Cabinet Committees

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 May 2024

Wednesday, 1 May 2024

Questions (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

5. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [10626/24]

Paul Murphy

Question:

6. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [10629/24]

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

7. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [15074/24]

Cian O'Callaghan

Question:

8. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [16710/24]

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

9. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [17374/24]

Holly Cairns

Question:

10. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [17526/24]

Violet-Anne Wynne

Question:

11. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [17611/24]

Ruairí Ó Murchú

Question:

12. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [17707/24]

Darren O'Rourke

Question:

13. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [17709/24]

Darren O'Rourke

Question:

14. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [17710/24]

Pádraig O'Sullivan

Question:

15. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [17779/24]

Mick Barry

Question:

16. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [17377/24]

Mick Barry

Question:

17. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [17378/24]

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

18. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [17659/24]

Paul McAuliffe

Question:

19. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [17995/24]

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor

Question:

20. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [17998/24]

Bernard Durkan

Question:

21. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [19206/24]

Rose Conway-Walsh

Question:

22. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [19529/24]

Oral answers (18 contributions)

The Taoiseach

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 22, inclusive, together.

The Cabinet committee on housing met on Monday, 15 April. The next meeting will take place this month, in May. The committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Housing for All and for programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters, including planning reform. Our latest update on progress achieved under Housing for All during quarter 1 was published on Wednesday, 24 April. Housing for All is showing signs of progress. The first three months of this year have seen continued strong momentum, with building starting on almost 12,000 new homes - 11,956 to be specific. This is the highest quarter 1 figure since we began recording these numbers a decade ago and an increase of 60% on the same period last year. Planning permission was granted for over 41,000 new homes in 2023, an increase of over 20% on the previous year. The initiatives introduced last year, including the development levy waiver and the Uisce Éireann rebate are working. That is why we took the decision to build on the momentum and extend the waiver to the end of the year and the rebate element to the start of October.

The affordability initiatives under Housing for All are making a difference for thousands of our citizens. Over 30,450 first-time buyer mortgages were approved last year. First-time buyer approvals in the first two months of 2024 are up almost 10% on the same period last year with the support of Housing for All initiatives, including the help-to-buy the first home schemes. Since its launch in July 2022, more than 4,000 individuals and couples have availed of the first home scheme. There were over 800 approvals in quarter 1. That is an increase of almost 40% compared with the same three months last year. Given the success of the scheme to date, we have now committed an additional €40 million to it, continuing the drive for affordable home ownership across our country.

It has also been agreed to allocate €100 million in additional funding to deliver more than 1,000 beds for students: 493 at UCD, 495 at DCU and 116 at Maynooth University. For every extra student bed we provide, there is a double benefit in that we are not only providing accommodation for the student but also potentially freeing up space in the market for others to rent or buy. It is worth noting that student accommodation is not counted in targets but is in addition to the headline targets in Housing for All.

Tackling vacancy and dereliction remains a priority under Housing for All. The vacant property refurbishment grant is just one of many schemes which are helping people breathe new life into existing homes. Applications have now been received in every local authority, with over 4,300 approved to date.

On State lands, building continues apace on a number of sites this year. For example, almost 300 new homes will be completed by the Land Development Agency at Shanganagh later this year, while almost 600 homes in total will be built on that site, and construction is now under way at the former Devoy Barracks, in Naas, and at St. Kevin's, in Cork. Many more large-scale housing developments on State lands will start later this year and in the next few years.

The Planning and Development Bill is progressing through the Oireachtas. This legislation represents the most comprehensive review of planning in over two decades. It will bring greater clarity, consistency and certainty to how planning decisions are made and enable us to build homes and critical infrastructure at pace.

The national planning framework will be updated later this year. This will include revised housing targets taking account of the latest analysis of demographic and other factors.

Housing for All is now delivering increased housing supply to meet the needs of our people. We are building more homes. We need to maintain this strong momentum this year and to lift the scale of our ambition in the years ahead.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

All of that will come as cold comfort to Niamh and Anthony, for example, in the homeless hub in my area. They have two children and have now spent 20 months, two Christmases, homeless, and their biggest fear is that they will still be homeless next Christmas. It will come as cold comfort to Jennifer, who is in one bedroom with her two kids. She went on the housing list in 2008, the council lost her application, she went back on the list in 2014 and she is on a three-bedroom list with no prospect of getting anything. They are the hidden homeless because, of course, they are not in emergency accommodation. It is getting worse. It is bad for everybody but it is particularly bad for children, and this is not acceptable. How long do you have to be in homeless accommodation before you get housed? How long do you have to be in overcrowded circumstances with two or, in many cases, three generations crammed into a house, in overcrowded, Dickensian conditions, before you get a house?

