Agenda - December 2021 County Council Meeting

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Date:
13/12/2021 15:30
Location:
Virtual Meeting
Standing Orders:

Headed Items

H-I (1)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

CONFIRMATION AND REAFFIRMATION OF MINUTES - FOR APPROVAL

(a) November Council Minutes – 8th November 2021

(b) Annual Budget Meeting Minutes – 18th November 2021

 

H-I (2)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

REPORTS OF AREA COMMITTEES - FOR NOTING

a) Rathfarnham/Templeogue/Firhouse/Bohernabreena Area Committee

Dealing with Public Realm, Water & Drainage, Housing, Community, Planning, Economic Development, Libraries & Arts, Corporate Support, Performance & Change Management

b) Clondalkin Area Committee

Dealing with Public Realm, Water & Drainage, Housing, Community, Planning, Economic Development, Libraries & Arts, Corporate Support, Performance & Change Management

c) Tallaght Area Committee

Dealing with Public Realm, Water & Drainage, Housing, Community, Planning, Economic Development, Libraries & Arts, Corporate Support, Performance & Change Management

d) Lucan/Palmerstown/North Clondalkin Area Committee

Dealing with Public Realm, Water & Drainage, Housing, Community, Planning, Economic Development, Libraries & Arts, Corporate Support, Performance & Change Management 

H-I (3)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

STANDING COMMITTEES ORGANISATION, PROCEDURE & FINANCE - FOR APPROVAL

a) Draft Calendar of Meeting Dates

b) Report on Conferences/Seminars

c) Civic Honours - Ms. Jackie Fox "Coco's Law"

H-I (4)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development, Director of Economic, Enterprise & Tourism Development , Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change , Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation

STRATEGIC POLICY COMMITTEES - FOR NOTING

a) Arts, Culture, Gaeilge, Heritage & Libraries SPC

(i) - Report of Meeting - 3rd November 2021

(ii) - Minutes of Meeting - 1st September 2021

 

b) Environment, Water, Climate Change & Biodiversity SPC

(i) - Report of Meeting - 2nd November 2021

(ii) - Minutes of Meeting - 7th September 2021

 

c) Economic, Enterprise & Tourism SPC

(i) - Report of Meeting - 24th November 2021

(ii) - Minutes of Meeting - 8th September 2021

 

d) Housing SPC

(i) - Report of Meeting - 9th November 2021

(ii) - Minutes of Meeting - 11th September 2021

 

e) Social, Community & Equality SPC

(i) - Report of Meeting - 16th November 2021

(ii) - Minutes of Meeting - 21st September 2021

 

f) Land Use, Planning & Transportation SPC

(i) - Report of Meeting - 25th November 2021

(ii) - Minutes of Meeting - 23rd September 2021

 

H-I (5)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

REPORTS REQUESTED BY AREA COMMITTEES - FOR NOTING

(No Reports)

Questions

Qu (1)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. Bailey
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

To ask which public buildings provide free sanitary products as part of #CombatPeriodPoverty in conjunction with Homeless Period Ireland and to ask if there are plans to include all public community centres, leisure centres, libraries and any other public buildings under the remit of SDCC.

Qu (2)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. Bailey
Responsibility:
Director of Economic, Enterprise & Tourism Development

To ask the Chief Executive to outline the four stage process to seek approval and funding from the Department of Housing in relation to social and/or affordable housing and to confirm if this is particularly onerous on local authorities when compared to the fast tracking application process in place for private developers (SHDs)?

Qu (3)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. Bailey
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive to explain why councillors are often told that it is 'too risky' for this local authority to directly build out larger social and/or affordable housing projects. This reason has been given to explain the reluctance to self-build and the preference to allow private developers to purchase public land and for local authorities to then buy back social & affordable housing from the developer when such housing would be cheaper if built directly, as is stated by a significant number of architects, housing social policy experts and housing academics.

Qu (4)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. Bailey
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive what plans there are to repair/replace windows, doors and boilers to combat mould and damp as well as to retrofit existing older persons accommodation to make them warmer and more energy efficient.

Qu (5)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. Bailey
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive to list all older persons accommodations across the county and to provide outlines and timelines of works where known, target outlines and dates if unknown and to provide information as to when actual outlines and timelines will be known.

Qu (6)
Submitted by:
Councillor Y. Collins
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change

To ask the Chief Executive for an update as to when Communications Boards will be installed in our public parks and play spaces given the success of the pilot project in Corkagh Park and the funding allocated in the budget.

Qu (7)
Submitted by:
Councillor Y. Collins
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change

To ask the Chief Executive to set out details of the cover the Council's emergency services will provide over the Christmas season.

