Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 19 Sep 2024

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan. Deputy Devlin tabled the question and I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for standing in in his stead.

An Bord Pleanála, as the Deputy knows, is the national independent statutory body with responsibility for the determination of planning appeals and direct applications for strategic infrastructure and other developments under the Planning and Development Act 2000 and certain other acts. Section 104 of the Planning and Development Act as amended provides for the temporary increase in the maximum number of ordinary board members that may be appointed to the board by way of ministerial order. On 20 August this year I signed the Planning and Development (Increase in maximum number of Ordinary Board Members of An Bord Pleanála) Order 2024, which increased the maximum number from 14 to 17. This order will remain in effect until 1 January 2025. This increase in the maximum number of board members will allow for the continued support of temporary board members until year end, to assist their newly-appointed full-term colleagues through the decision-making process, while they gain much-needed experience in the role and knowledge of procedures allowing for the continued progress and the reduction of cases on hand within the board.

One area that I have engaged with the board directly on is its continued progress working through the backlogs it has. When An Bord Pleanála was going through many difficulties that were in the public domain, we had as few as five board members at one stage. We have appointed the first tranche of new board members as well. I have appointed nine new board members through the new public appointments process which was allowed for under the Act. The provision of the additional board members will allow that transition between the new board members and the temporary members who are in place, who were appointed from other areas of the Civil Service. I thank them for the work that they have done. I continue to support the board and the work it is doing to reduce the backlog and to get back to normal business where we can see planning decisions being made and being given in a very timely fashion, which has not happened heretofore in many instances. They are making progress on that backlog.

I thank the Minister. There is no need to go through the reasons why the Minister had to make that intervention. They are well documented in the media. By way of supplementary, if I could just ask in relation to the time limit. Is there a constraint on the January deadline?

Can the January deadline be extended? Is there a minimum or maximum period for further extensions if they are required?

Second, with regard to An Bord Pleanála and the way it deliberates on cases, is there any internal prioritisation of cases? For example, would there be a juxtaposition between a large scheme, such as an estate with a couple of hundred houses or an apartment block, and an individual application for a one-off home or an agricultural or commercial building? Is there any prioritisation on An Bord Pleanála's side? I find it is very haphazard. We are trying to deliver additional housing as quickly as possible, but larger schemes sometimes really go beyond 12 or 18 months. I am interested to see if there is any prioritisation.

We can extend it past the date, should we wish. In the intervening period, I expect all permanent board members to be appointed at that stage. This is a transition period. The board is working through parallel meetings at the moment to deal with the backlog. There is a focus on residential development. An Bord Pleanála worked over a number of weeks in the summer to specifically look at backlog cases for individual houses or extensions to clear them, because right now everything is taken in chronological order. It is a great frustration to people who know that an inspector's report is being done and who have been informed by the board but then there is a delay, which is an inordinate delay in some cases, in the decision being made. Thankfully, we have seen some very large and significant decisions being made by An Bord Pleanála in recent months. It is getting to grips with the backlog on hand. An Bord Pleanála aimed to get back to normal business by the end of quarter 2. It has not met that deadline as of yet, but it is working through it. We have resourced An Bord Pleanála with more than 50% additional staff members since 2021. More work is to be done there, but it is making progress.

On the backlogs, has the Minister any figures or trends regarding the work that has been done? I acknowledge the beefed-up board is only in its inception and those figures may not be available, but could the Minister provide us with any trend at the moment?

Second, I want to follow up on the question regarding prioritisation. Whether it is a matter of policy at the moment or going forward, it should be the case that larger schemes are prioritised going forward, particularly in the case of housing, as the Minister indicated. That needs to be emphasised.

As of August 2024, An Bord Pleanála had disposed of 2,439 cases. That was an increase of 39% from the cases disposed of. Compared to August 2023, there has been nearly a 40% increase in the number of cases disposed of so we are seeing that increase.

Deputy O'Sullivan supported legislation that I brought in regarding the large-scale residential development arrangements, which came into effect on 17 December 2021. The legislation did not receive support from all sides of the House at the time, but it has really worked. Every single application bar one has met the statutory timelines set out for large-scale residential developments of in excess of 100 homes. That process has been protected and it is absolutely working. That is why the Planning and Development Bill, which will taken in the Seanad next week and which will come before this House in early October for its Final Stage, is so crucially important because it will provide statutory timelines for An Bord Pleanála. People will have certainty on timeframes, consistency of approach and clarity. That is why I expect support from all sides of the House on that reform of our planning, but Deputy Ó Broin will probably vote against it anyway.

This is an opportunity for the Minister to give some information to Members of the House on the number of vacant properties that could be used for housing in this State, or an estimation to that effect. That includes commercial properties. Second, how is the Department working with the Department of Finance on the administration of the vacant property tax? Is there an overall view of what the figures are to date?

I propose to take Questions Nos. 54 , 66 and 110 together.

