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

I thank the Chair and members. I submitted a longer and more detailed written statement, which the members have already, so I will keep my remarks relatively short and present an overview. I also appreciate the Chair's kind remarks regarding the briefing provided by departmental officials to members. I welcome the opportunity to discuss my Department’s Estimate for 2022, as well as the Votes for the Valuation Office and the Property Registration Authority, which are also under the aegis of my Department. As the Chair mentioned, I am joined by my colleague, the Minister of State with special responsibility for local government and planning, Deputy Peter Burke. I am also joined by my officials, Mary Hurley, assistant secretary, local government division; David Kelly, principal officer, social housing delivery division; David Flynn, principal adviser, water division; Lorraine O'Donoghue, principal officer, local government finance unit; and Janet Jacobs, assistant principal officer, departmental finance unit.

Starting with Vote 34, this totals over €5.9 billion for the year and comprises €2.5 billion in current funding and €3.4 billion on the capital side. In addition, there is a €276 million capital carry-over from 2021. Another €91.5 million is coming from the proceeds of the local property tax, LPT. This means that €6.3 billion in funds will be managed across Vote 34 this year. As we continued to grapple with the ever-changing reality of the impact of Covid-19 last year, our ability to push forward at the pace of delivery anticipated was simply not possible.

Construction closures, social distancing measures, workforce impacts and supply chain issues outside of any of our control or visibility had a significant impact on delivery and, consequentially, had an impact on expenditure.

My Department continued to work at a relentless pace to deliver emergency legislation, to ensure that vulnerable households were protected and to push on to provide a new pathway for housing delivery at a scale and investment level never seen before in the history of this State. The past few weeks have been very positive in terms of the cautious reopening and I am very hopeful that will translate now into an unimpeded and very productive year.

More than €3.6 billion is being allocated to housing programmes in 2022, representing an increase of more than €527 million or 17% on the Estimate for 2021. In addition, there will be €92 million from local property tax receipts and a carry-over of €246 million from 2021. The total funding being made available for the delivery of housing programmes is just under €4 billion, including €2.6 billion in capital funding. This will be further supplemented again through Housing for All, HFA, lending and Land Development Agency funding for the most substantial capital budget for housing ever seen.

Bearing in mind that there are many types of social housing needs with this budget, we must take a multipronged approach and maintain the support for the 82,000 households in receipt of the housing assistance payment, HAP, or in the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. We cannot simply turn off the tap in that space. We must ensure immediate supports being made available for families who seek urgent assistance in providing funding for an additional 15,000 immediate supports for 2022. Focus will be on long-term housing delivery, with the delivery of 11,820 new social homes, 9,000 of which will be new-build social homes. As part of our Housing for All programme, we intend to get that average of new-build homes up to 10,000 over the period of the plan.

The Affordable Housing Act 2021, the first ever stand-alone affordable housing legislation, established the basis for our delivery of new affordable purchase and cost-rental schemes. We have targeted 4,100 affordable homes this year to be delivered by local authorities, approved housing bodies, the Land Development Agency, LDA, and through a strategic partnership between the State and banks. The first cost-rental homes in the country were tenanted in 2021 in Taylor Hill, Balbriggan, at an average of 40% below market value. The first affordable purchase homes will be made available in Boherboy in Cork city at purchase prices ranging from €217,000 for a two-bedroom home to €243,000 for a three-bedroom home. We will now see a really significant year-on-year increase in the number of affordable homes which will lead to an average of 6,000 homes per year over the lifetime of Housing for All.

While it is clear and strategic to have our focus on the long term and on building our housing stock, we must also invest energy and funding into tackling homelessness, which is a real, immediate and acute issue. Those in homelessness are living at the sharpest end of this housing crisis. The €194 million allocated in 2022 reflects the priority the Government is giving to this area and will advance 18 distinct commitments under Housing for All. I will also provide funding for other important areas, including €85 million to retrofit 2,400 social housing homes; enhancing measures to tackle vacancy and providing support to the rental sector.

Recognising that funding alone will not yield results, a central element of Housing for All is to build institutional capacity. I am committed to strengthening the capacity of local authorities to initiate, design, plan, develop and manage housing projects and to engage in the range of activities to promote living cities and towns, by tackling vacancy and dereliction and supporting regeneration.

My Department has made substantial progress on how we manage our water quality and water services. Central to this is the transformation and separation of Irish Water from the Ervia group and the creation of a national, publicly-owned, regulated, single public water utility. There is a major programme of work ahead of us to complete this transformational journey and engagement on a framework for the future is currently taking place at the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. I believe it will be possible to reach a collective agreement that addresses the interests and concerns of all parties.

