Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jan 2024

As the Minister will be aware, I raised this issue with her previously. It potentially relates to a number of locations. I have a particular interest in the library and youth centre that is proposed for the Mahon area in my constituency. When the library capital funding was announced late last year, there was approximately €100 million to be allocated over five years.

That will fund the local library service but there are also about 33 smaller projects. For the larger capital asks there is not a substantial amount left. Realistically, one project would take the amount that is left even though there are probably three or four potential projects that would require that funding.

Our public libraries are at the heart of our communities. They are multipurpose social, cultural and educational spaces for the whole community to enjoy. There are 330 public libraries providing an excellent service throughout the country. My Department has provided significant capital funding to support public libraries with funding of €29 million being provided to local authorities under the previous libraries capital programme 2016-2022.

One of the key strategic actions of the new public library strategy, The Library is the Place, which I launched in July last year, is the development of a new libraries capital programme, which will align with the strategy. There is a further €33.1 million in the capital envelope for public libraries for the period 2023 to 2027. The capital programme will co-fund investment by local authorities in new library buildings, refurbishments, extensions and building acquisitions.

Last year, my Department invited all local authorities to submit applications for the new library capital programme. An assessment of the proposals received is nearing completion and I hope to be in a position to announce the successful infrastructure projects shortly.

My Department is also investing significantly in the development of libraries through the rural regeneration and development fund which has provided over €57 million to develop and deliver libraries across rural Ireland. I was delighted to announce the fifth call for category 1 applications to the rural regeneration and development fund in 2023. This call is for large-scale projects that will help revitalise our rural towns and villages, including libraries. The closing date for applications is 8 February 2024.

Our libraries do a great deal of work and much of it is unheralded. People think of books and so on but it is often the place where people who do not have access to printers have their forms printed out. People have access to e-books and audio books, which is a crucial thing. They are unsung heroes of the public service in many ways.

There are a number of locations across the State where there is a large and growing population, especially a growing young population, where there is a complete lack of provision. One of those places is in my constituency, in the south east of the city in the Mahon-Blackrock area. That ward does not have a library at the moment. Large parts of it have a young population. The current proposal also includes a youth centre. It is a long-standing demand. A site has been identified but there is a concern that if a request is put in for €10 million, €12 million or something in that region, there will not be adequate capital funding once all the smaller projects come out.

Like the Deputy, I am a big fan of the libraries. They do absolutely fantastic work. The image some of us used to have of libraries as a stuffy, boring place is well gone. Libraries, as we know, are a hive of activity for all the community. You have young and old people going in who learn computer skills and take language classes. There are book clubs which are a great way to meet people. There is a big focus on hosting heritage events in our libraries now and there is also a big cultural offering. The libraries are at the centre of Culture Night, as the Deputy will know.

Between the library capital programme and the rural regeneration fund together, €86 million has been invested in major library capital projects in recent years. It is not that long ago since I was in Kinsale where they have done a great job with a new library in what was an old mill. It was a €4.8 million project which absolutely transformed that whole area and brought it back to use. I will come back on the Deputy’s local place in a moment.

While the capital funding that is available is welcome, if the number of projects that are needed come in for a certain amount of funding, they will not get anywhere near what they require because of the level of need that is there. That is particularly in areas where there is no provision whatsoever, in those four or five communities around the State where there is no provision whatsoever and where they need something brand-new. The intention in many cases is that libraries need to be colocated with youth services. That would be brilliant for the Mahon community, which is a community with a lot of young people and which has a lot of challenges. It would have been a RAPID area where those designations existed. This would also serve the Blackrock and Ballinlough area nearby too. I acknowledge that it is an area where there have been modular homes for Ukrainians and they have been accommodated very well.

On the funding, I think another envelope could be looked at for larger capital projects. For clarity, however, is it possible to apply under the urban regeneration fund? Are there obstacles for library applications for that?

Cork City Council did not submit an application for funding for the Blackrock-Mahon library under the libraries capital programme 2023-2027 on this occasion. The discussions regarding a potential site had not been concluded before a submission date, which is fair enough. My Department previously advised Cork City Council to consider submitting an application for the Blackrock-Mahon library to the urban regeneration and development fund which is administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The council has been advised of the requirement to progress the Blackrock-Mahon library project through my Department’s four-stage capital management process. I understand the local authority plans to submit a stage 1 application for approval in principle to my Department. This is to ensure the project complies with the public library standards and benchmarks which seek to secure a very high standard of infrastructure and service development across the service. Basically, talk to my Department. The council can put in a big capital application to the urban fund because over a certain size, my rural regeneration fund does not cover it.

I put in some written questions on this. I understand Our Living Islands proposes to review the freight contracts to our offshore islands. If we are serious about ensuring they have a future, living on an island should not be significantly more expensive than it is on the mainland. That is not only the case for online purchases but also for things like building a home. We need to address that in the freight contracts.

Reliable, affordable, year-round cargo services are essential for the sustainability of our island communities. They provide support to indigenous island manufacturers and businesses and contribute to the quality of life for island communities. My Department currently subsidises nine heavy cargo contracts for 17 separate offshore islands. In 2022, over 45,000 tonnes of heavy cargo were carried on these services. In addition to these dedicated heavy cargo services, four passenger ferry contracts provide a light cargo element to their service, while another two passenger services are delivered using roll-on roll-off vessels, which also allow the carriage of cargo.

Suitable operators for these services are chosen on the open market following a procurement competition. Cargo requirements vary from island to island, and so too do the tender documents. A consultation process with the island communities is central during the renewal phase of a service and tender documents are amended, if appropriate, to address service-specific issues or to improve an existing service.

