Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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211. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department will increase the funding allocation for Tipperary County Council housing adaptation grants to allow the council to proceed with the upgrading of double-glazing windows and doors that are in poor condition under the HOP scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60233/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides funding under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability, to assist people in private houses to make their accommodation more suitable for their needs.  The grants include the Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability, the Mobility Aids Grant and the Housing Aid for Older People, which are 80% funded by my Department, with a 20% contribution from the resources of the local authority.  The detailed administration of these schemes including assessment, approval and prioritisation, is the responsibility of local authorities.  Local authorities receive an overall allocation, with the responsibility for the apportionment between the three schemes being a matter for each authority given their knowledge of local need.

My Department's approach every year is to issue a single full year allocation to each local authority, so they can plan and implement the grants programme. Over the course of the year, my Department works closely with the local authorities to monitor spend and to achieve a full drawdown of the available funding. This means that if underspends arise on the part of some local authorities, they can be redistributed to other authorities which have high levels of grant activity. If Tipperary County Council is in a position to allocate additional own resources to the grant scheme in 2022, further additional funding can be requested from my Department and every effort will be made to accede to any such request.

Exchequer funding of €65 million is available nationally for the scheme in 2022, and the funding provision for 2023 has been increased by €2 million to a total of €67 million, continuing the year-on-year increases since 2014. As part of the annual budgetary process, consideration will be given to increasing this funding in future years in line with the Programme for Government commitments and the Policy Statement on Housing Options for Our Ageing Population, which is available on my Department's website at the following link:

www.gov.ie/en/publication/ea33c1-housing-options-for-our-ageing-population-policy-statement/

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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212. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the incomplete and missing records of asset declaration for county councillors on a number of local authority websites; if he will instruct local authorities to publish, as soon as practicable, all asset declarations which they have on file, noting where files are missing where appropriate; if he will commit to ensuring that all local authorities make complete versions of these records available online for the public to inspect in an accessible manner; if he will consider setting up a centralised database for same on his Department’s website to ensure consistency in reporting and transparency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60269/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Ethical conduct in public office continues to be governed by the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 and the Standards in Public Office Act 2001 (‘the Ethics Acts’), and, at local level, by Part 15 of the Local Government Act 2001, as amended.

Part 15 of the 2001 Act provides an ethical framework for local government, which imposes a statutory duty on all in the service to maintain proper standards of integrity, conduct and concern for the public interest. This includes the completion of annual declarations by councillors and the maintaining of a public register of interests by each local authority.

Regulations were given effect in 2015 setting out the prescribed form to be used for annual declarations. My Department issues directions at the beginning of each year to remind councillors and local authorities of their statutory obligations, as well as providing guidance on the completion of annual declarations. We will ensure the matter of timely publication of the register is reinforced in the directions that will issue early in 2023.

Each local authority appoints an Ethics Registrar to issue annual declaration forms and maintain public registers. If a person considers that a member of a local authority may have breached their obligations under the Acts or the Code, they should bring their complaint to the attention of the Ethics Registrar in the relevant local authority in the first instance. If a person is not satisfied with the outcome of any examination by the local authority then the complaint may be referred to the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) after local avenues have been exhausted.

SIPO has the authority to examine complaints about councillors and local authorities regarding non-compliance with statutory requirements set out under Part 15 of the 2001 Act. SIPO is independent in the performance of its functions. My Department has no function in relation to examining such complaints.

The Programme for Government: Our Shared Future includes a commitment to reform and consolidate ethics legislation. As part of this process the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has been carrying out a review of ethics legislation in consultation with other Government Departments and key stakeholders, including examination of requirements in relation to annual declarations by office holders and prescribed employees.

My Department has been informed that a report of the findings of this review is now being finalised for consideration by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform who will then bring this report to Government for its approval and publication. It is intended that Government approval will also be sought to prepare a General Scheme of a Bill, to be drafted during 2023.

My Department is awaiting the outcome of this review process and will engage with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform regarding any specific issues that are identified in relation to the local government sector.