Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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299. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government when the fire safety certificate and disability access certificate was issued by Dublin City Council for a building (details supplied); when a certificate of compliance was validated by Dublin City Council; the name of the assigned certifier who was on site on 21 June 2017; when the safety file was given to the building owner; the name of the project supervisor at construction stage; if they were on site on 21 June 2017; and if it was legal for homeless persons to be placed in this facility on the night in June when ten families were placed for a single night. [30274/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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My Department has overall responsibility for the statutory regulatory framework governing Building Regulations, Building Control and Fire Services. Inspection and enforcement are a matter for local authorities who, under the relevant legislation, are designated as Building Control and Fire Authorities in their respective functional areas and have extensive statutory powers of inspection and enforcement.

A Fire Safety Certificate is a certificate granted by a local Building Control Authority which specifies that the works or building to which the application relates will, if carried out in accordance with the plans and specifications submitted, comply with the requirements of Part B of the Second Schedule to the Building Regulations. A Fire Safety Certificate is required for certain works to existing buildings, including a material alteration or change of use, to which the requirements of Part B of the Building Regulations apply.

A Disability Access Certificate is a certificate granted by a local Building Control Authority which specifies that the works or building to which the application relates will, if carried out in accordance with the plans and specifications submitted, comply with the requirements of Part M of the Second Schedule to the Building Regulations. Where a Fire Safety Certificate is required for any works, a Disability Access Certificate is also required.

Fire Safety Certificates, Disability Access Certificates and all other statutory Certificates required pursuant to the Building Regulations and Building Control Regulations are lodged with the appropriate local Building Control Authority and my Department has no involvement in the operational or transactional element of this mandatory statutory requirement.

The information sought by the Deputy may be obtained directly from the relevant local Building Control Authority, Dublin City Council, although some of the information requested is available on the Building Control Management System online public register – specifically at page number 43 of the Q.2 2017 document at the following web address: .

I would like to reaffirm that the paramount priority is and must always be life safety in and about buildings, including the safety and welfare of families placed in emergency accommodation. I have been informed that Dublin City Council met Dublin Fire Services on 21 June 2017 and will be working with them to implement further precautions to enable the particular facility to be utilised on a contingency basis as a harm reduction measure to ensure that families do not have to sleep rough, while the broader refurbishment of the property is completed, allowing it to then serve as supported temporary accommodation for families.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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300. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of the 800 plus families who were in hotel and bed and breakfast emergency accommodation at the end of March 2017 that have been transferred to other forms of emergency accommodation to date in 2017; and the number of the 650 families who were in hotel and bed and breakfast emergency accommodation at the end of May 2017 that will be moved into other forms of emergency accommodation including hubs by the end of July and August 2017. [30275/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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At the end of March 2017, there was a total of 871 families accommodated in commercial hotels and B&Bs in the Dublin region.  By the end of May, this figure had reduced to approximately 650.

Changes in the number of families in hotels arise on a daily basis as new homeless families present, while others leave.  In the two months from March to May 2017, based on figures provided to my Department by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE), 220 of the 381 families presenting as homeless entered hotels, while accommodation solutions were delivered for 605 families - 319 through a programme of family-oriented supported temporary accommodation facilities and 286 through local authority/Approved Housing Body tenancies or the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) homelessness scheme, including 161 families who were prevented from entering hotels.  Overall, since the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness was published in July 2016, over 830 families have exited hotels and during the same timeframe, over 400 families were prevented from entering hotels through the HAP scheme.

I am engaging with the Dublin local authorities on an ongoing basis to ensure that the continued reduction in the use of hotels is prioritised.  While the emphasis must be on exiting as many as possible of the families in hotels at end-May, I have requested that any remaining families, other than in exceptional circumstances, are notified by end June of the pathway out of hotels envisaged for them.  The completion of that work shortly will provide information on the mix of accommodation solutions involved.

Last week, I announced my intention to make available €10 million for further new family-oriented supported temporary accommodation facilities.  Currently, fifteen such facilities are being developed at a total estimated cost of €25 million to provide accommodation for upwards of 600 families.  The additional funding will add accommodation in such facilities for at least another 200 families.