Tackling vacancy is a key priority for this Government. The vacant homes action plan, which was published in January 2023, built on pathway 4 of Housing for All and set out the various actions that were being pursued to return vacant properties back into use as homes. Earlier this year, the Minister published an update on the action plan, which shows the significant progress that is being made. Data regarding vacant properties is available from a number of sources such as census and GeoDirectory publications. More recently, the CSO has published an indicator of residential vacancy using electricity consumption data. My Department has engaged with the CSO regarding this indicator. While varying levels and rates of vacancy are indicated in the different data sources, the overall trend is downwards and vacancy levels in residential properties are reducing. It is a very different picture in terms of vacant commercial properties. A vacancy survey project, supported by my Department, commenced in December 2022. Its objective is to provide local authorities with a database of vacant and derelict properties in their administrative area, which they can update on an ongoing basis and use to engage with property owners to bring them back into use as homes. This also supports local authorities in taking a proactive, systematic and co-ordinated approach to the activation of vacant and derelict properties, which is required under the new compulsory purchase order, CPO, activation programme, which my Department launched in April 2023. The programme includes guidance and supports for local authorities to actively use their legislative powers to compulsorily acquire vacant and derelict properties where engagement with owners has been unsuccessful in activating the return of the property to use. It is a complex process, but good progress is certainly being made across all local authorities in this regard.

Another one of the suite of measures introduced to address vacancy by this Government is the vacant home tax introduced in budget 2023. The tax applies to residential properties that are occupied for less than 30 days in a 12-month period. The tax aims to increase the supply of homes for rent or purchase, rather than focusing on simply raising revenue. As is the case for other taxes, the vacant home tax is administered and collected by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners. My Department does not have a role in the administration of this tax. However, my officials are in regular contact with the Department of Finance regarding policy on addressing vacancy and the vacant homes action plan.

The vacant property refurbishment grant, under the Croí Cónaithe towns fund, is another important measure in supporting the return of vacant and derelict properties into use. A grant to the value of €50,000 is available for the refurbishment of vacant properties into a home or rental property, with a top-up grant of €20,000 available for derelict properties. More than 9,600 grant applications have been received to date with more than 6,400 approved. The number of grants drawn down has increased significantly this year and more than 737 grants have been paid nationwide. We expect that to ramp up significantly toward the end of this year.

The level of interest in the grant in Cork has been significant, with the county having the highest number of applications received nationally. Between Cork city and county, in excess of 1,100 applications have been received, more than 820 applications approved and 66 grants paid to date. This number of grants issued is expected to increase significantly in the coming months as refurbishment works are completed. My Department publishes data on the grant on its website on a quarterly basis, which includes breakdowns by local authority. I will arrange for the relevant web link to be circulated with the Official Record. The grant is making a real impact in addressing vacancy and is making the purchase and refurbishment of these properties a more affordable option for those seeking to purchase their own home. I will come back in with a supplementary reply on the local authority purchase and renovation loan, which again, is another measure that is proving to be transformative.

I thank the Minister of State for his response and recognise the work that is being carried out here. Does he have any figures with respect of how many actual properties are vacant in the State in the moment that could be used for housing from this database? Is that database publicly available? Will he comment on the top-up grant for derelict properties? We have numbers for the vacant property refurbishment grant, but how many of those also include the top-grant? How many applications are for the vacant property refurbishment grant on its own? Will the Minister of State please get those figures per county for me? Could he comment on the role of the vacant homes officers? The Oireachtas is making money available to fund those at local authority level. Is there a condition attached to that funding that those roles will be exclusively focused on vacant properties and nothing else?

The GeoDirectory database for quarter 2 2024 classifies 82,031 dwellings as vacant on a national vacancy rate of 3.9%. This remains a record low. The report showed that vacancy rates had decreased in 19 counties.

The database published worrying figures for commercial vacancy. There are crisis levels of vacancy in many towns and villages across the country. In County Sligo, it is 20.5%; County Donegal, 19.4%; County Galway, 18.5%; County Limerick, 17.5%; and County Leitrim 17.5%. This is of real concern and this is something that local authorities, collectively with town teams, need to get a handle on, along with the town centre first officers that have been put in place, as well as vacancy officers. That is a hugely important piece of work that needs to be addressed. If that requires using a bit of creativity around bring commercial premises back into full occupancy and looking at returning shops to full occupancy, issues like that should be given consideration. We see pilots but that needs to be ramped up. We are seeing huge changes across retail and these are the resulting figures.

Separately, on the rural vacant properties, we will get back to the Deputy on that. I do not have the data relating to the top-up grant but as I said, the 730 grants have been paid out and we anticipate a very significant level of drawdown. The heritage side of our Department has put an additional grant in place with regard to conservation advice, particularly for older, traditional buildings.

Could the Minister of State let me know at some stage which local authorities are using the funding provided by the Oireachtas to fund vacant homes officers? Which of those are doing that exclusively so that, for example, the vacant homes job is not number ten on a list of other works they have got to do? Is that a condition attached to the funding we are providing to the local authorities? My sense is that these vacant homes officers are doing ten other jobs as well, and that should not be the case.

The Minister of State mentioned that his Department works with Revenue and the Department of Finance. Could he comment on the response I received from the Minister for Finance, Deputy Chambers in June? He told me that 6,400 properties have been declared vacant, and approximately 3,700 of those have a liability to the vacant homes tax. That is a long way away from the 82,000 that the Minister of State just commented on there, which I assume are just homes. Why is there such a huge discrepancy? I know it is self-declared but surely we are missing a trick in this regard in that if we had a link between the two Departments, we could actually gather more tax and encourage people to carry out work.

