Written Answers Nos. 176-193
176. Deputy Michael Ring asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the National Parks and Wildlife Service will schedule works on a river (details supplied) for completion in September 2022, given that farmlands are being eroded by flooding due to the presence of the trees in the river; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47037/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe works in question and the necessary environmental screening are under active consideration by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department and the case has been prioritised.
177. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a schedule of the costs for all live studies, reviews and research projects undertaken or commissioned by him; and the details of the person or body that is conducting each study, review and research project in tabular form. [47048/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe information requested is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.
178. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of un-commenced Part 8 planning permissions for residential units that have been granted by local authorities and the number of units in each application that are to be considered within each local authority in each of the years since 2011 to 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form. [47069/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department does not maintain information on un-commenced Part 8 planning permissions from the local authorities. We do, however, publish a range of information on the advancement of social housing programmes broken down by local authority.
This includes programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery by the local authorities, with data up to the end of Quarter 1 of 2022 available on the statistics page of my Department’s website at the following link:
www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/.
My Department also publishes a Social Housing Construction Status Report (CSR) each quarter. This provides details of social housing developments that have been completed, are under construction or are progressing through the various stages of the design and pre-tender process for each local authority. The data to Quarter 1 of 2022 is available at the following link:
www.gov.ie/en/publication/6912a-social-housing-construction-projects-status-report-q1-2022/.
The Quarter 2 statistics are being collated and will be published in due course.
The information in the CSR on social housing developments at the various stages of advancement includes those that are at the 'pre-planning' stage/Stage 2. Developments beyond that stage will have secured planning approval.
Projects that are at Stage 4 and beyond have been approved by my Department to appoint contractors. I look forward to seeing those homes completed, and allocated, to families and individuals on the waiting lists, as soon as possible.
179. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason that no wildlife park ranger has been assigned to County Cavan to date; and the status of same. [47072/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra180. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide the details of the wildlife park rangers allocated per county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47074/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 179 and 180 together.
The Programme for Government committed to reviewing the remit, status and funding of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). That Review was completed earlier this year culminating in a Strategic Action Plan with fifteen key recommendations to renew the NPWS, establish it as an Executive Agency within a Government Department, and make it a more resilient, more effective organisation, fit to meet the challenges of the twenty first century. This Action Plan was accepted by Government and is now being implemented.
The Strategic Action Plan for the NPWS sets out an ambitious timeline for a full organisational restructuring of the NPWS, and a substantial €55 million additional investment in the organisation across three budgetary cycles (from 2023), together with the accelerated early recruitment of at least 60 key staff for critically important roles.
The NPWS Review and Strategic Action Plan set out the programme required to equip the NPWS to continue to deliver on the ambitious goals, objectives and targets. My officials are currently implementing the recommendations set out in the Review regarding the resource requirement of NPWS and we are engaged in extensive recruitment campaigns across a number of grades including Conservation Rangers.
There are in excess of 80 Conservation Rangers stationed right across the country at present, and it is my intention to further increase this number, up to 120 Rangers. We are working towards this goal as part of the above increase in resourcing being made available to NPWS. Given the enforcement roles discharged by certain staff in the National Parks and Wildlife Service, for reasons of operational security, my Department does not provide details of staffing in the manner requested.
181. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide an update on negotiations with Dublin City Council concerning the transfer of a property (details supplied); if it is to be purchased for accommodation; and if so, the type of accommodation. [47091/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraWeir Home is a HSE owned Edwardian institutional building on Cork Street in Dublin, it was built in 1903 to accommodate nurses working at Cork Street Fever Hospital. It remained a nurses’ home until the late 1970s.
Since the early 1980s it has been used as a mental health facility. The large red-brick institution shares its grounds with the Cork Street Quaker cemetery which was in use from the 1690s until the late 1860s.
Peter McVerry Trust, the relevant Approved Housing Body (AHB), are in discussions with the HSE with a view to acquiring this long term vacant property and returning it to active use for social housing. The AHB intend to refurbish the building and provide 19 new social housing units under the Capital Assistance Scheme.
