Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is welcome to the House.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State. My Commencement matter asks him to confirm progress on a formal, standardised, independent appeals mechanism in respect of social housing decisions and that such an appeals process be set out as a statutory requirement. I am glad to see the Minister of State here as he is from the responsible Department.

One might ask what type of issues may be of concern and subject to an appeal. The issues in housing and local authorities range from allocations to transfers, loans, grants, repairs, rents, failure to provide Traveller accommodation, homelessness and access to housing lists. Somehow there are disputes but there is no successful remedy in most cases. The Minister of State may or may not know that people find themselves at loggerheads or in dispute with the deciding officers of the local authorities. The local authorities are police and controlling judge and jury in their own cause and it is simply not good enough. The Minister of State will be aware that a new general scheme has been proposed for legislation that relates to the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 and some of this matter is covered in it.I acknowledge the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, for the enormous work it has done in this particular area.

What are the advantages of an appeal, one might ask? An appeal enables the merits of a decision to be re-examined through an assessment of questions of fact, and the application of judgment for those facts, rather than just an assessment of the process by which the decision was made or arrived at, which may very well be examined at a later date in a judicial review. Given the nature of social housing provision, I do not believe that people should be seeking judicial reviews. I know there are mechanisms to refer things to the Ombudsman's office but it is a lengthy process. Again, I think we should be remedying and giving solutions on the ground in our local authorities, but we need uniformity. Before the Minister of State tells me that all 31 local authorities are doing different things, I will say that I do not want to hear that anymore. The politicians and Ministers are driving the legislation, and we clearly know there are problems.

There is a lack of an appeals mechanism. This has been identified by a number of advocacy groups in the area of housing. I note that there was no provision for an appeals mechanism in the general scheme of the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill 2024, to which I referred. This surprises me. This is the most current Bill on which the Department is working. This is unlike the area of social welfare. If issues arise in the area of social welfare, there are mechanisms for an independent review. People should not be forced to litigate in the courts because that is not how any of us want to see these things happen. There is a need for deciding officers and clear administrative accountability to minimise the rise in the number of persons being adversely affected by incorrect decisions or oversights by housing authorities. That is important.

I contacted Wayne Stanley. He is, of course, one of the chief advocates in the Simon Community. In his reply, he made three asks:

A commitment to a broad consultation and engagement to ensure that the much-needed independent appeals process is fit for purpose.

A commitment that the decisions of the appeals body would publish its decision (appropriately anonymised).

A commitment that in any legislative development on access to social housing the opportunity to confirm in legislation ‘for the avoidance of doubt’ that it has no bearing on the provision of emergency accommodation. Emergency accommodation is a critically important humanitarian response not an accommodation solution in any sense.

I will leave that with the Minister of State.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank the Senator for tabling this important Commencement matter. It is open to anyone to apply for social housing support. The qualification criteria are set out in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the social housing assessment regulations, as amended, and are applied by all local authorities in assessing individual households for support. Section 63(3) of the Local Government Act 2001 provides that, subject to law, a local authority is independent in the performance of its functions.

The oversight and practical arrangement of housing waiting lists, including the allocation and transfer of tenancies, is a matter for the relevant authority in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated regulations. The allocation of social housing support to qualified households is a matter for the local authority concerned in accordance with the allocation scheme made in accordance with section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated social housing allocation regulations 2011, as amended. This legislation requires all local authorities as a reserve function to make an allocation scheme which specifies, among other things, the manner and the order of priority for the allocation of dwellings to households and to the housing transfer list. Of course, the Senator is well aware of this.

The local authority assesses the housing applicants, taking into account factors such as the condition and affordability of existing accommodation, medical and compassionate grounds, etc. The authority can then prioritise the needs of approved applicants in accordance with its allocation scheme. Decisions on the allocation of social housing support are a matter solely for the local authority concerned. Each application must be considered on its own merits and individual circumstances must be taken into account.

Local authorities have their own internal appeals mechanism. If an individual is dissatisfied with the outcome of an appeal, it is open to them to raise their case with the Ombudsman. My Department recently received the report of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill 2024. One of the recommendations of the report is to include a robust and independent appeals mechanism in the legislation, as the Senator has stated. My Department thanks the committee for this report. Officials are working closely with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel on the drafting of the Bill and will consult it specifically on this matter, which, I agree, is extremely important.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I do not know who read the Commencement matter. It asks the Minister to confirm the progress on a form of standardised independent means mechanism. The Minister of State dealt with none of that. It is a "teach your grandmother to suck eggs" lecture from someone telling us about the independence of local authorities to do what they like. We know that the Ombudsman has a massive number of complaints from these local authorities relating to Traveller accommodation, social housing, HAP and a range of other issues. We are the legislators. We make primary legislation. I sit on the housing committee, as the Minister of State said.

I know the Minister of State is committed, but it is simply not good enough to keep saying that local authorities are responsible. The Government is taking powers from local authorities all over the place. We will see it with the Planning and Development Bill this week. Powers are being removed in the context of a range of issues. We have a problem, as the Minister of State said here last week, with decentralising some of our powers and with transferring powers to local authorities.

I like the Minister of State. He is a decent person, a decent Minister of State and is committed. I respectfully ask him to bring one message back to the Department, namely that we support the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission's recommendations for a formal, standardised, independent appeals mechanism in respect of housing. That is what our committee did in the context of pre-legislative scrutiny and that is what is done in the report. It is a fair ask, an important ask and one we should try to progress through the legislation which we are now going to be dealing with, which is the general scheme of the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill 2024.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Again, I agree with the points the Senator makes. If this recommendation has come from the housing committee, it needs to be given serious consideration. I absolutely agree with that. I refer as well to the points made by Wayne Stanley about broad support for an appeals body. I know from my constituency office that not everybody feels there has been transparency about the decisions made on their allocations. I refer in particular to the issue of Traveller accommodation. We see inconsistency across the country. Our Department has worked with local authorities to ensure that Traveller accommodation budgets are spent and allocated for Traveller-specific accommodation. Generally, it is important that people feel that their cases have been heard in a transparent and open manner. Serious consideration should be given to this particular request from the Oireachtas joint committee in respect of the proposed new housing provisions Bill.