The Minister of State has pointed to a reduction in other counties. That is not the case in Clare, which has a huge vacancy rate. Shannon, once again, had the highest rate of commercial vacancy in the county at 29.8%, which is the highest in Munster and the third highest nationwide. It is unchanged again for a second year in Kilrush at 24.5%. There is no hotel there and has not been for many years. GeoDirectory shows that both towns are well above average when it comes to empty industrial buildings. Shannon and Dublin are at the national average of 14%, and Kilrush is at 10%. Meanwhile, Clare County Council will say that there is too much competition for accommodation in the county to source and create, for example, emergency accommodation or the likes of Clann Nua for the likes of Kilrush town.

I note the comments made by Deputy Wynne.

On the figures I have for Cork city and county, Cork county has 747 applications received for the vacant property refurbishment grant, with 478 approved and 76 rejected, and 26 grants have been paid out on completion of works. The figures for Clare are 401 received, 234 approved, 31 rejected and 16 paid out on completion of works. Again, I wish to highlight the local authority purchase and renovation loan, which gives a bridging loan to make up the difference of the grant that can be paid back on completion of works.

Specifically on the question raised by Deputy Stanton, the vacant homes officer role is in every local authority and is a full-time, exclusive role to work specifically on vacant homes. The Deputy is shaking his head but that is the job description and that is their job. It is an important job. Their role is to work with the town centre first officer and the town teams, if the town team is established in each local authority area. It is vitally important that the role is specifically for that purpose in each local authority. It is critically important that this be their job because there is a huge task of work ahead in that regard.

The Minister will be well aware of the DCU and University of Ulster report that outlined not just the challenges, of which there were loads, but also the potential for the development of the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor. I would welcome an update from him on the work of his own Department in this regard. If I could be a small bit parochial relating to himself and myself, I would be grateful if he could concentrate on that area around Fingal specifically, if he can. I am also interested in the project itself as a whole.

I thank the Deputy. The national planning framework, NPF, published in 2018, sets out a vision and strategy for the spatial development of Ireland to 2040. National policy objective 44 of the NPF specifically commits to further supporting and developing the economic potential of the Dublin-Belfast corridor, in particular the core Drogheda-Dundalk-Newry network, and to promote and enhance its international visibility in co-operation with the relevant departments in Northern Ireland. The draft revised NPF published on 10 July has undergone a nine-week public consultation process and it is envisaged that the final revised NPF will be published in October. That is an important document.

Speaking of Fingal specifically, which I am more than happy to do, we are in a major growth area. We are the youngest area in the country. We need to ensure that we continue to attract inward investment and domestic investment, and that our infrastructure keeps pace with that growth. That is why measures such as DART+ are crucially important, and DART+ coastal north in particular, which will improve the frequency of services along the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor to the regional growth centre of Drogheda. I visited Drogheda earlier this week, and we discussed at length here what can be done in the Drogheda area in particular. I know that is something the Deputy will support.

MetroLink is crucially important too. It is in planning, it needs to happen and it will serve multiple residential communities and major employment zones, education, transport and other facilities, including DCU, which is our local university, and the wider area. In addition, the recommendations of the all-island rail review, which was published in July, include the upgrading of the core intercity rail network, including the rail line between Dublin and Belfast to allow speeds of up to 200 km/h. We were talking about public transport as well. The increase in capacity and frequency on that route is crucially important, and our airport and its development is also crucially important. I will come back on the rest in supplementary replies.

I thank the Minister. Specifically, I am interested in knowing the work of the Minister's Department. I appreciate his response but a lot of that was focused on how people get out of Fingal by train and other public transport. I would appreciate if he could focus on how people can stay, and specific actions from his Department with regard to growing. What that report identified was huge potential right along that economic corridor. I appreciate the work in Drogheda, and it is something we are supportive of.

However, let us even look at a small business like Java the Hut in Balbriggan. When Marc Hynes was given the premises, that created local employment. He has his own roastery there now and he is doing really well. That is a couple of people taken off the train in the morning, which takes the pressure off the northern commuter line. The Minister will not be unaware of the issues that are currently plaguing commuters. When I was looking into this, I could not find any information regarding up-to-date plan. When I go to the website, it refers me to a Twitter account, and the Twitter account is no longer active. I wonder if there are any updates from the Minister's Department.

Specifically on Fingal and Balbriggan, we can look at what our Department has done with funding under the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF. We will use Balbriggan again as an example of very significant investment to improve the public realm, purchase vacant properties, open up Dublin Street, the quay, the harbour and all of that, and that work has been transformative. We want to support, and we are supporting, those smaller indigenous business.

The NPF is really important on the basis that it will drive future development, particularly with regard to population targets and growth. I want to see transport-orientated development as well, and that is why I have made specific reference to road, rail and airports. They are important from an investment perspective. I would see further investment through the URDF.

We have a fourth call that is being prepared. That has worked really well. I know there is preparation in Swords. I am being very parochial with regard to Fingal. Deputy O'Reilly is a Fingal Deputy too. Work is ongoing in other areas too, including Rusk and Lusk, with the town centre-first approach there. We are a major growth area. I expect in the national planning framework revision that the Belfast-Dublin economic corridor will remain a major economic driver. We want people to stay and live there too. I will come back in a supplementary.