I could go on with the list. I have dealt with somebody else who has scoliosis and an occupational therapy report detailing the need for level-access living but who has been refused medical priority and told to just go and find a housing assistance payment, HAP, tenancy. This sort of cruel torture that people are being put through with their kids and so on has to end. Rather than just reeling off the accomplishments and plans, what I want to know is what are we going to do to address that level of suffering, to stop people going into homelessness, to get them out of homelessness when they are in it, in particular families and children and people who are vulnerable and unwell, as so many in these dreadful situations are.

Deputy Paul Murphy

The housing crisis is just so bad. It is getting worse and worse. We can see it in the figures. There are 4,000 children and almost 14,000 people in total homeless. One illustration of how I know it is getting worse is the increasing number of people coming to see me who are in emergency homeless accommodation and whose ask is not even to get a home but to get into better homeless accommodation. I am dealing with a family - six children and two parents - who have been living in one hotel room for 11 months now, which is having a devastating impact on all their lives. They have no cooking facilities, the father has diabetes and the bad diet is having a seriously bad impact on him. The 11-year-old son has asthma and now has very bad mental health issues. He cries every day. He is really depressed. He is cramped in the same room as seven other people. He has a six-year-old sister who also cries every day and who is not able to get sleep. The mother has told me how depressed she is. These people at this stage are just asking to get into a homeless hub where they will at least have access to cooking facilities. It is horrific what this Government has done, the conditions it has put people in by refusing to use the vacant properties we have, invest in public housing and so on.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

I have put in a freedom of information request to all local authorities seeking the number of vacant local authority properties that exist. Incredibly, the information I have got shows that there are 3,500 empty local authority homes at the moment. The State is the biggest hoarder of empty homes in the country. We have done more digging into this and have found that, on average, it takes eight months to turn around a local authority home and three weeks to turn around a private home for re-rent. Many of these local authority homes are closed for one year or two years in certain areas. Nearly 14,000 people in the country are deemed homeless. Those 3,500 homes would accommodate all the homeless people in this country. Dublin City Council, incredibly, is spending €300 million on homelessness this year. That is one in every five euro it will spend. Surely the Government needs to get it together by turning around these local authority homes in a speedy fashion in order that we can get families into them as soon as possible. Why is there a disparity between the public turnaround of homes for re-rent and the private turnarounds? Surely there is a responsibility on the Government to get it together on this.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan

I raise with the Taoiseach the need to regulate management companies effectively. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to conduct a review of the Multi-Unit Developments Act, and almost four years later this has not been acted on. There have been serious questions about the financial management of a minority of management companies over recent years, with allegations in some instances of large payments to directors and contracts awarded to families and friends. There is very serious concern that, when millions of euro of public money is put into apartment remediation schemes, as it needs to be, and channelled through management companies, a portion of that could go astray due to a lack of effective regulation of management companies.

The Minister with responsibility in this area, the Minister for Justice, has declined to meet with the MUD Act Reform Group to discuss implementation of this programme for Government commitment. Draft regulations under sections 18 and 19 of the Multi-Unit Developments Act, as promised in Housing for All, were forwarded to her Department in February 2022. More than two years on, they still have not been issued. When will this commitment in the programme for Government to review the MUD Act be implemented? Why is the Minister for Justice refusing to engage with stakeholders in this area? Why have the regulations, as promised under Housing for All, in sections 18 and 19 of the Multi-Unit Developments Act not been issued?

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh

I spoke to the Taoiseach last week about the defective concrete blocks situation and what needed to be done there. Today, I raise with him a similar issue. His Government promised to introduce a redress scheme for homeowners living with Celtic tiger-era building defects. Legislation was published last year and emergency funding was to be made available for fire safety works. I am making this contribution on behalf of Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, my party president. I visited homeowners across the country, including in her constituency, who are impacted by serious fire safety and structural defects.

No legislation was published in 2022, and eventually in December 2023 almost one year after it was promised, applications for emergency funding were opened for owners' management companies. Since then, more than 130 OMCs have applied for this funding for essential fire safety works. However, to date not a single cent has been provided. As with so many other Government schemes the fund was announced and opened before the Minister had his homework done. Will the Taoiseach provide an update as to why this emergency funding has been delayed and when it will be paid out? Will he also confirm that the long-promised legislation underpinning the wider scheme will be published and whether that scheme will open in 2024 or 2025?

Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne

Clare County Council recently confirmed it has finally been able to secure additional emergency accommodation. It will take a number of months to develop but it is intended for women and children only. This is great news but the council will only be able to bring forward a handful of units once it is completed. I have been seeking additional emergency accommodation for the past two years. It has already been mentioned that some of the standards in existing emergency accommodation centres are not great. I know they are being outsourced. When I spoke with Clare County Council officials, they explained emphatically that there is so much demand in the county for accommodation currently. That is restricting them in establishing extra capacity. I raised this with the Minister previously, and I raised it with the previous Taoiseach. I am looking for a co-ordinated approach to emergency accommodation for the likes of Clare County Council, which is facing huge demand for accommodation in the county.

