Results 14,601-14,620 of 26,245 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (11 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Social housing construction projects (as with all publicly funded construction projects), must be competitively tendered, in accordance with the public procurement guidelines, to ensure transparency as well as value for money for the tax-payer and must comply with the Government’s Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF). The CWMF is for use by contracting authorities involved in the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (11 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Residential developments consisting of two or more dwellings that have been granted planning permission under the Planning and Development Act, 2000, as amended, are normally eligible for taking-in-charge. The taking-in-charge of residential estates by local authorities, is provided for under section 180 of the Act. The taking-in-charge of estates is a reserved function of the elected members...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (11 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these Regulations. Responsibility for enforcement of the Regulations rests with the relevant local authority. Local authorities report to my Department on numbers of overall...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Projects (11 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The current membership of the Bathing Water Expert Group (BWEG) includes representatives of the following organisations: - Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Chair) - Health Service Executive - Environmental Protection Agency - Coastwatch - An Taisce - Irish Water - Water Safety Ireland - Local Authorities (represented by Galway County Council and Dublin City Council) In...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Irish Water (11 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The information requested is not available in my Department. Irish Water is responsible for its own arrangements in relation to insurance cover and handling claims for damages relating to its functions and activities. Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. The team can be contacted via email to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Issues (11 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: As housing authorities, local authorities are responsible for the identification of the social housing need in their area. It is a matter for Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to determine the most appropriate response to the need for social housing supports in their area and to make the necessary application (which could include programmes involving approved housing bodies) to my...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Legislative Measures (11 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 364, 365, 366 and 367 together. The Land Development Agency Bill 2021 was recently published and has concluded Second Stage in Dáil Éireann. Section 14 of the Bill specifically provides for the LDA to deliver services to local authorities including to deliver social and affordable housing on local authority lands. The majority of such lands...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Island Communities (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The responsibility to develop social housing within their operational areas, including offshore islands, rests with the individual local authorities, working in partnership with Approved Housing Bodies. Targets are provided to each local authority for social housing delivery and it is a matter for the authority to decide on locations for new social housing based on their housing need....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Home Loan Scheme (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing Agency provides a central support service which assesses applications for the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan on behalf of local authorities and makes recommendations to the authorities to approve or refuse applications. Each local authority must have in place a credit committee and it is a matter for the committee to make the decision on applications for loans, in accordance with...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: This Government is committed to ensuring that affordable, quality housing solutions are available to everyone in Irish society and this is reflected in the Programme for Government Our Shared Future. The Programme commits us to expanding the Serviced Sites Fund (SSF) and in this regard I have recently confirmed that a review of the funds operation is being undertaken. Currently, the maximum...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Land Development Agency (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Dublin City Council are currently working on progressing a mixed tenure development at Emmet Road (formally known as St. Michael's estate). In June of 2020 my Department provided Stage 1 Approval-in-Principle for the development of 109 social housing units on this mixed tenure site. My Department has not been engaged in any discussions or process regarding the transfer of the land to the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities are responsible for the provision of social housing in their areas, and, as such, decide on the number and specific types of dwellings to provide in their developments. Targets are not set for local authorities in respect of the numbers of new dwellings to be provided for older persons in each development. Local authorities would instead consider the housing need as per...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Increasing the supply of public, social and affordable homes is priority of this Government. The Programme for Government includes a commitment to deliver 50,000 new social homes with a focus on new build homes. This commitment was underpinned by investment of €3.3bn towards housing programmes in Budget 2021. Subject to the impact of COVID-19, this investment will fund delivery of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: House Prices (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 68 and 74 together. The purchase prices of homes are influenced by a significant range of market factors, including income, location, demand, supply, building size, and specification etc. As affordability is, broadly speaking, a factor of household income, there is no single or universally applicable price-point which denotes affordability. The CSO...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I have serious concerns of instances, recently reported, where investors are inappropriately purchasing entire completed houses estates, preventing their sale to families and first time buyers. Institutional Investors are regulated by the Department of Finance. The issue of sale and of purchase of land or housing are matters for the Minister for Justice. I am working with my Government...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department supports local authorities to deliver new social homes utilising vacant and derelict properties through the Buy & Renew scheme and the Repair & Leasing Scheme. To date approximately 600 new social homes have been made available under Buy & Renew and I am keen that local authorities utilise this opportunity alongside the delivery of social homes through...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority area is provided in the annual statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The most recent summary, conducted in November 2020, shows that 61,880 households were assessed as qualified for and being in need of social housing support. This represents a decrease of 6,813 households or...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department supports all local authorities in their provision of new social homes through a range of programmes, with delivery targets set and published for each local authority. For 2021, I have set targets for Kildare County Council of 558 new social homes via build programmes and 153 homes through leasing. The precise projects that will be advanced over the course of 2021, are a matter...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Home Loan Scheme (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme is designed to enable credit worthy first-time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand properties. The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan provides first-time buyers with access to mortgage finance that they may not otherwise have been able to afford at a higher interest rate. More details of this are set out in the FAQ's...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (6 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Act 2020 was enacted and came into operation on 24 October 2020. The Act aims to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on tenants and to support the Government's efforts to restrict the movement of people in order to suppress the spread of this virus. The Act modifies the operation of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2020 to prevent any notices of termination served...