The Minister hit the nail on the head. That is the point I was making. We want people to be able to stay there. The vast majority of people in Balbriggan who are of working age and employed leave. They leave in the morning to go to work. They are not employed locally. There is an issue with underemployment that the Minister will be aware of. Even the report refers to towns like Balbriggan, Rush and Lusk, and my own town of Skerries, as commuter towns. That irks me a little because it makes them sound like places where people go to sleep, but there are actually living, breathing, thriving communities there. A little more inward investment is needed. It is unfortunate that the Government did not put in place more robust access to remote working for people, because that would have driven much growth of hubs locally. They are somewhat underutilised. I welcome the engagement. Transport-driven initiatives are important but we also need to look at those initiatives which mean that people do not need to access public transport and can walk or cycle to work.

Fingal is a major employment zone too. Taking the airport as an example, 25,000 people are directly employed on-campus, with about 120,000 indirect jobs in that area. That is how important the airport industrial and economic zone is. Certainly, regarding remote working, specifically for Fingal, last year the local government division of my Department last year allocated €150,000 in funding for a Fingal County Council project relating to sectoral enterprise hubs in this exact area that we are discussing. There are large business towns like Swords and coastal towns as well. We have a large horticultural and food sector too. It is an attractive area not only for Irish investment but for international investment too. I will continue to work with stakeholders and people there to ensure that there are more opportunities. We have pretty much full employment in our economy right now, with 2.75 million people working in the economy due to the economic policies that this Government has pursued and the hard work of our people.

I want to ask the Minister of State about the marine protected areas legislation. It is key unfinished work that we have in front of us as a Government. I would like to see it completed, not just from the point of view of the environmental NGOs, which are looking for progress on this, as is anybody with an interest in the marine, but, also, as we are developing our offshore wind, it is critically important that the jewels in the crown of our offshore environment are protected in that context. I would like an update and timeline, if possible.

As an island nation, our seas and our ocean are crucial for Ireland, supporting our economy, international trade, our energy supply and communications systems, as well as our climate, environment, cultural traditions, heritage, health and wellbeing. The Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 sets the underpinning process for planning, consenting and regulation of certain maritime activities and ensures that all projects are carefully considered and subject to appropriate environmental assessment. To complement this, it is important that Ireland also has modern environmental legislation to establish appropriate area-based environmental protection.

The marine strategy framework directive provides a binding legal obligation to establish marine protected areas, MPAs. It stipulates that spatial protection measures, such as MPAs, shall be put in place to protect biodiversity as part of a national programmes of measures, to contribute to the achievement of good environmental status. The programme for Government in 2020 included a commitment to expand Ireland's MPA network to 10% of its maritime area as soon as is practical, aiming for 30% coverage by 2030. These commitments are in line with the EU biodiversity strategy and the OSPAR North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy 2030.

Substantial progress has been made on drafting the marine protected areas Bill. Given its potential impact, both as environmental protection legislation and on marine stakeholders, it requires careful drafting, since it is a complex Bill, with ongoing legal advice required throughout the process. An initial comprehensive draft of the MPA Bill was produced in late May this year. However, some issues arose in the process of interdepartmental consultation which require further consideration. An agreement was reached with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to establish an interdepartmental drafting group to address the issues arising. This group worked over the summer period and further drafting instructions have been issued to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. I recognise that the office will need to consider these instructions carefully and it is not excluded that further points of clarification or questions will emerge.

I might as well be honest that it has been frustrating for both the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and me. We are grateful to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Office of the Attorney General. I intend to try to get this Bill published in the lifetime of this Government. I know many stakeholders are waiting for this to be published. I will come back in a supplementary reply on some of the additional work that is ongoing.

I thank the Minister of State. We are great friends, both inside and outside this Chamber, so I hope he does not mind if I put the boot in a little on this. That was not really much of an answer. The clock is ticking on this Government, whether we are talking about November, December, Valentine's Day, or March 2025. There is not a great deal of time and this is key legislation. Under those programme for Government commitments, we have seen an expansion of marine protected areas. We are on course for that 10% within the lifetime of this Government, which is huge, from the base that we came from, but we need to have that underpinned. The Minister of State has done brilliant work on national parks too. That also needs to be underpinned by legislation. Simply writing a designation on a map, unless we understand in a comprehensive legal way what the protections offered for those areas are, does not amount to a great hill of beans. I will push the Minister of State again. When are we likely to see this? When are we likely to be able to cast our eye over it and at least begin the process of legislating?

The Deputy is correct in saying that we have moved from 2.4% at the outset of this Government to 10% of waters under strict protection as special protection areas, SPAs, for marine birds, including the east coast and the seas off Wexford, which is the largest SPA in the history of the State. I have established a marine advisory group, which is a high-level scientific group, which has overseen the ecological sensitivity analysis of the Irish Sea and Celtic Sea. Both of those were published in 2022 and 2024. In each case, these comprehensive analyses consisted of scientific evaluation, which is critically important to the MPA process. This work is done. It is not to say that nothing has been done. Significant work has been completed. Notwithstanding that, as I said earlier, it is frustrating from my perspective. We had expected not just to have it published but perhaps enacted at this stage. It is a complex Bill, as the Deputy will appreciate. We are making every effort. I meet my teams weekly. I met them this morning to get an update. It is with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. We are waiting for its final drafting instructions. We have done other significant work. We will be launching an MPA LIFE project, with €24 million of funding, to complement that. We have worked to support fisheries and the ambition they want to set out for marine protected areas. We have already brought in the basking shark protection. Every effort is being made. I cannot give the Deputy a date for this. I wish I could. We are making every effort to get this published as soon as possible.