To this end my Department have provided approval for the AHB to carry out a detailed investigative condition survey and fire safety audit, including opening up works, and surveys for asbestos and invasive alien species to establish the extent of works required to bring the property up to a standard to meet current building regulations.
Dublin City Council have advised that the AHB are negotiating directly with the HSE to determine the extent of the red line boundary for the site. It is not clear at this stage if the Quaker burial grounds will form part of the acquisition.
182. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of new build public houses that he is planning to build in Tipperary in 2022, 2023 and 2024. [47115/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI issued individual targets to each local authority in September 2021, in respect of the delivery required under the Housing for All target of 47,600 built social homes, from 2022 to 2026. The targets in respect of Tipperary County Council are as follows -
|
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026 |
|
230 |
155 |
158 |
170 |
174 |
A key action under Housing for All was the preparation of Housing Delivery Action Plans by local authorities to provide further detail on their public housing delivery. These Housing Delivery Action Plans are now available on the websites of the relevant local authorities.
For the purpose of tracking social housing delivery, a Social Housing Construction Status Report (CSR) is published each quarter by my Department. This provides details of the individual social housing build projects in the programme of each local authority, including Tipperary County Council. It will be the schemes listed in the CSR that will form the basis for new build delivery of social homes in the local authorities during 2022 and beyond. The most recent CSR publication covers the period up to the end of Quarter 1 of 2022, and is available at the following link:
www.gov.ie/en/publication/6912a-social-housing-construction-projects-status-report-q1-2022/.
The Quarter 2 Construction Status Report is being collated and will be published in due course. Further specific information of Tipperary County Council's build programme will be available from the local authority itself.
183. Deputy Kieran O'Donnell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47135/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI received the report of the working group I established to examine defects in housing at the end of July. The group’s terms of reference were focused on fire safety, structural safety and water ingress defects in purpose-built apartment buildings, including duplexes, constructed between 1991 and 2013 and the report is available on my Department’s website at www.gov.ie/en/publication/97c19-working-group-to-examine-defects-in-housing/
The level of consultation and engagement that the Working Group undertook with stakeholders and interested parties both here and abroad was extensive. As a result, the report is rich in data regarding the nature and scale of defects as well as the cost of addressing defects. The Working Group’s recommendations along with the evidence gathered and options for potential supports contained in the report will be of considerable assistance in informing next steps. My Department is currently giving the report full consideration.
184. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the consultative committee on urban gulls will consider the possibility of imposing fines for feeding seagulls in urban areas; if further culls of seagulls are being considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47177/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Consultative Committee on Urban Gulls was convened to consider the impact of gulls in urban areas and appropriate actions to deal with such impacts, and have delivered their first interim report, a copy of which is available at the link below:
www.npws.ie/legislation/eu-directives/birds-directive/review-use-article-9-1-a-birds-directive-ireland
This report did not recommend the imposition of fines.
No permission has been sought or given for a cull of any gull species, and neither are there any plans to do so.
It should be noted that my Department does not own the urban gull population and is not responsible for the management of urban gull populations generally. In the case of gulls on private property, management is a matter for the relevant property owner. An individual may apply for a licence under Section 42 of the Wildlife Acts at any time of the year to take appropriate steps to stop serious damage being caused by a protected wild bird or animal. To date in 2022 my Department has received only one application for such a licence to remove a nest from a private residence.
Two Declarations, one general and one relating to air safety, reflect Article 9 of the Birds Directive and these will operate from 1 August 2022 to 30 April 2023. They are available on the NPWS website: www.npws.ie/legislation/eu-directives/birds-directive/eu-birds-directive-article-9-derogations.
185. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he has signed the Ministerial Order to enact the announced changes to the incremental tenant purchase scheme; and if not, when he intends to do so. [47199/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme was reviewed in 2021 in line with Programme for Government and Housing for All commitments, with a number of changes subsequently coming into effect from 1 February 2022.