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan

I am bringing an issue of concern to the Taoiseach's attention relating to IPAS entering into rental agreements on established housing estates. This is happening in more than one local authority. I am quite aware that we need to do our best to house everybody that we can, be they migrants, people looking for private rental properties, or people in search of ever-elusive HAP properties. Will the Taoiseach clarify whether he is aware this issue is happening, and what the issue is in terms of compliance with planning? Is it permissible for IPAS to go into housing estates and rent houses? It will be doing so at considerably greater cost than for somebody looking for a private property on the rental market.

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

I need to bring up an issue that relates to Dunleer fire station and John Molloy, who is the retained fire station officer and who is about to turn 60 on 24 May. The problem is that the legislation has not yet been amended to increase the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 62. I initially dealt with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. It has now gone to the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. I dealt with the former Minister, Deputy Donohoe, who said legislation is the only way of dealing with this. I brought it up previously with the former Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, who said we can surely find a solution. If Mr. Molloy is gone on 24 May, Dunleer fire station will not even be able to put a crew out. They are in a minimal crew of five, and the fire chief said that Mr. Molloy will be gone on that date unless something comes from Government to deal with this issue.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Cormac Devlin)

Although the topic is housing, the Deputy might send a note on that to the Taoiseach.

Deputy Mick Barry

The Irish Property Owners Association issued a call on Monday for the abolition of rent pressure zones. It was backed by the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers whose chief executive, Mr. Pat Davitt, said, "many, many landlords are renting ... their properties way, way under the rent". They are not getting market rent for their properties and, "The market needs to relax and let those properties into the market at market rent - that’s all we’re asking." Mr. Davitt is hoisted by his own petard there. If the rents he is referring to are very under the market rate and the market rate is re-established, I can only presume that those rents will go way, way up. I am not expecting the Government to axe rent pressure zones, but they are due to lapse on 31 December this year. Does the Government intend to let them lapse or does it intend to roll them over into 2025? With elections on 7 June, I think renters across the country will be interested to hear a straight answer to that question. What does the Taoiseach have to say on the subject?

Deputy Paul McAuliffe

The 100,000 homes delivered in the lifetime of the Government have been welcome. In areas where viability is an issue, it is important that we have public housing on public land, in particular in cities. It is welcome that there are almost 2,500 houses in design and construction on many sites in my constituency alone. I am worried about one site in particular, which is the old Ballymun shopping centre site. It is a site that will need both housing and retail. Dublin City Council has gone out twice for expressions of interest and has not been able to find a partner. It is an ideal site for the Land Development Agency and Dublin City Council to come together. That is why I voted for the LDA when many others in this House did not. I ask the Taoiseach to intervene at the next Cabinet sub-committee meeting and ask both agencies, that appear willing, to come together and put a plan together for this site.

Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor

I am aware, as is the Taoiseach, that the ESRI is undertaking a demographic analysis of the census, which showed that County Carlow has grown by 9% and is one of the fastest growing in the country. We now have a population of 62,000. I am asking about the facilities for housing. Specifically I am looking for an update on the upgrade and development of the Bagenalstown wastewater treatment plant. This is holding up a number of housing developments. While we are delighted our population is growing, we need facilities. We have to have the proper structure and facilities in Carlow and Bagenalstown to build these houses. It is delaying house building, in particular in County Carlow.

Deputy Mark Ward

I want to raise a niche issue in housing, which is the social housing passport. It provides for someone to move from one local authority housing list to another. At present, people on the Dublin City Council list cannot move over to the South Dublin County Council list without losing their time. I will give an example of why this is needed. I have a constituent living in Newcastle, County Dublin in my constituency. She has been living in Newcastle for 12 years. She has set down roots in Newcastle. Her children go to school in the Newcastle area, but because she is on the Dublin City Council list, she cannot apply for any houses in the Newcastle area. At one stage she would have been able to do this because people could have a crossover file on the HAP transfer list, but Dublin City Council removed people from that list. I first submitted a parliamentary question on this in 2019 to see where this was, and I was told it was under review. It is now 2024. According to the latest reply I have, it is still under review. This is something that could be easily resolved and is something that would have an impact on people. This is also something that is attributable. When that person moved to Newcastle, she did not envisage she would be 12 years waiting for a house. This is the housing crisis.

The Taoiseach

I will start there and go in reverse order. I thank Deputy Ward. That is a constructive suggestion. I will check when the review is due to be completed and see if we can make progress on the idea of a social housing passport. I am aware in parts of my constituency as well that county boundaries sometimes do not reflect the way people live their lives and where they work, go to school and so on.