We have a range of competing interests that are looking at our offshore area. It should be mentioned that we do not have a senior Minister for the marine even though nine tenths of our actual territorial area is the marine. We do not want a Klondike situation here. We have huge growth in offshore renewables, which is welcome. We have that designated maritime area plan, DMAP, process, which has been good, and the creation of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA. These are important steps, but we need to make sure that one thing does not cut across the other. Similarly, I think a positive story will be told about how we marry our fishing communities with offshore renewables and marine protected areas, but we need to help people to understand that. I will make an appeal over the Minister of State's head, if I may, and ask the senior Minister, Deputy O'Brien, if we can start knocking heads on this and make sure that this happens. I know a number of stakeholders are involved but this is important legislation and I would personally like to see it get across the line.

I fully support Deputy Ó Cathasaigh. As the Minister of State knows, this is an issue that we have raised regularly in the committee. "Frustrating" is probably an understatement. We were led to believe at an earlier stage that the legislation was nearly ready to go at the end of last year. Now, we are hearing that it has not even been completed. Even if it is published before Christmas, it will not be passed until next year. We then have a year to two years for the designation process.

All the while, there will be efforts to progress much-needed offshore wind energy. The consequence of the lag between the planning regime for offshore wind and marine protected areas is the potential for conflict, judicial review and much avoidable delay. This is an area in which there is a lot of cross-party consensus for getting this done. I ask the Minister and Minister of State to publish this as early as possible so we can start getting to the serious work of getting it through the committee and the Oireachtas. Otherwise, there will be delays in the delivery of offshore wind, damage to our marine protected areas and, as Deputy Ó Cathasaigh rightly pointed out, what could be a success story about the revitalisation of our fishing communities could be undermined. I ask the Minister of State to please work with us on this matter and get it through to the House as quickly as possible.

I assure the Deputies that there is no lack of political will. It is our utmost priority. I appreciate the support from the committee and across the House. That is not to say there is any conflict between offshore renewables and marine biodiversity. As I said, the ecological sensitivity analyses have been conducted for the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. They will continue to inform processes around designation and areas fit for offshore renewables. Separately, I mentioned the two SPAs, in particular the largest in the history of the Irish State, the seas off Wexford, which have brought us closer to the 10% strict protection, as set out in the programme for Government. We are there in that regard. The MPA legislation is the last piece of the jigsaw. We want it to be published. I would love for it to get through the Houses of the Oireachtas in the lifetime of this Government but that is not something I am in control of. I stress that every effort is being made. I am also conscious that when I met fishing communities three or four years ago, they wanted this from a heritage perspective to protect fisheries. I met fishers in Tralee Bay a number of weeks ago. They want to get on with projects, which is why there is the MPA LIFE project. We will make every effort to get this MPA legislation published. Other work is ongoing and an important layer also.

Will the Minister provide an update on the scheme he introduced, the tenant in situ notice-to-quit scheme? It is successful. Will he provide an update on how it continues to be rolled out through the Department to local authorities such that local authorities are in no doubt that this scheme will be well funded into the future?

I thank the Deputy for his question. Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new-build social homes in the period 2022 to 2026. Our clear focus is to increase the stock of social housing through new-build projects delivered by local authorities and approved housing bodies. For 2023, the Government agreed increased provision for social housing acquisitions. This has continued into 2024 and my Department has approved funding for the acquisition of 1,500 homes this year by local authorities and approved housing bodies. This is 1,300 more than the target originally set for 2024 in Housing for All and speaks to the Government's commitment in this regard. The additional acquisitions are focused on properties where a tenant in receipt of social housing supports has received a notice of termination due to the landlord’s intention to sell the property. Each local authority has been provided with a provisional allocation for social housing acquisitions in 2024 with additional headroom of 50% on the allocation available under delegated sanction. Acquisitions above this are subject to a sanction request. The Department issued a circular letter to local authorities in March and additional guidance in this regard in June. It is a matter for individual local authorities to identify suitable acquisitions in line with local circumstances and their social housing allocation policy.

As I said, it is a positive initiative and we are getting value for money because the State is no longer paying for RAS or HAP for the property; it is buying an asset. More importantly, it gives tenants certainty and ensures they have a forever home in areas in which they are part of their communities. I am worried about the guideline figure issued to councils and that councils need, for every house thereafter, to seek approval from the Department. That seems overly bureaucratic and removes the power of the director of services or housing officer in local authorities to decide something is good value for money and meets a housing need where there is no alternative.

Another issue is whether there is any relationship between the landlord and tenant. Local authorities seem to rule that out of order, which is strange considering the State has been paying HAP or RAS in the previous years. Will the Minister of State address those issues?

