Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I will keep my statement as brief as possible. For the information of members and the Cathaoirleach, I am joined by my officials, Mr. Brían Munnelly, Mr. David Kelly, Ms. Sinead Kehoe and Ms. Janet Jacobs, along with the Ministers of State. As the Cathaoirleach has said, we have provided briefing material in advance so I will keep my remarks brief.

The Further Revised Estimate before the committee totals over €6.3 billion for the year. It comprises €2.8 billion in current funding and €3.5 billion in capital funding. In addition, there is €340 million in capital carryover from 2022 and €168 million from the proceeds of the local property tax, which means that approximately €6.8 billion in funds will be managed across Vote 34 this year.

The year 2022 was very challenging for Ireland and a responsive and agile approach to both policy and finance was required. While we were initially optimistic for a return to pre-pandemic activity and expenditure, 2022 was an even more challenging year on many fronts. As we continued to contend with the continued reality of Covid-19 and dealt with new and emerging challenges in 2022, specifically the war in Ukraine and global supply chain issues, the pace of delivery anticipated at the outset was simply not possible and there was consequential impact on delivery and expenditure. However, we pushed on assertively to support strong housing delivery. My Department continued to work in driving important legislative and structural change, ensuring that vulnerable households were protected and delivering cross-Government supports. Budget 2023 confirms the Government’s financial support for housing, underscoring it as one of the top priorities.

I will now very briefly take the committee through the key areas of expenditure for 2023. On housing, 2023 is the second year of the implementation of the Housing for All plan and will see continued record investment in housing. Overall, €4.5 billion in capital funding is being provided through a combination of Exchequer resources, lending by the Housing Finance Agency and investment by the Land Development Agency. The capital investment will be supplemented by a further €1.4 billion to support the implementation of current funded housing programmes. This funding will ensure that 27,000 additional households will have their housing needs met in 2023 through the provision of social and affordable housing.

Addressing homelessness is the key priority for me and my Department. Budget 2023 provides €215 million in funding for homelessness services. This funding will allow local authorities and their NGO service delivery partners to support individuals and families experiencing homelessness. This includes emergency accommodation but also other related supports. The long-term answer, of course, remains an increased and sustainable supply of new housing. The Government's overall objective is to ensure we can support all households experiencing homelessness in securing a home. That is why my Department is firmly focused on continuing to accelerate the delivery of social housing. The main focus for 2023 is on capital investment to deliver new-build homes to support households on social housing waiting lists. Some 11,830 new social homes will be delivered and the majority of these, 9,100, will be new-build social homes. In addition, 9,600 new tenancies will be supported through housing assistance payment and the rental accommodation scheme. In line with the Government’s commitment to deliver affordable housing for all, more new affordable homes will be delivered in 2023. The total funding being provided will finance a range of affordability schemes and measures to deliver over 5,500 new affordable purchase and cost-rental homes.

Along with the provision of new social and affordable homes, the investment for housing this year will also address a broader range of critical housing areas, including special needs, initiatives to address vacancy, the better utilisation of existing stock, remediation of defective homes and the provision of supports to maintain people in their homes through retrofitting measures, upgrades and adaptation works.

My Department has made substantial progress on how we manage our water quality and water services. Central to this is establishment of Uisce Éireann as a separate company from its parent, Ervia, being in public ownership as a national, standalone, regulated utility to be known as Uisce Éireann. An industrial relations agreement, which will assist in ensuring a stable operational environment is maintained, is in place on a framework for the future delivery of water services between the Department, Uisce Éireann, the County and City Management Association and union representatives.

In 2023, my Department is providing over €1.6 billion to Uisce Éireann for the delivery of water services. This includes €974 million in capital to allow it to continue its investment programme to modernise and expand the capacity of Ireland’s water infrastructure through projects such as the wastewater treatment plants at Ringsend and Arklow and the Athlone main drainage project, which will raise network capacities, increase water quality and bring us closer to compliance with European directives. This record level of investment will ensure that Uisce Éireann can support the delivery of the Government’s housing objectives under Housing for All. In addition, Uisce Éireann is taking additional actions to support housing connections to public water services through publishing capacity registers, engaging with the Land Development Agency to identify land suitable for development and facilitating self-lay accreditation, which has been very successful. It started as a pilot in July 2022 and is now in place right across the country.

My Department also continues to invest directly in rural water services through the rural water programme by allocating over €67 million in 2023. My Department will be launching a new multi-annual rural water programme in the coming months. This will also include a new element to support the provision of wastewater treatment in non-sewered villages.

The Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell, 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 2023.

The allocation will amount to €23.8 million, allowing greater progress on our programmes for the construction and upgrading of fire stations, the procurement of fire appliances and other essential, specialised equipment, and the provision of enhanced communication facilities. Also, my Department, over the past three years, has worked closely with local authorities to provide an essential lifeline to local businesses in the form of a rates waiver. To the end of 2022, over €1.28 billion had been routed through the Local Government Fund for this purpose.

This year, some €56 million will be provided to Met Éireann, enabling the provision of a range of meteorological services to customers, including monitoring, analysis and the prediction of Ireland’s weather and climate to ensure the quality, timeliness and reliability of these essential services.

Before I hand over to the Ministers of State, I note the newly established Tailte Éireann and the Electoral Commission, An Coimisiún Toghcháin. Tailte Éireann will provide the authoritative property registration system, national mapping and surveying infrastructure, and property valuation service for the State. An Coimisiún will be central to how Ireland’s electoral system is administered, how it develops and how it is safeguarded.

I have kept my remarks as brief as possible and will now hand over to Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell. He will speak about the important work being funded in local government and planning.