Ms Martina Maloney:

The rationale behind the approach to grouping counties arises for the very reason the Senator mentioned, namely, it is hard to compare counties. One can hardly compare Dublin city with Leitrim because one is dealing with two very different areas with different geography, topography and demographic considerations. There is no doubt that some counties are comparable. When we interact with the chief executives, they would have identified that there are counties that they automatically compare with. If one looks at Monaghan and Cavan, there is strong competition between them to see which is the best at different things. They compare with one another. The large counties along the west coast tend to compare, including Donegal, Mayo, Galway and Kerry. There is a rationale behind that comparison. Some of the midland counties, including Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath, would be comparable. We are trying to instil in local authorities the requirement to use the data that we have gathered from all the councils to improve their own performance. We would ask them to look at their performance over time, including whether they are improving yearly, and to use the data for comparisons with comparable local authorities to see if there is something they can learn from similar local authorities on which they can build and improve and learn from their practice. That is the purpose for which we group authorities. There are some authorities which are difficult to identify partners for, for example, Dublin City Council, which is somewhat unique.

The Senator's second question focused on the issue of housing indicators. We have quite a number of indicators in the housing area because we see it as a very important dimension of the work of local authorities that impacts much of our citizenry. We look at changes to the housing stock owned by local authorities throughout the year, with regard to new acquisitions, new construction and disposals under the tenant purchase scheme and otherwise. We also look at housing vacancies in the council housing stock because we are anxious to encourage councils to give the best performance they can in not having properties vacant and turning them around quickly. Over the four years NOAC has been producing this report, we have seen a significant improvement in the level of occupancy of local authority housing. If I go back to 2014, the figure for vacancies was 3.8% of social housing stock throughout the country. That figure for 2017 was down to 2.72%. That is a significant improvement. In 13 local authorities, the vacancy rate was less than 2%. The lowest rate in the country was 0.43%. A real effort is being made by local authorities in delivering on occupancy levels, and also on turnaround times when a house becomes vacant, to make it habitable for the new tenant. There has been a significant reduction in that over the last four years. It is now running at 28 weeks, on average. The quickest turnaround time is 6.8 weeks in one local authority.

Part of what we do is trying to encourage best practice. Where we see really good practice, we try to spread it. We hold an annual conference in collaboration with the LGMA. One of the showcases was a local authority which had managed to cut that turnaround time down to the minimum possible. We look at the cost of housing maintenance per unit of accommodation. We also look at private rented inspections and how many houses are being inspected by local authorities. We look at the question of the long-term homelessness. We try to address a number of important dimensions for the housing service that the local authority carries out. We changed the indicators relating to housing output for the 2017 report, reflecting the changes that come about through Rebuilding Ireland. NOAC has to be dynamic and to respond to changes in Government policy. We have included indicators under housing assistance payment, HAP, and the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and housing delivered through approved housing bodies, AHBs, rather than housing delivered through local authorities themselves.

The Senator asked about fire safety certificates. There is certainly a disparity in the figures for how fire safety certificates are processed. They are a very important dimension in the work of the local authority. I would not pretend to understand the dynamic behind the processing of the fire safety certificates. We encourage the audit committees at local level to look at the performance indicators for their particular local authorities and to review them vis-à-visother local authorities, and to ask those questions at local level. As we meet the chief executives of local authorities, we raise with them the questions that arise about performance under the different indicators. It is a question that is best referred to the local authority concerned.