Qu (8)
Submitted by:
Councillor T. Costello
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive, how long from date of receipt is it taking to fully process Housing Applications

Qu (9)
Submitted by:
Councillor T. Costello
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive how many offers of houses have been made Month on Month for the past 6 months by bedroom size and how many offers have been refused.

Qu (10)
Submitted by:
Councillor T. Costello
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

How many housing maintenance requests are currently in the system. Can I have details of how long requests have been outstanding

Qu (11)
Submitted by:
Councillor P. Gogarty
Responsibility:
Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation

To ask the Chief Executive if a legal framework exists whereby the roads in an estate or development under a planning permission have to be handed over to a local authority within a specified time period and if so what legal mechanisms are in place to force developers or receivers to hand over estates in a timely manner?

Qu (12)
Submitted by:
Councillor P. Gogarty
Responsibility:
Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation

To ask the Chief Executive outline whether any fines have successfully been applied to developers for not handing over estates in a timely manner or successful court actions taken to ensure works are completed?

Qu (13)
Submitted by:
Councillor M. Johansson
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive to provide a report of the number of homeless individuals/couples/families in the County?

Qu (14)
Submitted by:
Councillor M. Johansson
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive to produce a report on the homeless hubs in the county, including the waiting lists for same and the numbers currently accommodated in them?

Qu (15)
Submitted by:
Councillor D. Ó Brádaigh
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change

To ask the Chief Executive to produce an update report on previously agreed motion (Item ID 71772) to pilot project mapping nitrous oxide / drug paraphernalia - Over what period of time did the trial take place, what results did this yield and any proposals to act upon any learned data.

Qu (16)
Submitted by:
Councillor E. Ó Broin
Responsibility:
Director of Economic, Enterprise & Tourism Development

In response to the reply to Question 17 from the October County Council, if €5,000 of the €50,000 of funding announced by Minister Catherine Martin for every local authority in 2021 under the Community Strand of the Decade of Centenaries Programme, is being allocated to local groups, what is the remaining €45,000 being allocated to; is there a closing date for proposals; and can non-history societies e.g. Tidy Towns groups apply?

Qu (17)
Submitted by:
Councillor E. Ó Broin
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

How does the five year construction target for social housing of 3,380 homes for South Dublin County Council recently issued to the Chief Executive by central government compare to existing SDCC goals and plans?

Qu (18)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. O'Connor
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

To ask the Chief Executive if he has had any recent contacts with the Council's twinning partners and will he make a statement in the matter?

Qu (19)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. O'Connor
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change

To ask the Chief Executive to confirm plans to provide emergency cover over the Christmas period; will he give details and make a statement? 

Qu (20)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. O'Connor
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive for an update on the Council's Traveller Accommodation Programme and may we have a statement?

Qu (21)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. O'Connor
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change

To ask the Chief Executive if he has considered the final report of COP26 - the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow- and if the findings have any implications for his work on Climate Change and may we have a detailed statement in the matter? 

Qu (22)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. O'Connor
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive to confirm actions being taken to encourage Volunteerism in our County and may we have a statement? 

Qu (23)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. O'Connor
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive to present an update on his contacts and discussions with the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage with regard to the Council's Housing Homeless Programme; will he give details of any new targets set and will he make a statement.

Qu (24)
Submitted by:
Councillor S. O'Hara
Responsibility:
Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation

To ask the Chief Executive what is the number of current planning enforcement actions being pursued by the Council and could these be broken down by LEA

Qu (25)
Submitted by:
Councillor L. O'Toole
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change

To ask the Chief Executive if there is any update on progress re costing for outdoor public toilets as agreed in this Council last year.

Qu (26)
Submitted by:
Councillor L. O'Toole
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

To ask Chief Executive if there is an update regarding progress of the costings to implement free post.

Qu (27)
Submitted by:
Councillor L. O'Toole
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change

To ask the Chief Executive if there is any updated from the four local authorities regarding the matter of an agreed policy on EV charging.

Qu (28)
Submitted by:
Councillor L. O'Toole
Responsibility:
Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation

This committee welcomes the progress made on the construction of the Celbridge link road to date. To ask the Chief Executive to map out exactly where the link road meets the Kildare border and to confirm what preliminary  discussions, if any, have taken place with  the Kildare officials regarding the interfacing at the county border. 

