Results 14,921-14,940 of 26,245 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (1 Apr 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: In terms of the number of households on social housing waiting lists, details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority administrative area are 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...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (1 Apr 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 158 and 159 together. The Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) was designed to support housing supply by relieving critical infrastructure blockages. 30 projects were approved with an overall budget of €195.7m, €146.8m Exchequer funded and the remainder funded by local authorities. Full details of the approvals are available...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (1 Apr 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 161 to 163, inclusive, 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 Services Acts 1981 and 2003. My Department supports fire...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (1 Apr 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: 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 Services Acts 1981 and 2003. My Department supports fire authorities through setting general policy, providing the legislative...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (1 Apr 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: 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 Services Acts 1981 and 2003. My Department supports fire authorities through setting general policy, providing the legislative...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (1 Apr 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 168 to 173, inclusive, together. My Department does not hold the data on the amount of empty or unoccupied domestic dwellings in the State, nor does it hold data on the number of vacant properties in local electoral areas. The innovative website vacanthomes.ie was developed by Mayo County Council in July 2017 on behalf of the local government sector to serve...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Inspections (1 Apr 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 174 to 177, inclusive, together. In relation to the number of requests made to Longford County Council and Westmeath County Council for private rented accommodation inspections in 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, the information requested is not reported by local authorities to my Department and is not available. Information in relation to the number of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Accommodation Standards (1 Apr 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 178 and 179 together. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2021, to operate a national tenancy registration system and to facilitate the resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants. The Clerk of the Dáil requested that arrangements be put in place to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Emergency Accommodation (1 Apr 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 180 to 183, inclusive, together. 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 a local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless services rests with individual housing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Accommodation Standards (1 Apr 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light and the safety of gas, oil and electrical supply. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply. Responsibility for enforcement of the regulations rests with...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (31 Mar 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 452 and 499 together. The Government announced that additional public health restrictions would apply under Level 5 of the Plan for Living with COVID-19 on 6 January 2021. The additional restrictions required all construction activity to cease from 6pm on Friday 8 January, with a number of exceptions. These measures are set out in The Health Act 1947...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: House Purchase Schemes (31 Mar 2021)

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

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Accommodation Scheme (31 Mar 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 456 and 457 together. The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 gives legislative recognition to rental accommodation availability agreements, which underpin the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) as a form of social housing support. Consequently, since 1 April 2011, RAS tenants are considered to be in receipt of social housing support and should not...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Accommodation Scheme (31 Mar 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 458 and 459 together. The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is based on a three-way relationship between the local authority, the landlord and the tenant. Under RAS, local authorities draw up contracts with landlords to provide housing, for an agreed term, to people with a long-term housing need. The local authority pays the rent directly to the landlord...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (31 Mar 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF), which was launched in 2018, is providing part-funding for local authority led projects that will enable a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and large towns, while also ensuring that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Irish Water (31 Mar 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. Staffing and contractual arrangements in relation to the Find and Fix scheme, are an operational matter for Irish Water and local authorities within the context of the Service Level Agreement arrangements currently in place...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (31 Mar 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Budget 2021 provides funding of €20 million to fund the operation of the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme for the counties of Donegal and Mayo only. The number of homes which will be remediated in 2021 is dependent on a number of issues, for example, the break-down of applications and the time to progress through the approval stages. The works required can range from the lower...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: House Purchase Schemes (31 Mar 2021)

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

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Home Loan Scheme (31 Mar 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Single applicants are permitted to apply for the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan. The property being purchased must have clean title. Once the sole borrower has purchased a property with a Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, he/she must occupy the property as their normal place of residence. A married or other couple may reside within the property with the sole borrower but they cannot have any...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rights of Way (31 Mar 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: There appears to be a misapprehension regarding the dates for registering rights of ways acquired by prescription on foot of amendments made by Parts 12 and 13 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 to the provisions relating to acquisition of easements and profits by prescription contained in Part 8 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009. I understand from the...