The changes include a reduction in the minimum reckonable income required to be eligible under the scheme from €15,000 to €12,500. The time an applicant is required to be in receipt of social housing supports to be able to apply under the scheme has also been revised. This has been increased from one to ten years.
While local authorities have already been formally advised of these changes, revised scheme guidelines, and a Ministerial Order giving effect to changes in the treatment of the State contributory and non-contributory pensions for reckonable income purposes, will issue shortly.
186. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the qualifications that a National Parks and Wildlife Service inspector has; if a vet with experience attends the inspections at the zoo; and if it has been considered that it should be a multidisciplinary team inspecting if there is such a range of animals. [47200/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department has responsibility for implementation of the European Communities (Licensing and Inspection of Zoos) Regulations 2003 which deal with the inspection, licensing and regulation of zoos. These Regulations give effect in the national context to the EU Zoo Directive.
Zoo inspections carried out by my Department are always attended by at least two inspectors. All zoo inspection teams are multi-disciplinary with a range of expert knowledge and experience. At least one experienced zoo wildlife vet attends each inspection. As well as being experienced wildlife vets, a number of the vets contracted to carry out inspections have specialist knowledge regarding particular zoo species.
As part of the tender process for the provision of zoo inspection services to my Department, successful applicants must possess an honours degree in veterinary medicine and / or equivalent qualifications related to the keeping of animal collections. They must also have a minimum of five years practical experience in the management of zoo animal collections (pre or post qualification).
In addition, applicants must show proven expertise and experience of conducting zoo inspections. They should demonstrate a good working knowledge of Irish and EU zoo licensing legislation and process, together with knowledge and understanding of associated legislation including, but not limited to, CITES and BALAI.
As well as many years of practical veterinary experience, the current team of zoo inspectors contracted by my Department also have experience in the provision of training, zoo keeping, wild animal rehabilitation, field conservation, animal welfare, firearms, invasive alien species, CITES and wildlife transport.
187. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the National Parks and Wildlife Service requested or attended an inspection at Dublin Zoo with an authorisation officer under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 and have them issue a welfare notice at any stage since the legislation was enacted in 2014 (details supplied). [47201/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department has responsibility for implementation of the European Communities (Licensing and Inspection of Zoos) Regulations 2003 which deal with the inspection, licensing and regulation of zoos. These Regulations give effect in the national context to the EU Zoo Directive.
Furthermore, my Department's Irish Standards for Modern Zoo Practice (ISMZP) serve as guidelines on a range of important areas of zoo management, including the well-being of the animals housed in the zoo.
Any inspections carried out under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 are a matter for the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine.
188. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the position regarding the report on social housing eligibility that reviewed income threshold eligibility amongst other considerations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47203/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraHousing for All was published in September 2021 and, as part of a broad suite of social housing reforms, committed to reviewing income eligibility for social housing.
The review, which examined inter alia the efficiency of the current banding model and income limits applicable to local authorities, has been completed and I have recently approved implementation of its recommendations. This included the commissioning of work to scope and develop options for a revised or new social housing income eligibility model. This work will commence shortly under the aegis of the Housing Agency who have been tasked with commissioning it. It is expected that the work will be complete by the end of 2022.
Pending completion of this work, I have also approved changes to the social housing income eligibility bands. Five local authorities - Carlow, Clare, Galway County, Laois and Westmeath - will be moved from Band 3 to Band 2. Accordingly, the baseline income eligibility threshold for these areas will increase from €25,000 to €30,000. The change reflects the movement in rents in recent years in these areas and will ensure local authority areas with similar accommodation costs continue to be grouped together in the respective bands. The changes will come into effect from 1 October 2022.
It is now appropriate to await the report I referred to before considering the appropriate income threshold levels for all counties, and the potential impact of any changes that might arise.