Qu (29)
Submitted by:
Councillor F. Timmons
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

To ask for an update report on what progress has been made on the LGBT Inclusion Strategy

Qu (30)
Submitted by:
Councillor F. Timmons
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change

To ask the Chief Executive would he issue a report how many trees are being planted in SDCC and compare this to how many have been removed by disease or building ? and that this is for the years 2019 , 2020 and 2021

Qu (31)
Submitted by:
Councillor F. Timmons
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change

To ask the Chief Executive would he comment on what supports are available to Tidy Towns organisations withing SDCC in regard to Biodiversity and Recycling to help increase their points in the Tidy Towns contest?

Qu (32)
Submitted by:
Councillor F. Timmons
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive to comment on the high rising cost of building materials and how this is projected to hinder or raise the costs of planned council infrastructure ?

Qu (33)
Submitted by:
Councillor F. Timmons
Responsibility:
Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation

To ask the Chief Executive if there are plans to review the Guidelines for shop signage for heritage villages regarding how an enforceable signage policy for our heritage villages could be introduced that is sympathetic to the heritage and history of the village?

Headed Items

H-I (6)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation

DECLARATION OF ROADS TO BE MADE PUBLIC ROADS

(No Reports)

H-I (7)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development, Director of Economic, Enterprise & Tourism Development

PROPOSED DISPOSAL OF PROPERTIES/SITES - FOR APPROVAL

(a) Disposal of fee simple in 112 Sarsfield Park, Lucan, Co. Dublin

(b) Disposal of fee simple for 77 Limekiln Green

(a) Disposal of fee simple in 112 Sarsfield Park, Lucan, Co. Dublin


(b) Disposal of fee simple for 77 Limekiln Green

H-I (8)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Chief Executive
H-I (9)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Economic, Enterprise & Tourism Development

GRANT OF PERMANENT WAYLEAVE TO ESB TO FACILITATE ENERGY SUPPLY TO KILCARBERY DEVELOPMENT- FOR APPROVAL

H I - 9 (A) Proposed Grant of Permanent Wayleave to ESB at New Nangor Road/Rowan Walk, Kilcarbery Grange, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 to facilitate power supply to Kilcarbery Integrated Housing Development

H-I (10)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Finance

3 YEAR CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2022 – 2024 - FOR NOTING

H-I (11)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change
H-I (12)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change
H-I (13)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change
H-I (14)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE FUND - FOR NOTING

H-I (15)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

COMMUNITY GRANTS - FOR NOTING

H-I (16)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

HOUSING DELIVERY ACTION PLAN 2022 – 2026 - FOR NOTING

H-I (17)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation
H-I (18)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation

WINTER MAINTENANCE PROGRAMME 2021/2022 - FOR NOTING

H-I (19)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation

AIRTON ROAD PART 8 COMMENCEMENT - FOR NOTING

Correspondence

Cor (1)
Submitted by:
Corporate Performance and Change Management Directorate
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

CORRESPONDENCE

(a) Correspondence from Minister for State for Skills and Further Education Niall Collins in response to Motion 3 (Safepass) at the November 2021 Council Meeting

(b) Correspondence from Fermanagh & Omagh District Council re. Embargo of Cuba by United States of America

(c) Correspondence from Kerry County Council re. Palestine Flag

(d) Correspondence from OPW in response to Motion 2 (Invincibles Yard) at the November 2021 Council Meeting

Motions

Mot (1)
Submitted by:
Councillor Peter Kavanagh
Responsibility:
Director of Economic, Enterprise & Tourism Development

This Council reiterates its commitment to the principles of Fair Trade and agrees that the executive will meet with members of the successful campaign "to make Northern Ireland a Fair Trade Devolved Region" in order to form a plan to achieve Fair Trade status as a County Council in 2022.

Mot (2)
Submitted by:
Councillor P. Gogarty
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

That this Council writes to the Minister for Justice, the Minister for Children and the Law Society asking for a re-examination of the current restrictive in camera rule for family law cases as there is currently a lack of transparency in relation to how decisions are made and why, how time is allocated, what witnesses are called, how experts such as Section 47 assessors are appointed and how a lack of adequate support for those requiring legal aid can affect the outcome of a case - something especially concerning in relation to many genuine parental alienation claims that require detailed evidence to be provided and - equally importantly, those rarer situations where false parental alienation claims can also be made within the system, supported by recommendations from experts using Gardner's contested Parental Alienation Syndrome theory to "immerse" vulnerable children for weeks or months at a time with the party wrongly claiming alienation - and to look at other ways to achieve better transparency and scrutiny of the system while always protecting children's identities and respecting the independence of the courts.