I thank the Deputy for his positive feedback on the scheme. I re-emphasise that local authorities have been asked to focus on RAS and HAP properties where the tenant has been issued a notice of termination. There is no ceiling in the sanction of acquisitions. Properties already in social housing help to mitigate against the risk of a negative impact on the tenant in ensuring we can address potential homelessness, which continues to be a challenge with the exit of landlords from the private rental market. In the Deputy's constituency in Longford, in 2023, 17 properties were acquired and in 2024, with a 50% increase on the original allocation, Longford and Westmeath requested up to 84 additional acquisitions. This demonstrates the Government's response in the approval of acquisitions.

I should have said on the record that I am a landlord but I have not issued any notices to quit. Will the Minister of State clarify whether local authorities, once they meet the ceiling, need to come to the Department on a case-by-case basis for approval? Has guidance been issued by the Department about whether, where there is a link between the landlord and tenant regarding a family relationship, the local authorities cannot purchase that property?

Flexibility is required. I am aware of a family in which there was a marital breakdown. The husband is gone and the court issued an order to sell the property, which is effectively a notice to quit. There are three children, two of whom have autism. The mother is a full-time carer. She has been approved to join the housing list but the local authority said it is unable to purchase that house. That is wrong. It is her home and that of her children. She is effectively on a notice to quit, not from a landlord but due to the court order to sell the property. Flexibility would be welcome in schemes like this.

I will talk to the Deputy about the case he mentioned offline. In July, the Minister wrote to local authorities about this matter. We worked closely with local authorities, which can be seen in the feedback. There is a cross-sectional team and steering group on acquisitions in place to support households and local authorities in acquisitions. Any request for additional acquisitions above a certain threshold will be taken on a case-by-case basis. Other than that, it is up to local authorities to do evaluations and assessments and to make the subsequent applications for acquisitions. This is an important scheme in supporting tenancies which may be vulnerable to evictions. We will continue to support this scheme in this year's budget.

I beg your pardon. I completely forgot; I will break all the rules just for the moment because the fault is mine. I meant to let Deputy Durkan in on the last question. I am breaking the rules but I am at fault.

Deputy Malcolm Noonan: I assure the Deputies that thyere is no lack of political will. It is our utomst priority. I appreciate the support from the committee and across the House. It is not tos ay there is any conflict between offshore renewables and marine biodiversity. As I said, the ecological sensititivty analsyes has been condueced for the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. They will contineut inform processes around esignation and areas fit for offhsore renewblae. Separately, I mentioned the two SPAs, in aprticular the largest in the history of the Irish State, tje seas off Wexford, have brought us closer to the 10r% tsrict??? protection, which was set out in the programme for Government. We are there in that regard. This is the last piece of the jigsaw the MPA legislation. We want it to be published. I would love for it to get through the Houses of the Oireacthas in the lifetime of this Government but that is not something I am in control of. I stress that every effort is being made. I am also conscious that when I met fishing communities going back three or four years ago, they want this from a hiertiage perspective to protect fisheries

I am sorry. I strongly support the sentiments expressed by my colleague. I compliment the Minister and Ministers of State for the progress to date in what was a difficult and tall task in relation to housing generally.

The policies are working. However, there is a need for a fast kick forward at this time because a large number of people who have been renting for a long period and now find themselves, through no fault of their own, being issued with notices to quit are coming on the market. At this stage, we need the Minister and Ministers of State to examine the possibility of introducing something that applies specifically to persons in such emergency situations with a view to taking them out of the homeless market. They have done their best to alleviate their housing problems over the years and are now looking for assistance.

I will continue the conversation about the tenant in situ scheme because the information both the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, have presented is not the same as the information given to local authorities in the circular of June this year. There is a cap - it is 50% above the targets that have been set for local authorities. Anything above the 50% cap must be submitted individually to the Department for sanction and that currently takes months. There are also other restrictions in the circular which local authorities and approved housing bodies are expressing concern about.

Last year, we bought 1,830 homes. The original target had been 200. It was reset to 1,500 and we increased it further. Deputy Troy, the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, and I met the chief executive of Westmeath County Council yesterday. For clarification, so that everyone is clear on this, there is no ceiling on the number of homes a local authority can purchase under the scheme this year. We have the capital in place to support that. I want to be clear on that. I met the local authorities and wrote to them on 4 or 5 July. That letter is available and I will forward it to people.

What the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, spoke about was that where a property is valued at, say, €700,000 and that is more than 50% above the acquisition ceiling set on valuation, that will require sanction from the Department. What Deputy Troy asked about was a circumstance where, for argument's sake, Westmeath County Council was set a target of 50 homes to purchase and it purchased 50 homes and had five more. The council would not have to seek sanction from the Department for that. It can keep going and purchase those homes. I have been very clear with the local authorities in that regard.

I am glad this issue is being discussed because I have received complaints and feedback from Deputies across the country that the scheme was operating very well in some areas and not so well in other areas. We need to keep a watch on that all of the time.

We have sorted the transboundary issue. Previously, there was an issue where a tenant was on one local authority list but living in another local authority area. We have also rectified the issue of under- or over-occupancy such as where two people are living in a three-bedroom home. When this scheme started some local authorities stated they would not purchase such a home. I told them to purchase it and secure the home and tenancy on the basis that the family in question may move to more appropriate accommodation in time. There is no ceiling on the capital allocated to the scheme this year. I want to be very clear with people on that.

