Results 81-100 of 9,077 for speaker:James Browne

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver social homes at scale and to continue accelerating social housing supply. My Department publishes comprehensive programme-level statistics on a quarterly basis on social and affordable housing delivery activity by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in each local authority. This data is available to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: The Government is acutely aware of the housing challenges faced by many sectors of society. The Government's current housing plan, Housing for All, contains a suite of actions that have increased, and will continue to increase, the provision of housing through accelerating supply and increasing the affordability of homes. The 2025 Programme for Government includes a commitment to target...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver social, affordable and cost rental homes at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. This is demonstrated by the record level of investment which is being provided for the delivery of housing in 2025, with overall capital funding now allocated by Government of almost €7.5 billion. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 38, 39, 120, 125 and 129 together. My Department's social housing Second Hand Acquisitions Programme is an important part of Government's policy response to support households in precarious housing situations. Generally, it operates on a uniform basis across all local authorities, funding acquisitions that support tenancy sustainment (tenant in situ),...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Turf Cutting (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: The EU Directive on the Conservation of Habitats, Flora and Fauna (92/43/EEC), commonly known as “the Habitats Directive” requires Member States to select sites, for the protection of habitats and species which are considered threatened in the EU territory and listed on the annexes to the Directive. Annex I of the Habitats Directive includes priority habitats such as active...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Accommodation (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 123 together. Addressing homelessness is a priority for my Department and for the Government. Ireland signed the Lisbon Declaration in June 2021, which committed all signatories to work towards ending homelessness by 2030. I will continue to work with the National Homeless Action Committee to ensure an all of Government approach to drive the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Wind Energy Guidelines (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 45 and 131 together. Placing a pause on all wind energy developments is not being considered at present. The 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines remain in force, pending the finalisation of any revised guidance in this regard. At the local level, the city and county development plans set out where development is acceptable including wind energy...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: Affordability and the chance to own a home is at the heart of this Government’s housing policy. Since 2021 over 14,500 affordable housing supports have been delivered by a range of delivery partners through the various affordability measures in place. Under the Programme for Government published in January 2025, the Government has committed to introduce a new, all of government,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Approved Housing Bodies (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: The Cost Rental Equity Loan funding Scheme is available to Approved Housing Bodies to provide affordable rented accommodation to those who meet the income eligibility requirements for cost rental homes. The nature of the Cost Rental model means that Cost Rental homes are advertised and made available at a certain rent level, which is needed to cover the costs of delivery and provision. Cost...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: My Department has provided funding approval for Ros a Mhíl and Eanach Mheáin social housing developments under the Capital Assistance Scheme, with initial funding already provided for the purchase of the relevant sites. In the meantime, the respective projects, which were to be developed by a local Approved Housing Body, have encountered difficulties. Feasibility studies...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Government Reform (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: The Local Government Reform Act 2014 dissolved 80 town councils which represented just 14% of the population. The previous town council system also led to duplication both in administrative and electoral terms. Instead, the Act saw the introduction of 95 municipal districts, representing 100% of the population, in 25 of the 31 local authorities at sub-county level, while area committees would...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 56 and 78 together. The development of the lands at Oscar Traynor Road is providing very significant additional housing in Dublin city, involving the phased delivery of 853 social, cost rental and affordable purchase homes with accompanying community and créche buildings. Dublin City Council (DCC), as housing authority, is responsible for the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Urban Development (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: The overall aim of the Urban Development Zone (UDZ) process under Part 22 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 (Act of 2024) is to provide for an updated and more flexible approach to the masterplanning and delivery of areas with significant potential for large scale development, including residential development, in tandem with the associated supporting infrastructure. The UDZ process,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: The Revised National Planning Framework (NPF) was finalised and approved by Government and the Oireachtas in April 2025. The Revised NPF identifies the need to plan for approximately 50,000 additional households per annum to 2040. The Revised NPF provides the basis for the review and updating of Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSESs) and local authority development plans to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 116 together. The clear focus of this Government is to increase the supply of new build social and affordable homes. This is key to addressing the housing challenge and in particular preventing and ultimately eliminating long term homelessness, and that unquestionably must be the priority for all local authorities. The social housing PPP programme...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: The Government continues to bring forward measures to boost supply across all tenures, including the private rental market. The recently revised National Planning Framework is a major step forward in this regard, and will help increase capacity and accelerate home building across the country, while the new Housing Activation Office will work to address barriers to the delivery of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: Housing for All includes a commitment to review income eligibility for social housing. From this review, completed in November 2021, it was recommended moving five local authorities from Band 3 to Band 2, ensuring the income eligibility thresholds better reflect housing costs in those counties. Government also agreed to increase the baseline income thresholds by €5,000 for all local...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Quality (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: I acknowledge the very challenging situation in relation to managing and reversing the poor water quality witnessed in Lough Neagh. Responsibility for the management of environmental pressures in the catchment area of Lough Neagh lies primarily with the authorities in Northern Ireland. Monaghan County Council, with the support of the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) shared service,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: The response to Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV) is a cross-Departmental and multi-agency issue, with overall policy coordinated by the Department of Justice. Responsibility for the development and provision of services to support victims rests with my colleague the Minister for Justice working in conjunction with Cuan, the statutory DSGBV agency under the remit of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Energy Conservation (8 Oct 2025)

James Browne: In 2021 a new holistic approach was applied to the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP). Designed around the Programme for Government's commitment, led by the Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications, it calls for the 'retrofit' of 500,000 homes to a minimum B2 BER Rating standard by 2030, of which approximately 36,500 are expected to be local authority owned homes,...