Results 4,141-4,160 of 15,009 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: My clear view is that for the Bill to be effective, it should be a statutory obligation on the local authority but only the Government can do that. The Opposition or backbench TDs do not have the legal authority to do so. We are precluded from doing so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Only the Government can do so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: There is a certain degree of wiggle room even in the Dáil. The issue is that if a Bill imposes a kind of incidental charge on the State, under certain circumstances the Ceann Comhairle and Bills Office would allow it through the Dáil. My understanding of Standing Orders in the Seanad is that there is a little more wiggle room. Something like this would include a clear and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: The issue of prevention and preventative measures has come up quite a lot. The challenge is that the Residential Tenancies Acts, of which there have been many, would not be the appropriate place for these measures and we would, therefore, not be able to introduce amendments to a residential tenancies Bill. I am not aware of any primary legislation that has been introduced by the Government...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: I would have to look.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: No, that is a new stand-alone affordable housing Act.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: That legislation is completely new.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: These specific measures have not been discussed, from memory.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Under the current legislation that governs the provision of homeless services, a person does not have to eligible for social housing to get access to emergency accommodation. One feature that started in 2014 but has accelerated more recently is the significant increase in the number of people who are presenting to local authorities as at risk of homelessness but are not on local authority...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: To respond to Senator Fitzpatrick's point, I am a strong supporter of both tenant in situschemes. I was arguing for the reopening of the social rental scheme immediately after it was closed by Eoghan Murphy. It is not a question of talking it down. It is the very opposite, in fact. We should be talking about it as much as possible. We also need to listen to tenants and landlords who are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: They do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: The way the scheme has been set up is that the Housing Agency processes it and, so far, is the initial purchaser. Under the terms of the scheme, the Housing Agency is not meant to retain the property. It is meant to sell it on to an AHB. The original design was that it facilitates its purchase.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: No, but the way the scheme has been designed is that the Housing Agency is to process it. The Housing Agency buys and then sells on to an AHB. This is the way in which the scheme was set up. The problem is the Housing Agency is finding it difficult to get AHBs to buy them. The Housing Agency, which does not do, and has never done, long-term tenancy management in sustainment, could end up...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: If Senator Cummins had been here at the start-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: The point I made at the start is that, in some local authorities where we have good officials, they do this.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: In other local authorities it does not happen at all, or in some local authorities some officials do it and some do not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: In fact, the very point of the legislation is to ensure the good practice of those local authorities who are doing it, either on a part or regular basis, becomes a legal requirement and mainstreams across all. It should happen as a matter of course. Otherwise what happens is that it is likely left to a good housing manager, a good homeless service manager or just a good housing official on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Eoin Ó Broin: Again, it is the opposite. If we take, for example, tenant in situ, when it was reopened in April 2022, it was left to each local authority. In fact, if we look at the circular provided at the time, there was no guidance and certainly no statutory underpinning. As a consequence, from April 2021 through to March or April 2022, there was very little tenant in situand most local authorities...