Results 4,141-4,160 of 8,073 for speaker:Peter Burke

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Local Authorities (23 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: 145. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if employees of education and training boards who are members of public bodies or local authorities have access to leave to attend county council meetings, in a similar way that teachers are allowed ten days leave for such purposes when meetings fall outside school hours; if her Department will review this in order to promote diversity and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (22 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: It is a matter for each individual local authority to decide on the utilisation of its assets, including its land bank.  A local authority may propose to dispose of land no longer required by it for its statutory functions. This is a reserved function of the elected members. Section 183 of the Local Government Act 2001 provides inter alia that a prior notice of any proposed...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: This is a straightforward amendment for a minor wording omission. It adds the word “the” into a sentence.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: It is noted and has been mentioned in regards to Senator Moynihan in terms of the Committee Stage debate. It has gone from 30 years to 40 years. We have taken into account the views of Senators and the House and I hope this creates a good balance.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: This group consists of Government amendment No. 15 and a series of amendments from Senators Higgins, Ruane and Black. Amendments Nos. 15 to 17, inclusive, deal with management costs for cost-rental homes so I will address this point before going on to address amendment No. 18, which concerns adaptation and retrofitting. It is certainly not the intention that excessive management costs will...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: May I reply?

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: Senator Higgins made a valid point concerning those with disabilities. We are working on an update in the Department. Our new strategy for people with disabilities will be incorporated into the Housing for All plan. The model will be reviewed, but we want to prove that it works in the first instance, which is a significant consideration. There have been 1,600 submissions to the new...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I will respond when Senators are finished.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. I will now address amendment No. 19 as tabled by Senators Boyhan, Keogan and Norris, amendment No. 20 as tabled by Senators Higgins, Ruane and Black, together with amendment No. 22 as tabled by Senators Warfield, Boylan and others. Following on from the discussion on these points on Committee Stage, I certainly understand the positive intentions behind these...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank Senator Boyhan for his intervention. I am at pains to point out that I value what Senators say in the Chamber, and we have accepted amendments through this process when Senators have convinced us that the amendments they put forward were required.We must strike a balance between what we do and advice, but I assure Senators that everything they say, as we review this legislation, is...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I will allow whoever else wants to speak to contribute first.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I will now address amendments No. 21 and 23 to 25, inclusive, tabled by Senators Higgins, Ruane and Black. These amendments are concerned with how, over time, rents will be allowed to rise to a limited extent. The gradual increase in rent, over time, is a fundamental element of the cost-covering model, which is cost rental, as we all know. This model may seem counter-intuitive, but it is...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: To compare a sustainable housing tenancy in cost rental to an upward-only rent review, which is a contractual relationship on a commercial property, is to completely misunderstand what we are trying to do here. It concerns me that the Senator could make that comparison. A commercial property on Grafton Street where a tenant is commercially obliged to meet upward-only rent reviews over a...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank Senator Warfield for his amendment and Senator Higgins for her contribution. Amendment No. 26 would require cost rental landlords to give three months’ notice of any rent increase. It may well be that this amendment uses the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act for the private rental sector as a reference. However, this does not take account of the ways in which the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank all the Senators for their contributions. I will now address Senator Warfield’s opposition to section 39 and his amendment No. 28. Section 39 of the Bill provides for two ways in which the cost-rental designation of a dwelling may be ended. The first is when the owner of a property explicitly opts out of the cost-rental sector, which they will be entitled to do when the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: Amendments Nos. 29 and 30, tabled by Senators Higgins, Ruane and Black, propose to require that all cost-rental homes developed on public land automatically revert to State ownership at the end of their designation as cost-rental dwellings. The current policy is that the best way of ensuring that cost-rental dwellings developed on public land or with State financial support remain within the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank Members for their contributions. I know they have valid concerns about this initiative and I can see them. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has committed that this scheme will be reviewed after one year, including in his discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.If there are any unintended consequences, those will be watched closely. I will bring the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I hear the views expressed. There will be a review and the Government will take action if there are unintended consequences or if some of the developments articulated come to fruition. I was very lucky in life to have been elected to the local council in 2009. In the period 2009 to 2012, I remember sitting in the council chamber and so many of my colleagues being so frustrated with the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank Senators Mullen, Keogan and Boyhan for putting forward the amendments. The primary objective of the levy is to act as a mechanism to incentivise the development of vacant and unutilised sites in urban areas for both the provision of housing and the development and renewal of land, thereby facilitating the most efficient use of such land and sites, and enabling them to be brought into...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I assure the Senator that we appreciate the urgency of this matter. Unfortunately, I cannot accept the amendment at this point. If something is not working, we must respond quickly because we know we are in a crisis. We will attend to this matter in the Department and I will raise the Senator's concerns with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, as he makes his decisions, especially in the context...