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

This is an issue I have dealt with at a local level in respect, in particular, of Traveller accommodation. It is a very serious public health issue. I absolutely agree that it needs to be tackled.

In accordance with section 58 of the Housing Act 1966, local authorities are legally responsible for the management and maintenance of their housing stock. Local authorities also have a legal obligation to ensure that all of their tenanted properties are compliant with the provisions of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. Minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in those regulations and focus on tenant safety. They specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as ventilation, structural repair, fire safety, sanitary facilities, heating and the safety of gas, oil and electrical installations. The regulations apply to all properties let or available for let, including social housing. All landlords, including local authorities, have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with the standards set out in the regulations.

Responsibility for enforcement of the regulations in the private rental sector, including approved housing body properties, rests with the relevant local authority. The Government is committed to ensuring that a high quality stock of rental accommodation is available for households who rent, be it in the private market or in accommodation provided directly by local authorities. Notwithstanding the legal obligations on local authorities to manage and maintain their housing stock, our Department does in a focused way provide annual funding to local authorities to support their work in this area. For example, under the voids programme, our Department supports local authorities in refurbishing vacant social homes and returning them to productive use. This funding programme was introduced in 2014 and to the end of 2021, returned significant numbers of properties to use with funding of €261 million from our Department.

Our Department launched the energy efficiency retrofitting programme in 2013 with the aim of funding the retrofit of social homes requiring insulation and energy upgrade works. Since the programme commenced in 2013, over €188 million of Exchequer funding has been provided under this scheme. Poorly adapted insulation can sometimes be the cause of mould in properties. That is worth addressing. My Department also provides for the disabled persons grant, DPG, scheme which provides funding for adaptations and extensions to existing social housing stock to meet specific needs of the local authority tenants with a 10% contribution required from the local authority. From 2011 to 2021, a total of €138 million was spent under the DPG scheme.

The selection of properties for inclusion in these programmes and the nature of works to be completed in line with the criteria of the schemes are matters for each individual local authority. The implementation of these focused programmes is separate to the local authorities' legal responsibilities under the Housing Acts to ensure that they maintain their housing stock to the appropriate legal standards.

My Department will continue to support local authorities in these focused stock improvement works and work is also ongoing with the local authority sector, through the City and County Management Association, CCMA, to drive a planned maintenance approach to the management and maintenance of all local authority housing stock. Local authorities are entrusted with providing high-quality housing stock to social housing tenants. The Department is funding the development of a national asset management system for the sector that should greatly assist the sector in this task.

I will come back with a supplementary reply. Both Deputies have suggested a mould audit and a task force on this issue. Those suggestions are worthy of consideration. The issue can sometimes be caused by poor insulation or ventilation. It can also be caused by overcrowding in local authority stock, which is a real problem. Sometimes good advice to tenants can be of considerable assistance in terms of ventilating properties.

I will come back in on the supplementary again to follow up on the specific question.

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