd Barrett agrees that the company was right not to pay the bonus.
Absolutely.
That is now a matter for the courts.
The EPA issues a report on urban wastewater every year. The latest report is based on an assessment of effluent monitoring results from over 1,000 wastewater treatment plants reported to the EPA by Irish Water and on enforcement carried out during 2017. Of these, the number of priority urban areas where wastewater treatment needs to improve is down from 148 to 132 so we are making progress. Of the 44 towns and villages where raw sewage was being discharged in 2016, six are now connected to treatment plants and the remainder will be connected by 2021. Out of the 179 large urban areas in Ireland, 28 failed to comply with the EU's legally binding standards for the treatment of urban wastewater. From 2016 to 2024, capital upgrades and operational improvement works will have been undertaken and completed at all of these urban wastewater treatment plants to ensure that treatment levels and capacity comply with requirements of the urban wastewater treatment directive. Improvements were completed to protect the two bathing waters that were in poor quality.
Water was not handled well by local authorities when it was under their control. It is certainly the case that investment was cut back during the period of austerity because there was no money to invest. It is also certainly the case that Irish Water is working. Establishing a single national utility was the right decision and it is making real progress since its establishment. I hope those who opposed the establishment of Irish Water will reflect on the error of their position.
In the course of that question-and-answer session, reference was made to litigation and court proceedings between an individual and Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company. It would not be in order for anyone in this House to comment on a matter before the courts.