Results 14,661-14,680 of 26,245 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: In relation to new dwellings built to date in 2021, the Central Statistics Office are responsible for the quarterly publication of New Dwelling Completions. Data for the first quarter of 2021 is not due for publication until Thursday May 6. 20,676 new dwellings were delivered in 2020, and recent estimates predict that a similar number will be delivered in 2021, having regard to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: As at the 31st December, 2020 Cavan County Council had remediated 42 properties under the 2020 Voids Stimulus Programme. My Department will continue to support local authorities in their work remediating vacant social housing properties in 2021. In preparation for this year’s programme correspondence issued to all local authorities requesting they provide figures on the total...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Management (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The former Chief Executive of Galway County Council retired on 4 July 2014. A temporary Chief Executive was appointed at that time, pending a permanent appointment. The current temporary Chief Executive remains in place until 23 May 2021. In accordance with statutory provisions, I intend to appoint a new temporary Chief Executive to Galway County Council with effect from 24 May 2021. ...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 64, 66, 76 and 84 together. Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended. The 2011 Regulations prescribe maximum...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government, ‘Our Shared Future’, clearly lays out our commitment to putting affordability at the heart of the housing system. Government approved priority drafting of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020 on 22 December 2020, the General Scheme of which I published on 20 January last. The Bill includes provisions to underpin three schemes delivering on the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a flexible and immediate housing support that is available to all eligible households throughout the State. At end Q4 2020 there were nearly 60,000 households in receipt of HAP and over 33,520 separate landlords and agents providing accommodation to households supported by the scheme. Each local authority has statutory discretion to agree to a HAP...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government is committed to ensuring that affordable, quality housing solutions are available to everyone in Irish society and supporting renters is a key component of that. The Affordable Housing Bill 2020 will ensure that affordability is put at the heart of the housing system and will underpin the new local authority led scheme of affordable homes for purchase, an Affordable Purchase...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The primary focus of the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is on supporting projects that will contribute to compact growth and that will improve the liveability of our cities and towns. All applications for URDF support are assessed in terms of their alignment with the intended purpose of the URDF and also their viability before being considered for approval. The second call...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: This technology is consistent with the Government’s Climate Action Plan and the Programme for Government which supports the ambitious plan to deliver 70% of Ireland’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030. It also supports the work of my Department and other Government agencies and Departments who are focused on helping to address fuel poverty. Last month I was pleased to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homelessness Strategy (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Supporting individuals and families facing homelessness is a key Government priority. The Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, commits to reducing and preventing homelessness and provides detail on how the Government is approaching this work as a priority. Homelessness is complex and causal factors and family circumstances vary considerably as do the responses needed. Homelessness is...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department supports all local authorities intheir 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 Mayo County Council of 91 new social homes via build programmes and 65 homes through leasing. The precise projects that will be advanced over the course of 2021, are a matter for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Parks and Wildlife Service (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The NPWS review is underway with three distinct strands being undertaken concurrently. - Strand one is focusing on stakeholder engagement (internal and external) - Strand two is focusing on reviewing the capacity and resources of the NPWS. - Strand three consists of a comparative desktop analysis of resources/structures of similar organisations in other jurisdictions and an overview of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 83 and 97 together. The provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Service Acts, 1981 and 2003. Furthermore, under the Local Government...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Irish Water (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of public water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. As part of Budget 2021, I secured funding of over €1.4 billion to support water services. This includes €1.3 billion in respect of domestic water services provision by Irish Water. This overall...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department is focused on ensuring that existing housing stock is utilised to its fullest extent including a targeted, effective and co-ordinated approach to identifying and tackling vacancy across Ireland. The National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy was published in 2018 and contains a range of objectives and key actions to be pursued in partnership with stakeholders and agencies across the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homelessness Strategy (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Monthly Homeless Report for March and the Homeless Quarterly Progress Report for the first quarter of 2021 were published by my Department on Friday 30 March. The number of individuals presenting to homeless services and the number of people accessing emergency accommodation continued to decline in the first quarter of 2021, following a trend first established in fourth quarter of 2019....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: With a view to supplementing the Outdoor Dining Enhancement Grant Scheme which was recently announced by my colleague, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media , and further to the expected easing of Covid-19 restrictions over the coming months, I presented a package of amending planning regulations to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The regulations for the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme came in to operation on 31 January 2020. The Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) Regulations 2020 provide for a grant scheme of financial assistance to support affected homeowners in the counties of Donegal and Mayo only, to carry out the necessary...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016. The Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme. To be eligible, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum and having been in receipt of social housing support...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Supports (5 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department's role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless services rests with individual housing authorities. Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988 sets out the purposes...