Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the questions and I will deal with them individually. On the €60 million additional announced today, the full programme relates to Covid-related costs on the current side but it does add to the total this year of nearly €100 million more than would have been allowed for in budget 2020, so it is significant. Into next year, obviously, we have additional funding specifically for homeless services to bring that up to about €218 million. We also have capacity to access the Covid contingency fund, and this is something I have discussed at length with both the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. However, with regard to the money here today, the €60 million, the full programme relates to Covid-related costs.

We are going to expand Housing First next year. If we look at those with very complex health and addiction issues, as discussed by Deputy O'Callaghan, Deputy Ó Broin and others, some 460 people have already been rehoused through Housing First. We are going to expand that across the country and there is funding into next year. That is a cohort of our citizens we really need to focus on, given many have been homeless for a long period.

One of the reasons I brought forward the Call for Housing is that about 50 families have been homeless for four years or more. These are large family groups and we do not have appropriate homes for them and we are not building those homes. That is why we are always going to need to have some capacity to buy homes. In next year's budget, there is an allowance for about 800 acquisitions next year. I am really trying to get the Housing Agency, through our local authorities across the country, to identify larger homes so we can move some of these bigger families into permanent accommodation. The same issue pertains to singles. That is why, in some instances, we will need to buy as opposed to build, but in a much smaller way. There has been a complete shift towards a focus on our local authorities, with our delivery partners in the approved housing bodies, in regard to building additional housing stock.

In regard to Irish Water, the funding is not insignificant. I take the Deputy’s point in regard to the period 2019 to 2020, and I have been critical of that myself. However, if we look at the provisions made in 2019, the total in the budget for 2019 was €1.2 billion for both current and capital, and, basically, the Estimate for 2020 was just over €1.23 billion. What we are bringing today means the Estimate and, effectively, the total spend, will be €1.303 billion, so we are significantly ahead of where we were in 2019. There is some €88 million in capital funding and €28 million in current funding to cover that loss in current funding for non-domestic water rates, which is important. Irish Water’s delivery on capital programmes has been hampered somewhat by a lack of investment, which is why the Government has put in an additional €100 million in capital for next year.

We also need to look at our processes. I meet Irish Water on a regular basis and I had discussions with it earlier this morning about prioritising our capital plan and looking at where our water and wastewater infrastructure can support the delivery of additional homes. That needs to happen. I know of developments and potential developments across the country that are held up because of the lack of water and wastewater infrastructure. We need to look at that capital plan again in order to tackle that, and that is something we are doing.

Certainly, the supplementary budget puts Irish Water in a much better position. It has been in a much better position since the new Government took over in July, with an additional €88 million in capital and €28 million in current, and on top of that will be another €100 million in capital next year, which will bring the spend to well over €1 billion.

In regard to the proposals in front of Dublin City Council, I am aware that is a matter for the council and it is going to come up on Tuesday. I have looked in some detail at the proposals in front of the city council and I do not want, in any way, to be seen to be butting in on their responsibilities as a group when they assess the plans for the Oscar Traynor Road site. When one looks at the cost of an affordable house in the region of €380,000 and that encompasses help-to-buy, I would also have some issues with that. However, I want the local authority and the members of Dublin City Council to look at the proposal that is put forward by the local authority itself. This was in train before I took over as Minister. All of us have a frustration sometimes at the speed, or lack thereof, of the delivery of public and affordable homes on public land.

The site at Oscar Traynor Road is a really significant one. I have actually walked the site with Deputy McAuliffe, as I have done on many sites across the country. We need to be delivering better and faster. On that, from what I have heard about the level of other properties within that site, I would have some concerns that these may become long-term private lets. I believe in home ownership, as does my party and the Government. It is something we may have to return to after Monday but I am not going to say too much in advance as I do not want to in any way prejudice the meeting or the decision the members of the local authority will make on Monday.

Suffice it to say I am very interested in this particular project, as I am in others. I was glad to see Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council give approval earlier in the week to move forward with Shanganagh. That is a significant 597 homes. I will be watching it carefully next week and taking advice from members in Dublin City Council.