I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy Eoin Ó Broin. Will the Minister provide an update on the review of section 10 funding for homelessness service providers and the changes he intends to make to this funding stream in light of the near financial collapse of an organisation in 2023?
Sentiment score: -0.25
The Peter McVerry Trust almost went bankrupt in the summer of 2023. The core issue was the use of capital funding to cross-subsidise the day-to-day running costs of the organisation. It ran up a liability of almost €20 million. There have been two independent regulator reports on the issues. It is totally unacceptable that the provision of homelessness services has been privatised and commercialised out. Why is 100% of the funding not given? Why is it 90%? Why is it that homelessness service providers must outbid each other? What is that about? It is the Government's responsibility to look after homeless people and provide emergency accommodation and services. Why is the Government not doing this? Why has it been turned into a commercial system where providers are pitted against each other? This was always going to happen. The question is why it was allowed to happen.
Sentiment score: -0.08
I asked the Minister a couple of questions and he answered none of them. Why is 100% of the funding not being given to homelessness service providers? Why are they put into a bidding war with each other in trying to provide homelessness services for people? Was there any oversight of what was happening? There had to be a €15 million bailout of the Peter McVerry Trust, a trust that was set up to support homeless people. Government policy over the years has been to farm these services out and to do a Pontius Pilate and wash its hands of it. We need funding now. What we should have is funding to 100% and providers given the support they need to provide the services. What changes does the Minister intend to make to ensure this does not happen again? I know he said a report is coming shortly. How many private contractors or suppliers have not been paid by the trust arising from its near collapse? What is the value of these liabilities and what are the Minister and the Department going to do to ensure these liabilities are cleared and paid off?
Sentiment score: 0.12
4. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the derelict sites levies levied, collected, owed and cumulatively owed; the number of sites subject to a CPO in the previous 12 months; the number of sites for which a levy was applied; and the number of sites on their register on 31 December 2024, by local authority, in tabular form. [36135/25]
Sentiment score: 0.10
I wish to ask the Minister about the derelict sites levies that have been levied, collected and owed; the number of sites subject to a CPO in the previous 12 months; the number of sites for which a levy was applied; and the number of sites on the register on 31 December 2024, by local authority.
Sentiment score: 0.60
The Minister of State and I sat on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage for four years. There are local authorities that will not put sites on the derelict sites register; some local authorities will not impose the levy, which is the law; and other local authorities will not collect the levy. Millions of euro are owed on derelict sites on the register but there are more sites that have not been put on it. This Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Government has allowed local authorities to not enforce the law. If a man parks his car illegally outside this House and gets a ticket, he has to pay it but the Government believes that a building falling down in the centre of Dublin, Cork, Waterford or Limerick should attract no attention. If one walks out of here and walks down the quays of Dublin, one will see the dereliction so how can one say things are being done? It is a scandal. There is a place on North Main Street in Cork that is falling down around us. Cork City Council has tried to CPO it but the landlord is blocking it. It is a scandal.
Sentiment score: -0.13
The facts are the facts. There are derelict sites in every town, village and city in this State. Between them, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in government for between ten and 14 years. These are the facts. I am not making this up. If the Minister of State wants to walk down the street with me, I will walk down with the three Ministers and a couple of Members of the Opposition and we will show him the dereliction. The Minister of State should not come in here and say he is doing this and he is doing that. There is unbelievable dereliction, which is destroying communities, and he says the onus is on local authorities. I recall the pressure that myself and Deputy Ó Broin in opposition put on the previous Government. There was no section within housing to tackle dereliction until we came at it non-stop over recent years and now there is. There is one person in each local authority - one person. Would the Government not give the local authorities the funding to hire the staff to do the work? The Minister of State spoke about a fund of €150 million. Why are there so many derelict buildings? Will he answer that?
Sentiment score: -0.05
It is not happening.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Minister stated the Government has delivered 3,600 units. That sums up its delivery. There were no cost-rental units in 2020. There were 65 in 2021, 684 in 2022, 869 in 2023 and 2,027 last year. That is still below the Government's targets. The Government has never delivered and has in fact missed every target it has set over the past four or five years. On top of that, in respect of so-called affordable cost rental properties, in O'Devaney Gardens tenants are paying from €1,490 to €1,900. In Donabate, they are paying between €1,327 and €1,547. In Lota More, Cork, rents are between €1,200 and €1,407. It is not affordable if people are paying more than a third of their income in rent, no matter what the Government wants to call it.
Sentiment score: -0.03
The Minister referred to people on moderate incomes and viability. There are people who cannot get on the social housing list because they earn too much, but they are not earning enough to qualify for cost rental because the rent is more than one third of their income. Individuals, couples and families are trapped in the middle. They are earning too much for social housing and not enough for cost-rental or affordable housing. What is the Government going to do about that? How will it help those people? The Government put those rents in place. The Minister referred to rents which are 25% below the market value. Last week, the Government made a decision to drive rents up over the next number of years with its housing policy. Rents which are 25% below market value do not make a cost-rental property affordable. All it does is reduce rents by 25% for unbelievably expensive properties. Affordability means that people can afford to rent. It is not that someone's rent is 25% below the market value. A lot of people cannot afford these rents.
Sentiment score: 0.07
There was no vote taken.
Sentiment score: -0.30
I will correct the Minister-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
If I said something like that the Minister would-----
Sentiment score: 0.36
I had solutions two weeks ago.
Sentiment score: 0.18
What about the people in the middle?
Sentiment score: 0.00
I brought solutions to the House three weeks ago. The Government voted against that.
Sentiment score: 0.09