That is stated in the circular. Every single property beyond those 75 units, no matter what it costs, has to go to the Department for individual sanction. That is what the circular says. That will take time and is causing problems.

Second, the Minister introduced a new and much more restrictive set of criteria. One criterion is that all other options have to be exhausted before the tenant in situ scheme can commence. That will cause significant delays. The Minister has also imposed a CAS-only purchase option on approved housing bodies. Approved housing bodies want to use the capital amounts loan facility. It is much more cost-effective and efficient for the tenant in situ scheme. The Minister is prohibiting that.

We already have a situation where there is enormous delay in the process. Introducing all these other layers of delay will mean landlords will walk away. It currently takes six to 12 months to get a tenant in situ through all stages, including conveyancing, in my local authority area. As regards the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme, the fact the Minister is only introducing legislation a year and a half after the scheme was opened shows that this element is even worse than it was six months ago.

I always speak through the Chair. Very clearly, with regard to exhausting other options that are available, if a tenant receives a notice to quit, there may be other options available and those should be looked at. It could be a social housing allocation, which happens in many instances. So far this year, 4,210 adult preventions and exits have been achieved.

I want to talk about allocations. In quarters 1 and 2 of this year, 947 households exited emergency accommodation. This was the Deputy's original question. That is an increase of 27%. If I am a tenant on HAP and receive a notice to quit, unquestionably, other options have to be looked at. Local authorities do not have to come back for additional sanction with regard to the purchase of homes above that target. It could not be clearer. I wrote to local authorities on this and I meet them regularly.

The circular states that for acquisitions above the local authority allocation, plus 50%, advance approval will be needed to be obtained from the Department. That is in flat contradiction to what the Minister said.

The cost-rental tenant in situ scheme was meant to be that the Housing Agency would purchase the property, sell it to an approved housing body and the rent would be reduced to a cost rent. The last time I checked in with the Minister and the Housing Agency, not a single property had been sold on to an approved housing body and not a single tenant had their rent reduced to a cost rent. All that has happened is the Housing Agency has bought those properties. That is good for the people who are at risk of homelessness.

However, they are not cost-rental tenancies. First, the Minister is restricting and causing further delays to tenants in situ for social housing. One year and a half in, the Minister is essentially admitting he got it wrong with the cost-rental tenant in situ scheme and is now trying to scramble to introduce amending legislation. What he has said is different from what is in the circular. Will he ask the Secretary General to issue a new circular in line with what he said, not what was issued to local authorities earlier this year?

With regard to the tenant in situ scheme, my experience with Clare County Council is that for most properties that are eligible, the council tells me that the homeowner is looking for more than the market value and so the council has not been very successful in this. This relates to a number of properties in County Clare.

I will address a different aspect of the conversation. We have hidden homelessness in this country. We are missing legislation to recognise that and it causes issues for those who are in overcrowded housing. Clare County Council tells me it will not prioritise those people because they have a roof over their heads. There have been 35 exits in Clare in two months but only in 11 of those cases did the person receive secure housing, while the rest were self-discharges, hospital admissions, etc. I had meetings with the chief executive and senior management of Clare County Council during the summer and they indicated there is a dire need for increases in current expenditure. At the moment, the expenditure is standing still and this will not allow the council to improve standards or increase capacity.

With regard to homelessness, there is a significant problem with vacant social homes being left empty for more that a year by some local authorities. The NOAC report that was just published shows that in the Galway City Council area it takes an average of 50 weeks to re-let an empty social home. In Limerick social homes are being left empty for more than a year. It is 62 weeks before they are being re-let. This is a real slap in the face for the more than 14,000 people living in homeless emergency accommodation. Why has the Minister not tackled this during his term of office and what will he do to tackle it?

Deputy Wynne asked about capital and the provision of funding to local authorities to continue the e tenant in situ scheme. That is in place. Deputy Ó Broin referred to a June circular. I wrote to the local authorities after that - in July last. I have said this in the House on a number of occasions and have engaged directly, as I do, with the chief executives and directors of services in all of our 31 local authorities. They are very clear that this scheme is proceeding and continuing. I want the local authorities to continue to exceed the base target of 1,500 homes we have set.

I want more than that to be purchased. If we can do that we absolutely will.

In relation to vacancy and voids, we have brought approximately 8,500 voids back in. It is true to say that some local authorities have performed better than others in relation to re-tenanting. Sometimes regarding to re-tenanting, extensive works may be required on that home to get it back out, but I do not want to see homes being vacant for 40 weeks while that work is being done. I regularly engage with the local authorities, which are the housing authorities in their own areas and are responsible for that. We provide the funding to get those homes back into use. There can be reasons specific homes are vacant, such as if a house has to be adapted, or if it is in really bad shape and requires more work, but that is not what we want to see.

The conservation advice grant scheme funds two thirds of the cost of hiring an expert conservation professional, up to a maximum of €5,000 to advise on the repairs necessary to bring vacant traditional buildings back into residential use. It is expected that many grant recipients will go on to avail of the vacant property refurbishment grant to help pay for the costs of the works. The scheme targets an important and historically neglected part of our building stock in towns and rural areas - one that is really important to me in terms of the much older heritage building stock, in which I see immense potential - and helping to preserve and enhance the character and immunity of these places, while at the same time contributing to our efforts to tackle vacancy and dereliction.

