Results 15,161-15,180 of 26,245 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (3 Mar 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: During 2020, funding of €56.4 million was paid to Local Authorities from my Department for the remediation of 3,607 vacant units under the Voids Programme. The table below provides a breakdown of the units remediated by each local authority for 2020. The numbers provided are based on total units returned under the Normal, Covid and July Stimulus Voids programme. Local ...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (3 Mar 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: 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 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (Covid-19) (No. 10)...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Further details of the contracts referenced in Parliamentary Question No. 76 of 25 November 2020 are set out in the attached table. My Department endeavours to comply with Section 27 of the Disability Act, 2005, with reference to the National Disability Authority (NDA) guidelines on the subject. These include the NDA’s 2012 publication, ‘Access and Procurement’, which can...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 121 and 122 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: Energy Efficiency (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 and 125 together. The Energy Efficiency Programme for 2021 will be the first year of a newly revised ten year programme designed to help deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to retrofitting 500,000 homes by 2030 to a B2/cost optimal BER standard. It is expected that approximately 36,500 of those will be local authority owned homes. The 2021...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Approved Housing Bodies (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: There are a range of funding and delivery mechanisms available to local authorities to deliver social housing supports in partnership with Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). The funding is provided by my Department directly to local authorities, who in turn, advance the funding to the AHBs, as appropriate. The organisation detailed by the Deputy is an Approved Housing Body and details of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Home Loan Scheme (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department operates the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, which is targeted at first time buyers who wish to own their own home, have access to an adequate deposit and have the capacity to repay a mortgage, but who are unable to access a mortgage sufficient for them to purchase their first home. With a Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan you can borrow up to 90% of the market value of a residential...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Data (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the Voids Programme funded by my Department, 13,769 vacant social housing homes were returned to productive use in the period 2015-2020. This figure does not include homes which were returned to productive use by local authorities using funding from their own resources. Between 2015 and 2020, Exchequer funding of approximately €202.5m was provided supporting local authorities in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) was launched in 2018 to support more compact and sustainable development. The URDF is one of four funds established under the National Development Plan 2018-2027 and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has responsibility for its implementation. The Fund is providing part-funding for applicant led projects that will...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Data (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity. Delivery statistics to the end of Quarter 3 2020 are published on my Department’s website, at the following link: . Statistics for Quarter 4 are being collated and will be published in the coming weeks. The Buys and Renew Scheme facilitates local authorities in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: European Council Meetings (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: No formal or informal Council of the European Union meetings have been held under the remit of my Department in the period under question. Matters in relation to the environment that fall to my Department, e.g. biodiversity or water quality, generally arise at Environment Council and there have been three meetings of that Council configuration since June 2020, as follows: ...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Broadly, the objectives of an Affordable Purchase Shared Equity scheme are to improve access and affordability of new homes for First Time Buyers, stimulate an increase in supply by improving confidence as to the viability of future housing developments to meet increased realisable demand, and support economic recovery from COVID-19 by encouraging employment in the construction and related...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 135 and 136 together. In accordance with Circular 40/2002, issued by the Department of Finance, my Department completes an annual return in respect of contracts above a €25,000 threshold which have been awarded without a competitive process. These returns are submitted annually to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General as part of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Energy Efficiency Programme for 2021 will be the first year of a newly revised ten year programme designed to help deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to retrofitting 500,000 homes by 2030 to a B2/cost optimal BER standard. It is expected that approximately 36,500 of those will be local authority owned homes. The budget of €65 million in 2021 for the energy...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Services (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water is responsible for the operation of water services infrastructure and for the provision of drinking water in accordance with the European Communities (Drinking Water) (No.2) Regulations 2007, a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas library. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as the water quality regulator, is the supervisory authority for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Offices (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department provides breastfeeding employees with access to flexible spaces across all of the office locations for which we have responsibility. These spaces include wellbeing rooms and rest rooms. Each one is shielded from view and is free from intrusion by co-workers or the public and is provided with appropriate furniture. Although currently demand does not exist for these spaces to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Animal Welfare (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 284 and 318 together. I trust the Deputies will appreciate that given my obligations under Section 16 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 to protect the identity of a person who has made a disclosure, as well as the rights of individuals named in a protected disclosure, I am unable to provide details of any particular protected disclosure. Any...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Home Loan Scheme (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 286 and 322 together. The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan scheme is administered by the local authorities, in accordance with the Housing (Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan) Regulations 2018. Under the Housing (Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan) Regulations 2018 a loan cannot be issued where the house has a gross internal floor area of 175 square metres or more. It is...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Home Loan Scheme (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan scheme the final decision on loan approval is a matter for each local authority and its Credit Committee on a case-by-case basis. Decisions on all housing loan applications must be made in accordance with the statutory credit policy that underpins the scheme, in order to ensure consistency of treatment for all applicants. Loan applicants who are...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Referendum Campaigns (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government provides that the Government will retain Irish Water in public ownership as a national, standalone, regulated utility. The realisation of this commitment will complete the broad policy and legislative reforms which have seen the public water system embark on a journey of transformation, from a structure based on locally-organised water services authorities,...