In 2022, the Department will provide more than €1.4 billion to Irish Water. This includes €830 million in capital to allow it to continue its capital investment programme to modernise and expand the capacity of Ireland’s water infrastructure through projects such as Ringsend, Arklow and Kilkenny wastewater treatment plants, which will raise network capacity, increase water quality and bring us closer to compliance with European directives. It is important to say it is the first time Irish Water has a view of its funding on a multi-annual basis and can plan appropriately to deliver projects such as Ringsend, which is now commissioned and Arklow, where we have broken ground and contractors are in place and throughout the country.

The record level of investment will ensure that Irish Water can support the delivery of the Government’s housing objectives in Housing for All. In addition, Irish Water is taking additional actions to support housing connections to public water services through publishing capacity registers, which are available now, engaging with the LDA on identifying land suitable for development and facilitating self-lay accreditation, which is an important step forward. We initiated a pilot scheme in July 2020 to allow for self-lay accreditation and it is now expanding throughout the country.

My Department also continues to invest directly in rural water services through the rural water programme by allocating more than €62 million in 2022. It will launch a new multi-annual rural water programme later this year. This will also include a new element to support the provision of wastewater treatment in non-sewered villages. This will be a very important announcement shortly. We will manage this programme with the co-operation of local authorities and Irish Water. I will have additional announcements on that in the coming weeks and months.

The Minister of State, Deputy Burke, will shortly speak on matters related to local government but I would like to specifically mention the significant capital investment in fire and emergency services in 2022. The allocation will amount to €19.3 million, including investment in the national directorate for fire and emergency management, NDFEM, and €18 million in capital. Some €6 million is allocated for the progression of fire station construction and upgrade projects. The projects announced under the 2021 to 2025 fire services capital programme are progressing. Further drawdown is expected in 2022, as more projects progress through the design and planning stages, with construction beginning on others.

Some €5 million will contribute to appliances, procured under the new fire appliance procurement programme, which runs from 2021 to 2023. Some €2 million will progress the final element of the upgrade of the communications and mobilisation system under the Ctrí project. Some €5 million will fund other necessary emergency and rescue vehicles and equipment, including jeeps, vans, road-traffic accident equipment, breathing apparatus, telecommunications and other fire equipment, where grant aid has been approved to fire authorities.

On the heritage side, in 2022, a total of €180 million is allocated for heritage projects, of which €176 million is Revised Estimates Volume, REV, funding, with a further €3.5 million carbon tax carry-over for peatlands restoration. Operational and capital budgets will increase almost 45% year on year in 2022. This will fund activity under the National Monuments Service, the built heritage programmes and the National Parks and Wildlife Service's extraordinary teams that deliver for the citizen directly through the agencies and bodies under our aegis, which are the Heritage Council, Waterways Ireland and the Irish Heritage Trust.

This substantial funding will allow the Department to progress an expanded programme of peatlands restoration; biodiversity investment and nature conservation works. We will expand participation in the National Parks and Wildlife Service farm plan scheme and the LIFE nature programmes. We will protect our archaeological and built heritage with a further 1,100 built heritage projects targeted for support in 2022.

We will invest in and support Ireland's national parks and reserves. Approved staffing levels for the NPWS now exceed those in place prior to the financial crisis. We will maintain and invest in our inland waterways for some 15,000 registered boat users through Waterways Ireland, including the acceleration of the Ulster Canal and other cross-Border projects.

The 87,000 ha national parks and nature reserve network and the heritage estate of national monuments and historical properties saw unprecedented levels of visitors over the last two years, offering a lifeline by providing physical and mental health space where people could safely access the outdoors for fresh air, exercise, mindfulness and well-being during the Covid-19 pandemic.

To summarise, the 2022 funding continues the supports for heritage and associated grant schemes providing conservation, amenity, health and well-being benefits to our citizens along with jobs, as well as supporting Ireland's climate actions, tourism and economic development in communities and regions. All this work on heritage is being ably led and managed by the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, who is doing a fantastic job. He cannot attend this meeting due to other commitments this evening.

This year, some €43 million will be provided to Met Éireann and will be used to fund the essential maintenance, development and support of Met Éireann's specialised meteorological and ICT infrastructure. In the context of climate change and the impact of weather in Ireland, Met Éireann serves society through the production and communication of reliable weather and climate information that will protect life and property. This funding will further enhance Met Éireann's role as the authoritative voice of meteorology and climatology in Ireland.

As the committee is aware, my Department also has responsibility for Ordnance Survey Ireland, the Valuation Office and the Property Registration Authority. A provision of nearly €19.6 million is made in Vote 34 for Ordnance Survey Ireland in 2022, while the other two organisations have separate Votes, amounting to €22 million for the Valuation Office and €35 million for the Property Registration Authority. These bodies are to merge to form Tailte Éireann and work is proceeding in my Department on this important project.

I have kept my remarks as brief as possible given we are covering a Department as broad as the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with such a significant investment programme for 2022. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, will now speak about the important work being funded in local government and planning.