Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

My mother, as a proud Kildare woman, would probably concur with the comments of Deputy Pringle too.

I thank all of the Deputies for their contributions. I will respond to some of their comments before making my closing remarks. Quite a number of Deputies have raised the issue of apprentices and direct maintenance within local authorities. I raised this with officials during the briefing today as well because it is an important point. There was a time when there were maintenance crews within all of the local authorities who carried out small maintenance works to local authority housing stock, be that to drains, door latches, windows and so on. This is an important part of the issue. We have contracted out an awful lot of what used to be direct labour in local authorities. Many local authorities had small apprenticeship programmes too. That is something that should be given consideration because it would provide mobility and flexibility to carry out works and prevent houses from deteriorating further and becoming even more of a cost to the local authority.

Deputy Howlin raised the issues of anti-social behaviour and downsizing. The latter is something that we have all been hearing on the doorsteps in recent weeks. It should be reflected in local authority housing strategies into the future in terms of giving options to older people who want to downsize. A number of Deputies also raised the issue of substandard conditions in social housing, some of which give rise to respiratory conditions. This is still an issue in some local authority stock and is a particular issue in relation to Traveller accommodation. I have come across quite a lot of Traveller accommodation that is substandard.

Deputy Cian O'Callaghan raised the issue of climate targets and the EPA report, which is a very pertinent point. He also spoke about the retrofitting programme and I will give some figures on that in my closing remarks. The figures are starting to move in the right direction, particularly in the last two to three years. Again, a number of Deputies raised the issue of the housing adaptation grants and the review of same. I will bring their questions on the status of that review back to the Department.

Several Deputies referenced issues with mould and poor ventilation. Deputy Canney raised some very important issues around the resources to manage housing stock, particularly new stock that is being constructed. He talked about having maintenance teams in place to ensure that tenants are aware of the new technologies that are driving the energy efficiency in their homes. I will take Deputy O'Donoghue's question on BER assessors back to the Department and revert to him on it. I agree with the points made by Deputy Pringle on rural housing. There is quite a lot of rural housing stock in local authority stewardship, social housing, that requires equal attention. While the focus of today's debate has been very much on urban housing, our rural social housing stock is just as important.

Again, I thank all Deputies for their contributions. I echo the comments made by the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, and reassert this Government’s commitment to tackling challenges in the housing sector, while also acknowledging the steps being taken by the Government to ensure strategic and informed programmes of planned maintenance work for local authority housing are implemented and supported by individual stock condition data and the appropriate ICT asset management solution.

We know inadequate housing conditions can have a real impact on people’s lives and the nation as a whole. We understand how important it is that local authority tenants who are occupying properties and paying their weekly rents are living in homes which provide good comfort levels for their occupants and that these properties are meeting the standards as set out in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. Local authorities, as landlords, must ensure their properties meet these minimum standards. That point was made by Deputy Michael Healy-Rae.

We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge in going from a predominantly responsive maintenance approach to housing stock management and maintenance, to a proactive and planned approach informed by stock condition surveys. Given the very significant investment into local authority stock improvement programmes since this Government has come to office, amounting to €558.6 million, it is expected that local authorities should be in a strong position to complete the transition to a strategic and informed planned maintenance approach by the end of the year.

This Government is also funding an extensive programme of regeneration to refurbish and-or replace older flat complexes in Dublin city, with excellent progress being made with projects such as O’Devaney Gardens, St. Teresa’s Gardens and St. Michael’s Estate in Inchicore as well as plans being put in place for refurbishment and rebuilding at flat complexes, including St. Mary’s on Dorset Street, Constitution Hill, Matt Talbot Court, Glover Court, Pearse House, St. Andrew’s Court, Oliver Bond House and Dominick Street West.

In Knocknaheeny, on the northside of Cork city, the Cork north-west quarter regeneration programme is well under way and includes the demolition of 450 houses and their replacement with 678 high-quality homes. A total of 121 new homes have been completed to date, with a further 103 homes due to be completed later this year.

The Sinn Féin motion, although not being opposed, does not fairly represent the efforts and progress this Government has made and is making. Sinn Féin makes the point that we need to ensure the social housing stock is maintained to the highest standard and we need to create a dedicated annual fund for local authorities to supplement their existing response maintenance budgets but this is already in train. Local authorities are being asked to ensure all their tenanted properties are in compliance with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. Dedicated funding is also in place, as has been outlined by the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, in his opening statement.

I reiterate that €90 million is available for the energy efficiency retrofit programmes, an increase of almost 40% since the new programme was implemented in 2021. A total of €50 million is available in 2024 for the regeneration programme which will provide funding for all projects in the pipeline, while €31 million is available under the planned maintenance and voids programme, with €5 million of this funding ring-fenced to help support the completion of stock condition surveys, the implementation of an asset management ICT system and an element of planned maintenance works as a result of these surveys this year. The disabled person grant scheme for local authority housing received a budget of €25 million, with a further €75 million available for the housing adaptation grant scheme for older people and people with a disability. That said, I note the points made by Deputies in relation to the review of that scheme. Very significant funding is available under the Department's new-build funding programme where existing and substandard estates and flat complexes are being demolished and new ones built. These figures do not include the funding local authorities provide from their own resources. To that end, and given the legal responsibility on local authorities with regard to management and maintenance, local authorities play a very important role in ensuring ensure adequate budgetary provision for the purpose of housing repairs and cyclical maintenance from their rental income.

This Government has supported the remediation of 10,820 vacant local authority-owned homes since coming to office. Again, these properties were raised by Deputies Canney and Healy-Rae, although the latter called them voids. The Government has delivered 5,766 retrofits to a B2 or cost-optimal BER and has increased funding year on year to support local authorities in their work in this area.

The Sinn Féin motion argues that there should be a significant increase in the funding for retrofitting and regeneration to speed up the delivery of much-needed refurbishment of older inner city flat complexes while also significantly increasing the funding for the social housing retrofitting programmes to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy poverty. Again, this work is already being done. Funding for retrofit has increased 40% over the past three years, with €90 million available in 2024. Furthermore, the ambition is to have 70% of local authority homes at A or B rating by 2030. Included in this are the 36,500 homes that are to be retrofitted under the programme for Government commitment. Funding for the national regeneration programme has remained consistent under Housing for All. This reflects the Government’s continued commitment to address physical, social and economic regeneration in the most disadvantaged communities, as evidenced by the recently opened Dominick Hall complex in Dublin's north inner city.

The funding for the programme is an integral part of the overall approach to regeneration and helps to leverage additional mainstream funding for the benefit of the relevant areas. I reiterate that the programme is under review to ensure that it continues to meet the overall objective of addressing the challenges faced by disadvantaged communities. I also reiterate that the work the Government has done since coming into office is working. We will continue to do everything in our power to support local authorities to ensure their homes comply with the relevant standards and provide good comfort levels for their tenants.

I thank all Deputies for their contributions, which were useful and informative. This has been a constructive debate, and I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward the motion.

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