To ensure that cargo services remain affordable for island communities, tender documents set maximum fares that an operator can charge. Cargo items are categorised by weight, size and-or volume, and charged against the agreed capped price list that is published in the tender document. Operators must adhere to the price list for subsidised sailings.

As contracts are renewed, monitoring committees now form part of the cargo services. They meet regularly during the year and review the service. This gives all stakeholders - the island community, the operator and the Department - a forum to discuss and provide direct feedback regarding a subsidised service.

In addition, operators are required to supply service logs to the Department highlighting key performance indicators each month. The Department can then verify whether a service is delivered as agreed and will withhold subsidy payments if the terms of the agreement are not met.

From speaking to some people who live with the reality of life on the islands there are a couple of difficulties as things stand that need to be taken into account with this review, which needs to be very rigorous. First, maximum pricing and precisely what that means must be considered. The Department talks about maximum pricing and provides these tariffs. In practice that is very often treated as the price and an awful lot of people told me: "Sure, that is what the Department is telling us to charge." When I go back to the Department it says that is the maximum price, but in reality what is actually implemented is a bit different. The costs are very significant. I spoke to somebody recently who priced gravel for their home for €9 per tonne for a job a couple of years ago . By the time the actual freight was taken into account it ended up costing €41 per tonne. It has come down a bit since then but it is still very substantial.

The double VAT is significant as well. People pay VAT for something they purchase online. The courier will only bring the item as far as the pier so the person will have to pay for the carriage to the island and pay VAT on that again for the second time.

To give the Deputy some figures, the cost of heavy and light cargo contracts for 2022 was €2.2 million. It is important to remember that cargo services are procured on the open market through eTenders and competition is open, fair and transparent. The contracts are generally of a three-year duration, sometimes a little more, but there is a clause to review on an annual basis. What we are talking about here is the longer term framework, and the island's three-year action plan does include a commitment to review the cost of transporting goods on cargo services. The Department does intend to have that completed by the end of this year and I am told it will commence that process shortly.

To give another example, some of the lists that have been given can be a bit arbitrary. Apparently, it costs €18 per tonne of gravel but €10 per tonne bag of sand even though they are precisely the same weight. There is a difference in price even though it involves the same mechanism and that surprises people.

One of the key findings on the future of the islands relates to the challenges that exist in sustaining populations on the islands in terms of housing but the cost of building houses on the islands, even when one gets past all of the planning obstacles, is very substantial. Some of this comes back to the philosophy. What is the purpose of the subsidy? The subsidy should be to offset the additional cost that exists for islanders. Our objective should be to ensure they are no worse off than people on the mainland. Is that being achieved at the minute? I am not sure.

On the funding model, I came back with a written question that there is not a public service obligation, PSO, mechanism, it is a contract for services approach. It suggests that these needs could not be met under PSO. Will the Minister of State expand on that? What is the evidence or rationale that needs could not be met under PSO?

I want to confirm that what the Department will do with the action plan is part of a bigger policy and desire to reinvigorate and keep life in the islands. The action plan has a particular focus on improving housing, water, infrastructure, health services, education services, high-speed broadband, outdoor amenities, sustainable tourism and reviewing transport costs. From speaking to officials about this, I understand that essentially the running costs of the cargo vessel are pretty much covered and then there is the cap on whatever goes on to it as well. That needs to be reviewed and the performance of some of the operators needs to be reviewed also in the context of what will start in the next couple of weeks. I do not have the detailed question the Deputy asked but we can follow up on the ins and outs of that part with the Deputy.

My Department's CSP supports more than 430 community-based organisations to provide local services through a social enterprise model.

The CSP contribution per full-time equivalent position is not aligned with the minimum wage and does not meet the full salary cost of supported posts. It is an annual contribution that must be co-funded by the organisations concerned from other sources, for example, from income generated from the use of facilities and services provided.

A needs-based, differentiated funding allocation model was introduced for the CSP from January last year as an alternative to the previous flat-rate payment model. This new model was designed to support those organisations most in need, providing a higher rate of funding to supported organisations that are identified as operating in areas of high disadvantage, employing individuals from the prescribed programme target groups and with evidence of limited earning potential.

In addition to these revised allocations, a reduction in full-time hours from 39 to 37.5 hours was approved under the redesigned CSP programme, to narrow the co-funding gap for CSP-supported employees even further.

I was very aware of the potential impact of the €1.40 increase to the minimum wage level from 1 January 2024, which was announced as part of budget 2024, and I responded to it. On 13 December last, I announced that the CSP contributions would increase for organisations at the higher level and at the medium level for both FTEs and for managers. These increases will assist CSP organisations to meet higher labour costs from 2024 onwards. I can give some more detail in the follow-up.

I welcome the news because I know a number of the projects that were in touch were concerned. I heard that one project faced a €13,000 increase with regard to the minimum wage. The new needs-based model is important and it is working. I have said on numerous occasions - and still believe - that we should move to the model whereby every project is brought up to the minimum wage in the funding structure we have and ensure that those projects that have the ability can bring the wage up to the living wage. That is where we should be at. These community projects provide incredible and really important services in many disadvantaged communities. CSPs provide a lot of supports and they should not be disadvantaged in terms of not being able to achieve the living wage; that is where we should set our goals.

I thank the Deputy. Some CSP projects do pay the living wage and beyond. It is now clearly a social enterprise model. That is the policy. To assist that we have a coaching and mentoring programme that will be put in place under the ESF Plus social innovation measure to assist organisations to improve their overall performance including financial sustainability.

I will explain the increases in allocations I announced last December. A full-time equivalent at the higher rate of funding would increase from €23,033 to €25,750. The manager's contribution at the higher level would rise from €36,000 to €37,000 and, in addition, the contribution on the medium level of funding has increased from €21,033 to €23,175, and from €34,000 to €35,000 for a manager on the medium level of funding.