Results 8,981-9,000 of 25,880 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----in a year or two years. However, I am pleased to say to the Deputy that we will quite significantly exceed the target of 24,600 in overall delivery set for 2022, which is a big step up from the previous year. We have a very good pipeline for 2023. We will deliver more new-build social homes in 2022 than we have done in decades. I am fully open to criticism. That is what I would...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----or to build on State-owned land, such as that in respect of the Land Development Agency, was again opposed by him.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I know what Deputy O'Callaghan is against-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----but I have no idea what he and his party are for.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: In the first instance, I would like to inform the Deputy that we have to work through this, and I believe people will understand the regulations are important to underpin the scheme and its operation. There is no pause on applications coming through. Anyone who applies to the previous scheme will get the uplift of the new scheme and, thankfully, people are applying and we are seeing an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Yes, it is for defective blocks and I want to be very clear on that. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, in particular, has been in contact with me, as have other interested Deputies, on that point. I believe there will be a very small number of homeowners in the affected regions who have had work completed. It will have to be certified and invoiced appropriately, etc., for it to access the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: With regard to certified works, works which have been done already and on the retrospective element of that, we will look at the date. We will be flexible and we will do that in consultation with representatives. It is only fair and proper that we do that and it will be a very small number of properties. Just to let the Deputy know, we have had 150 applications in Donegal which have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: There is not quite 500 of those.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities have asked the Housing Agency to look through those cases. If we had accepted the views of some others in the Opposition to wait until IS 465 was fully interrogated, we would not have the scheme up and running now. It is important it is and that it is there. We will take on board the feedback we get and the research done on IS 465, which we will look at and share with...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for his question. Budget 2022 provided record levels of investment to support housing programmes, levels which we have not seen before, including for the delivery of increased levels of social and affordable homes. Exchequer funding of €4 billion was made available, comprising €2.6 billion in capital and €1.4 billion in current funding. Additional...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: As the Deputy knows, Housing for All is our plan to increase the supply of housing across all tenures to an average of 33,000 homes per year. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes, so it is a very ambitious and badly needed programme. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4 billion per...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The targets under Housing for All are set out year on year. They were set based on very detailed research and input from the sector. It is about building the capacity within the sector to deliver the homes that we need, doing things better and having more people in construction to build the homes we need. We have had about ten to 12 years of significant under-delivery across all tenures...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I will use an example. In 2021, the last full year for which we have published figures, we had just over 5,000 new-build social homes but, overall, just over 9,000. We need to do more than that. In 2022, we set a target of 10,500 overall and we will be very close to that, and the figures on new builds will greatly exceed the figure the Deputy referenced from the Department of Public...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: It is a very important scheme. I am glad the Deputy referenced that it is an enhanced scheme, an improved scheme on what was there before. We all know its purpose, which is to remediate dwellings damaged by the use of defective concrete blocks. We passed the Act to implement and give legislative underpinning to a series of measures to improve and greatly enhance the current grant scheme...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: As the Deputy will know, 2022 represented the commencement of a very ambitious programme of delivery of affordable homes under the provisions of the schemes which we introduced with the Affordable Housing Act 2021. This saw significant delivery of cost-rental homes by Approved Housing Bodies, AHBs, in particular through the cost-rental equity loan, the first cost-rental and affordable...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: It is not controversial.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: We will not have the debate on the first home shared equity scheme today but it is equity that purchasers get and it is an extremely popular scheme that is working. As I said, more than 800 approvals have been made already to real households for real homes. That is good. We will break down that data when it is finalised. We will break it down between cost rental, affordable purchase...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The first cost-rental tenants are actually in place. I met many of those residents. They have long-term, secure tenures with below-market rent. The rent is calculated on the basis of covering the cost of the delivery and management of the development. We have set an income cap of €53,000 net for that scheme. I am looking at changes to the cost-rental scheme and we are working...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: An Interdepartmental Group (comprising of officials from my Department, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and Údarás na Gaeltachta) is in place to support and accelerate the ongoing work in relation to planning in Gaeltacht areas. One of the key aims of this interdepartmental group is to ensure that procedures and systems will be tailored, as...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government and I are committed to supporting and developing a fair and effective residential rental sector that is efficient, stable and responsive and that provides long-term and secure tenancies and investment returns. As set out in the Housing for All Action Plan Update (published in November, 2022), my Department has commissioned a comprehensive review of the private rental...