Results 15,281-15,300 of 26,245 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is a flagship element of Project Ireland 2040. The URDF was established to support more compact and sustainable development, through the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns, in line with the objectives of the National Planning Framework and NDP. This is to enable a greater proportion of...

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

Darragh O'Brien: My Department's Rural Water Programme provides capital and current funding to the Rural Water Sector. The Multi-annual Rural Water Programme provides capital funding to the sector, while current funding is provided through an annual subsidy to group water schemes for the operational and maintenance costs of providing water to their domestic members. Further information in relation to capital...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Increasing the supply of housing, particularly new build social and affordable homes, is a priority for me and for this Government. This is a key element in addressing homelessness. The Programme for Government commits to increasing the social housing stock by more than 50,000, with an emphasis on new builds. Budget 2021 provided €3.3 billion for the delivery of housing which will...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payment (11 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme, tenants source their own accommodation in the private rented market. The accommodation sourced by tenants should be within the prescribed maximum HAP rent limits, which are based on household size and the rental market within the area concerned. Increased rent limits for the HAP and the Rent Supplement Scheme were introduced in 2016. These...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Quarrying Sector (11 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The activity of quarrying falls under a number of legislative regimes. For example, quarries must have planning permission and from an operational perspective they must comply with health and safety regulations operated by Health and Safety Authority. In regard to the licensing of quarries, the Waste Management (Management of Waste from the Extractive Industries) Regulations 2009 came into...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I understand the Deputy is referring to the construction of new social homes by local authorities. As capital funded construction projects by local authorities must, like all publicly-funded construction programmes, comply with the Public Spending Code and Capital Works Management Framework, my Department periodically issues Unit Cost Ceilings (UCCs) for each local authority area, for use as...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (11 Feb 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: Local Authority Housing (11 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department has issued design guidelines for sustainable housing which includes recommendations to have due regard for the environmental impact of construction materials. These guidelines “Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities” are available on my Department’s website at the following link. Under the Climate Action Plan the Office of Public Works is putting in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (11 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Seventy six proposals were received under Call 2 of the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF), with every local authority submitting at least one application for URDF support, and all of which require detailed assessment. The assessment process is nearing completion, and I intend to soon announce a new tranche of URDF supported proposals, which will augment the existing pipeline...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Since 2014, Exchequer funding has also been provided through my Department's Voids...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (10 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 283, 288, 289, 310 and 311 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...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (10 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Sustainable communities are created in neighbourhoods where an efficient use of land, high quality urban design and effective integration with the physical and social infrastructure such as public transport, schools, amenities and other facilities combine to create places people want to live in. Additional features of sustainable communities include: - compact, energy efficient and high...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (10 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: To end September 2020, 722 homes were delivered under the Social Housing Leasing Programme in 2020. A breakdown of the delivery by location can be found on my Department's website at the following link: . Leasing delivery data for Q4 2020 is being collated at present and will be published as soon as that process is finalised. Details of the developer involved in each social housing leasing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Quality (10 Feb 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 and the Minister has no function in relation to this matter, under section 7 of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013. Furthermore, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as environmental regulator, is responsible for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Issues (10 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department assesses, approves and records local authority social housing delivery costs for each project submitted for funding approval. As part of this process submitted costs are reviewed, taking cognisance of the particular circumstances of each project and the context of the overall housing need. On occasion, tender approval has been withheld by my Department or only a reduced budget...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homelessness Strategy (10 Feb 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 emergency accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (10 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department assesses, approves and records local authority social housing delivery costs for each project submitted for funding approval. As part of the process submitted costs are reviewed, taking cognisance of the particular circumstances of each project and the context of the overall housing need. On occasion, tender approval has been withheld by my Department or only a reduced budget...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (10 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on all social housing delivery activity. This data is available to the end of Quarter 3 2020 and data for Quarter 4 2020 is currently being compiled. This is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: My Department has also published the Quarter 3 2020 Social...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homelessness Strategy (10 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 296, 332 and 333 together. There have been a number of deaths, in recent months, of people who had been sleeping rough or accessing homeless services. Each of these deaths is a tragedy and I extend my sympathies to the families concerned. The deaths of people availing of homeless services are a concern and in order to provide a better understanding on...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (10 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Data in relation to Donegal and numbers on the housing waiting list, households in the Housing Assistance Payment Scheme (HAP) and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) for the period 2016-Quarter 3 2020 are set-out in the following table: 2016 2017 2018 2019 Q3 2020 Households on the Housing List 1,267 903 ...