Results 41-60 of 2,167 for speaker:Joe Flaherty
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: So there 1,000 such properties.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: Are they individual units as opposed to an apartment development?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: Let us look at what I will call the cavalier period. Were we dealing with a small cohort of developers who came to the previous regime and dealing with them and doing deals? As the witnesses have forensically examined this, did they see the same names come up repeatedly?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: Was it five or six developers?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: Yes. The trust needs to know that figure. We challenge local authorities when they are in here to know their vacancy rates. Surely if the trust manages 1,000 properties and multiples of that in terms of units then the trust's officials should be able to come in here and tell us the vacancy rates. Finally, the trust provides support for an IPAS centre in Longford. How much does the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: Is that €960,000 per annum, yes?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: I would appreciate if Mr. O'Brien could tell us the vacancy rate before the close of the meeting.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: We will take the cost up with the Department but it seems to be a shocking figure. Can Mr. O'Brien tell me what is the total value of the asset register now that the trust has sweated it?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: Yes. On the unencumbered properties we are talking 27 properties and possibly another 33 coming. Do unencumbered properties make up 50% of the total properties that belong to the trust? What percentage are unencumbered properties?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: Is it a very small percentage?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: All told, how many units?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: How many of the trust's units are vacant at the moment?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: The DRHE is the largest revenue funder for the Peter McVerry Trust in terms of homeless services and housing first. There are 1,458 beds. How much does that cost?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: Therefore, it is costing roughly €15,700 per bed.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: Are any of the 492 housing first tenancies vacant at the moment?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: I have a question for Ms Tobin. Many people listening in would be concerned about the state of the approved housing body sector, notwithstanding that a review has taken place, and Ms Tobin has alluded to aspects of that. It has 67,739 properties, just under €10 billion in assets and just under €9 billion in liabilities. There is very little headroom there. More concerning is...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: Has it overreached? Does the Department have worries about the sector? I know the sector will be looking for multi-annual funding but the Department has stopped short of that. I suspect the Department has concerns over and above what is happening with the Peter McVerry Trust.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: I am conscious of time. With regard to fundraising, I know it dropped off a cliff for the Peter McVerry Trust. A message should go from the Department that there should be no fundraising for any of these groups until we get clarity on the state of them. If nine of the largest AHBs control 73% of the properties, that is a big concern for me. It is a big concern that we are allowing these...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: I know that. However, some of their applications are based on the fact they will be supported by fundraising. That cannot be allowed anymore.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Peter McVerry Trust: Discussion (30 Sep 2025)
Joe Flaherty: I said that I was not happy with the reaction of the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority to this issue. Cavalier developers were telling us as early as 2021 that the Peter McVerry Trust was out of control. If a cavalier developer is telling us that someone is out of control, we can take it that they are definitely out of control. They said it was buying properties to no end. The...