Mot (3)
Submitted by:
Councillor L. Whelan
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

The period of the pandemic had seen unprecedented hardships for most, with workers in the public and private sector leading the fight against Covid which illustrated clearly what workers are the most valuable in society. Corporations such as Pfizer, Amazon, Microsoft, and many retail giants have made unprecedented profits while PUP payments have been eliminated, rents, house prices and the cost of living have continued to rise and workplace precarity has increased. This Council supports the introduction of a Covid wealth tax to fund directly into public services and the provision of public sector wage increases and agrees to write to all other councils, the Taoiseach and the Minister of Finance stating our position. We point particularly to the significant role played by unpaid student nurses.

Mot (4)
Submitted by:
Councillor L. Dunne, Councillor T. Costello
Responsibility:
Director of Economic, Enterprise & Tourism Development

To ask the Chief Executive to explore the possibility of SDCC hosting an entertainment event targeted at youths for Halloween 2022 using Tallaght Stadium as the venue, and consulting with youth groups etc to provide them with an alternative to illegal bonfires 

Mot (5)
Submitted by:
Councillor D. Ó Brádaigh
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

To ask the Chief Executive to review the new Choice Based Letting System to include the following information; 1) Photos of the Houses /Apt Block 2) House number of the actual property available 3) Inclusion of front or back Garden with the property 4) Name of the AHB and rent % calculation 5) Ground maintenance fees, if required.

Mot (6)
Submitted by:
Councillor L. Sinclair
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

That this council supports expanding voting rights to include 16 and 17 year olds. Should the motion be agreed, writing to notify An Taoiseach, the Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform and the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

Mot (7)
Submitted by:
Councillor Joanna Tuffy
Responsibility:
Director of Housing, Social & Community Development

That the Council consider a campaign that promotes our diversity and our aims at integration in our local communities including an advertising campaign (details supplied: see Fingal campaign https://www.fingal.ie/fingal-integration as an example)

Mot (8)
Submitted by:
Councillor C. Bailey
Responsibility:
Director of Finance

That South Dublin County Council amend the participatory budget process known as the '€300k Have Your Say' initiative by increasing the level of funding to €500k, once all Local Electoral Areas have had the opportunity to take part in the initial programme.

Mot (9)
Submitted by:
Councillor F. Timmons
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

That this Council call on the Department of Health to immediately review the donation of Blood by Gay and Bisexual men given that Ireland imposes harsher restrictions on gay and bi men who wish to donate blood than most other European countries. All blood donations should be based solely on individual behaviours, not gender/sexuality. We commit to sending this motion to the Minister for Health for his consideration and review.

Mot (10)
Submitted by:
Councillor W. Carey
Responsibility:
Director of Corporate Performance & Change Management

That this council agrees that the Chief Executive should seek to put in place an agreement with the Trade Union Federation (BATU) for a system of employment compliance inspections on all construction sites whereby SDCC have contracted out works to building contractors. That the aim of which is to tackle the problem of bogus self-employment status on building sites initiated by SDCC.

Mot (11)
Submitted by:
Councillor G. O'Connell, Councillor L. O'Toole
Responsibility:
Director of Environment, Water & Climate Change

This committee requests the Chief Executive agree to carrying out a review of our public litter bins. Further to question raised and answered in previous meeting (October 21) and Given that "The issues of size, colour and shape of litter bins were not considered in that review" has been made clear, we now ask that our bins/design are considered for a review if its confirmed that our bins have not changed since their initiation.

QUESTION NO. 28 QUESTION:

Councillor L. O'Toole

Over the last 18 months+ we all experienced challenges in our parks in particular the demand put on our public litter bins/litter bin service. Can then Chief Executive confirms to members as to when litter bins (their size, colour, shape etc) were last reviewed.

REPLY:

A review of the litter bin service was carried out under the remit of the Environment, Climate and Public Realm SPC commencing in November 2016 and concluding in February 2017, with reports presented to both of those SPC meetings. This review examined a wide range of issues including the number of bins in service, the configuration of the collection routes, unauthorised use of litter bins, the issue of dog fouling waste, smart solar powered bins and a number of other issues. The issues of size, colour and shape of litter bins were not considered in that review. The operation of the litter bin service remains under constant review due to the changing nature of the demands on the service, increasing waste tonnages arising from servicing of bins and other issues. The 2017 report from the litter bin review then led to a trial of solar powered, smart street litter bins being carried out from November 2019 to May 2020 in the Rathfarnham area. Reports on this trial were then presented to the Environment, Water and Climate Change SPC at both the May and September 2020 meetings of the SPC. Reports and reviews listed above are available at the following link https://www.sdcc.ie/en/services/our-council/council-meetings/strategic-policy-committees/