Deputy Murnane O'Connor raised the issue of the need for an upgrade of Bagenalstown wastewater treatment plant. I will get her an update on that, and I take the point she makes about the importance of having infrastructure in place for housing.

As Deputy McAuliffe has said, it is important to acknowledge the 100,000 homes that have been delivered in the lifetime of Government. While we all know we have more to do, these are real homes that people and families are living in. People who did not have a home previously are now in a home. That is worth acknowledging. I will raise with the Minister for housing the Deputy's view that the LDA and Dublin City Council need to come together to provide a solution for the old Ballymun shopping centre site. I will ask for his view also but I am sure that is an issue of concern for Deputy's constituents at a time we need to develop more homes.

Deputy Barry raised rent pressure zones. He is factually correct that they are due to lapse later this year.

They are working well. As the Government has not formally made a decision on them, I do not want to pre-empt it, but I see their merit. I would like a decision made early to provide absolute clarity for people. However, the matter requires a Government decision. The rent pressure zones have played an important role and the need for them continues. That is my view.

Deputy Ó Murchú raised the retirement age for firefighters. I have also heard from a few in my constituency about that timeline. A lot of people who are getting near the retirement line are willing to stay on. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is supportive of this and has worked hard to achieve it at Cabinet. I will talk to him and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, to see about clarity, but I understand how the-----

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú

It is to happen before the summer. It is just that 24 May is the deadline?

The Taoiseach

Yes, I understand. I definitely heard the Deputy.

Deputy Conway-Walsh raised the issue of defects in apartments and the interim scheme and the longer one. I will send her a written note. In short, up to the end of March, 128 applications are being progressed under the interim funding across 26 local authority areas, representing more than 13,000 residential units. Approximately 80% of the units affected are located in the four Dublin local authority areas, but I am aware from reports that there have been difficulties with local authorities. My understanding is that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, as recently as yesterday met representatives of the local authority fire service and the City and County Management Association to discuss the matter. I will get an update for the Deputy on how that meeting went.

On the full remedial works the Deputy also asked about, work is advancing to draft the required legislation which will include the scope, eligibility and conditions of the remediation scheme. It is expected the draft legislation will be published later this year and that the statutory scheme will be in place shortly after that. The Minister is working on the legislation. He sees it as a matter of priority and wants to ensure we get a scheme that is fit for purpose. I will send more detail to the Deputy in a note.

I thank Deputy Tóibín for providing me with the information on the trawl he did - for want of a better phrase - on vacant local authority homes in the county and the comparison between turnaround times for private and public properties. I will certainly familiarise myself with it. I can accept there would be some gap, but the difference the Deputy outlined is significant at a time when we urgently need more accommodation. I thank him for the constructive engagement on that. I will talk to the Minister for housing and come back to the Deputy in writing on the issue.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan raised the need to regulate management companies and asked where we are with the Minister for Justice on the draft sections 18 and 19 of the Multi-Unit Developments Act, in fulfilment of the programme for Government commitment. I will speak with the Minister, get a timeline for the Deputy and come back to him, if that is okay.

Deputy Wynne raised the need for additional emergency accommodation in County Clare. Let me talk to the Minister, and through him to the local authority, to see what more we can do. She highlighted that some progress has been made, but not enough has been done on its composition.

I am not personally aware of the situation with IPAS raised by Deputy O'Sullivan. Government policy is to move away from reliance on the private market, although we have to be honest and upfront about the time that will take. I am not aware of the matter, but I will make myself aware of it. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and come back to the Deputy in writing.

Deputies Boyd Barrett and Paul Murphy raised the issue of homelessness and highlighted a number of cases, including that of Niamh and Anthony and their two children, Jennifer and her two children and a number of other cases. They said I could stand here and reel off facts and statistics and they asked me not to do that. However, behind those facts and statistics is progress being made on social housing. Last year, we saw more than 22,000 social homes at various stages of construction and 12,000 social homes being delivered through our local authorities and approved housing bodies. That was the largest level of delivery in many decades. You would have to go back to the 1970s to match that. We have also provided a land acquisition fund with an initial €125 million in funding to the Housing Agency because we want to provide solutions for Niamh, Anthony, Jennifer and crucially for children. In the monthly figures, we saw a very small drop in the number of children and families in emergency accommodation, but the figures are nowhere near where they need to be. That is why we will continue to look at all forms of different housing options, including an acceleration of social housing.

An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach (Deputy Cormac Devlin)

We will not have time to deal with the other questions now. Members can resubmit questions on those topics.

Is féidir teacht ar Cheisteanna Scríofa ar www.oireachtas.ie .

Written Answers are published on the Oireachtas website.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar fionraí ar 1.54 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 2.54 p.m.

Sitting suspended at 1.54 p.m. and resumed at 2.54 p.m