Owners of traditional buildings often undertake renovation works without appropriate conservation advice and, as a result, may use inappropriate materials which damage the historic fabric of a building and impair its proper function. There are different performance and functions of these older buildings, such as breathability and all of these elements. Sometimes putting in the wrong interventions, such as PVC windows, can have a really detrimental impact on these buildings. Such poor-quality interventions could cause a loss of historic character, as well as long-term problems such as damp and mould, which may be costly to remedy. It is hoped that these outcomes can be avoided through a timely provision of excellent advice. This year, 69 grants have been paid out under the scheme, which highlights its success, to a total value of €290,000.

We hope to further develop and enhance the scheme in 2025 so that more owners can be supported to invest appropriately in these historic buildings, which can contribute much to both the value both as family homes and cherished features of our urban and rural landscapes, particularly the pattern of our historic towns and villages, much of which has been lost. I see it particularly across the west and right across the country, where we are losing many of these really beautiful buildings. They could be brought into productive use, but they have to be done in a way that is appropriate to their heritage aspects.

The Minister of State will realise the issue for many of the properties we are speaking about. While the grant is a welcome contribution to getting the professional advice for it, in some instances, depending on the property and the age of the property, the grant itself does not cover the financial cost of getting proper conservation officers. The Minister of State alluded to this in his contribution in relation to different types of windows etc. that would have a detrimental effect on the actual structure of the building.

While rolling this out to 2025, it is also important to look at the applications that were made and study them. I would hazard a guess that in each and every one of the applications that were made, the professional advice they received was well in excess of €5,000. That kind of advice is costly, but of course, it is hugely rewarding to make sure that the property is brought back. Many people to whom I speak who are engaging in it find the cost prohibitive. If the proper advice was given, maybe the overall cost could be reduced. It is important that we look at the scheme.

I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy. It covers two thirds of the cost of hiring the conservation professional, but that advice could be critical in saving a building and ensuring that the right approach is taken. Certainly, over the longer term, it will ultimately save the owner money. There is a huge amount of traditional conservation expertise out there. We have a lack of conservation officers in our local authorities. Their recognition within the local government system needs to be looked at and that is something I am looking at with the Heritage Council in terms of rolling out architectural conservation officers, ACOs, to every local authority in the country. We need to have full heritage services in our local authorities.

This is a hugely important piece of work. If we look at the number of 19th century buildings and early 20th century buildings across our housing stock right across the country, there is huge potential for these buildings to be restored and brought back into productive use, but the advice needs to be correct. We also have a technical guidance document to support the restoration. I see both of these things as hugely important in trying to bring these buildings back into productive use.

That and the vacant property grant have been a seachange in terms of the way young couples in rural Ireland in particular look at older properties when a short number of years ago they were not being looked at all regarding the possibility of being renovated.

Right across the north Cork and the Duhallow regions, the uptake has been hugely positive, it has brought stock back in, as have the SEAI grants. It is important that the expertise grants, the vacant property grants and the SEAI grants continue as they help young people to get homes of their own in their own communities. It also ensures that our rural communities remain vibrant into the future and that young families are setting up there as well. All of these grants are therefore vitally important. It is also vitally important that they are assessed and strengthened as we go forward.

Again, I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy in relation to this. There is no doubt the opportunities that lie out there are immense. A couple I know in Kilkenny was going to put a bulldozer to one these buildings until the grant scheme came into place and they are now delighted that they have renovated it. I want to see more families doing that. I want to see more people doing that, particularly in our towns and villages where there is an immense amount of 19th century stock that could be brought back into use.

There is another element to it, which is the area of traditional skills. Again, I have been working on this with the Heritage Council. There is a lack of significant skills, such as joinery, masonry and in other skills that are needed to bring these beautiful houses back into use. That is something we need to ramp up over the next number of years to ensure we have sufficient skills right across the country to meet the requirements of families who want to do up these houses.

The conservation grant is an important component of it. The technical advice document that our Department launched earlier this year is an important component for conservation professionals. Separately, I would love to see more and more families take up the opportunities that are out there, particularly in our towns and villages across the country.

It is a matter of a timeline and we all know the issue. Even when people get the grant - in Louth County Council it is upwards of €30,000 - it might not cover what it takes to keep somebody in their home and do the works that are necessary. I am dealing with a daughter who is very worried about her mother. It is not only the backlog and how long Louth County Council will take, it is the fact that even €30,000 will not cover the works that need to be done, given the costs at the moment.

I thank the Deputy for his question. We understand the importance of housing adaptation grants for people with disabilities, mobility aids and housing aids for older people. These grants are 80% funded by our Department. The Exchequer funded the provision of €74.5 million for the housing adaptation grant for older people and people with a disability scheme, which has increased by €8 million for 2024 continuing the year-on-year increase since 2014.

Housing for All commits to reviewing the housing adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability scheme and a report on the review has been prepared by my Department. We hope to table amendments and publish the final report and update the relevant regulations in that regard. Among some of the changes in regards to considerations are the current income thresholds and grant limits.

My Department continues to engage with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform on the report's recommendations with the aim of introducing amendments as soon as possible.