Results 16,601-16,620 of 26,293 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Local Authority Funding (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Central Government funding to local authorities involves a wide range of Departments and Offices, with funding allocated for a variety of purposes. Some streams of funding are delivered directly from Government Departments to local authorities, while others are routed through Departmental agencies. The Comptroller and Auditor General reports on the central government funding of local...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Legislative Reviews (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: A review was initiated in 2019 to examine the underlying policy rationale relating to the inclusion of categories of relevant property in Schedule 3 and Schedule 4 of the Valuation Acts 2001 – 2020. There is a broad stakeholder base involved and this is reflected in the composition of the review group. The Valuation Office, the Joint Rateable Valuation Forum, the local government...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Local Authority Staff (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible. Staffing numbers for the local authority sector are available on the Public Service Numbers databank, which is hosted and maintained by the Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Waste Management (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: As highlighted in the Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent bathing water quality report released earlier this year, encouraging progress is being made in improving bathing waters across the country. I was particularly pleased to see the continual increase in the number of bathing waters meeting or exceeding the minimum water quality requirements. It is well known that our...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Social and Affordable Housing (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department publishes comprehensive statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity. This is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: This data provides a breakdown of social housing delivery across a range of mechanisms. In addition to the statistical overview of activity in each local authority, a detailed Social...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Housing Assistance Payment (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Increased rent limits for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and the Rent Supplement Scheme were introduced in 2016. These limits were agreed in conjunction with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP). In reviewing the rent limits, my Department worked closely with DEASP and monitored data gathered from the Residential Tenancies Board and the HAP Shared Services...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Housing Policy (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I understand that on December 6th, 2019 Dublin City Council entered into a development agreement with Bartra Capital Limited for the development of it's residential lands at O'Devaney Gardens. The legal agreement requires that 30% of the residences developed shall be for Social Housing, 20% of the residences shall be Affordable Purchase units and 50% of the residences shall be Developer...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Housing Provision (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 364 and 365 together. The current position in relation to the refusal by households of offers of social housing dwellings is set down in Regulation 12 of the Social Housing Allocation Regulations 2011, made under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Under Regulation 12, a household that refuses two reasonable offers of such...

Ban on Rent Increases Bill 2020: Second Stage [Private Members] (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I am indeed. I will have nine minutes and they will each have three. I will look into the matter Deputy Ó Broin mentioned. Where I was today in Adamstown, I saw fantastic work that has taken place and continues to take place. This is also the case in other parts of south Dublin like Killinarden where the Deputy's own party opposed 100 social homes and 300 affordable homes as part of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Air Quality (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I understand that the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 sets out the main provisions in relation to the safety health and welfare of people at work. This legislation is under the remit of my colleague the Minister of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and is overseen by the Health and Safety Authority. In addition, the Department of Health has a role in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Monuments (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I assume the Deputy is referring to an archaeological survey undertaken in 2017 on behalf of Wexford County Council to further assess the findings of a previous survey and to determine the presence or otherwise of additional archaeological features associated with the Vinegar Hill battlefield site. The survey was licenced by my Department under the National Monuments Acts. The survey...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Offshore Exploration (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: In respect to issuing of and consultation on exploratory offshore licenses the local authorities have no functions in this regard.  Functional responsibility of the local authorities ends at the high water mark and the seaward side out to 12 nautical miles is a shared responsibility, depending on the activity being licensed, between myself and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities have a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes.  An initial three-month waiver of rates for businesses forced to close business due to COVID-19, was announced in May.  In order to enhance the supports available for enterprise, and in recognition of the fact that not only were many ratepayers forced to close business due to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Home Loan Scheme (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan is designed to enable credit-worthy first-time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand properties in a suitable price range. The scheme is targeted at first-time buyers who 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...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Sites (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the vacant site levy provisions in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015, planning authorities were empowered to apply a vacant site levy of 3% of the market valuation of relevant properties which were listed on local authority vacant site registers in 2018, which relevant owners were liable to pay in January 2019. The rate of the levy increased to 7% for sites listed on local...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015, provide the basis for the current Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme, which came into operation on 1 January 2016, which allows local authorities to sell local authority owned dwellings to existing social housing tenants. The Scheme does not extend to houses owned by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). Under the terms of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Animal Culls (16 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 47 to 49, inclusive, together. I am aware of some delays in my Department this year in processing deer hunting licence applications and I am aware that many deer hunters have not received their licences yet this year.    The delays arise as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 public health emergency and the effects this has had on...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Constitutional Amendments (16 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government provides that the Government will refer the issue of the environment, including water, and its place in the Constitution, to a relevant Joint Oireachtas Committee for consideration.  I and my Department look forward to engaging with the relevant Committee when work proceeds on this issue. 

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Monuments (16 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 51 and 54 together. Part IV of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, gives primary responsibility to local authorities to identify and protect the architectural heritage by including particular structures on the Record of Protected Structures (RPS). Inclusion on the RPS places a duty of care on the owners and occupiers of protected structures...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Disability Support Services (16 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 56 together. My Department provides funding every year for the Disabled Persons Grant (DPG) scheme and the Housing Adaptations Grant for Older People and People with a Disability scheme. While both schemes are administered directly by the local authorities they operate independently with separate funding streams,  the main...