The November 2021 report is available at the link below on my Departments website:
www.gov.ie/en/publication/c49a0-review-of-income-eligibility-for-social-housing-support/
189. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide an update on the key strategic urban regeneration and development fund project for Carlow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47215/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) was launched in 2018 to support more compact and sustainable development. The Fund is providing part-funding for applicant-led projects that will enable a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and large towns, while also ensuring that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people choose to live and work, as well as to invest and to visit.
In 2021, following a second call for proposals under the URDF, I announced approval in principle for Carlow County Council’s Public Realm and Pedestrian Linkage Project in Carlow Town. The approval of this project for URDF support followed Carlow County Council’s successful application to develop a master plan for the town centre under the URDF’s first call for proposals in 2018.
All URDF supported projects must be carefully developed and managed by the Sponsoring Agency, in this case Carlow County Council, in accordance with the normal conditions and arrangements that apply to public sector managed projects and in full compliance with the Public Spending Code.
While my Department works closely and communicates regularly with Carlow County Council in respect of project development, responsibility for the advancement of these URDF supported projects through the various stages of planning, development and completion is, in the first instance, a matter for Carlow County Council.
In June 2022, my Department informed Carlow County Council that it was satisfied that the Preliminary Business Case submitted in support of its Public Realm and Pedestrian Linkage proposal met the appropriate obligations of the Public Spending Code (PSC) and that continued support under the URDF funded capital programme was justified. This represented Decision Gate 1 in the PSC’s project lifecycle and gave approval in principle to Carlow County Council to proceed to the development of a Detailed Project Brief and Procurement Strategy as part of the Final Business Case Stage.
The material provided by Carlow County Council once submitted by the Council at this stage will form the basis for my Department's decision on whether or not to approve the proposal to proceed to Tendering - Decision Gate 2.
190. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he plans to review the HAP payment levels given the rental increases nationwide and particularly in Cavan Monaghan. [47256/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder Housing for All, my Department was tasked with undertaking an analytical exercise to examine whether the level of discretion available to Local Authorities under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) was adequate. The Housing Agency undertook to carry out this analytical exercise on behalf of my Department to better understand what level of discretion should be made available to Local Authorities under HAP to maintain adequate levels of support.
Following receipt and analysis of this review, I, in co-operation with Government colleagues and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, approved an increase in the HAP discretion rate from 20% to 35% and for new tenancies to extend the couple’s rate to single person households. This will secure more tenancies and prevent new entries to homelessness. Both these measures came into effect from 11 July 2022.
A separate review of the discretion available to Homeless HAP tenancies in Dublin, which is up to 50% above the prescribed maximum rent limits, is currently being undertaken by my Department, in conjunction with the Housing Agency.
191. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will introduce a ban on evictions into homelessness to address rising homelessness levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47261/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraHaving regard to the manifest and grave risk to human life and public health posed by the spread of Covid-19 and in order to mitigate, where practicable, the effect of the spread of that disease, the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 provided for a temporary moratorium on tenancy terminations, other than in exceptional and limited cases during the emergency period from 27 March 2020 to 1 August 2020.
The operation of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 - 2022 and the residential rental market, are kept under constant review by my Department, the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) and the Housing Agency and I will bring forward any necessary and justifiable legal change in a timely manner.
192. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a matter in relation to housing inspections on rental properties that are being carried out by local authorities will be examined (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47263/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light, fire safety and the safety of gas, oil and electrical installations. They apply to all dwellings let or available to let, not just those with a Housing Assistance Payment assisted tenancy. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these regulations. Responsibility for the enforcement of the Regulations rests with the relevant local authority.
The Government’s overall objective in Housing for All is that every citizen in the State should have access to good quality homes. Local authorities have a critical public role and duty in ensuring compliance with the standards for rental accommodation so that those wishing to rent can have access to high quality rental accommodation.
With respect to social housing, local authorities also have a legal obligation to ensure that all of their tenanted properties are compliant with the provisions of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019.
193. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will examine and expedite a passport application for a child (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46585/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraWith regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service has issued a passport to the applicant.
