Results 16,961-16,980 of 21,489 for speaker:Alan Kelly

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (11 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: Under my Department's Social Housing Capital Investment Programme, funding is provided to housing authorities to increase their supply of social housing stock through the construction and acquisition of houses and apartments. In 2014 Kildare County Council was approved to advance construction projects at Kilcock for 20 units and at Athy, for the replacement of 10 derelict units. Under my...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (11 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: In November 2014 the Government approved the Social Housing Strategy 2020which sets out a strategic framework for meeting the State's social housing needs to the end of the decade. The Strategy includes a commitment to commence work on a financial vehicle, to be known as the Strategic Housing Fund, to raise funding for the social housing sector. The financial vehicle will be established to...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant Funding (11 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: On 28 May 2015, I announced total funding of €50.5 million for the Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes for Older People and People with a Disability. I have increased the level of funding available for the grant schemes by some 10% for 2015. Allocations in 2015 were based primarily on the level of grant activity in local authorities in 2014, with no local authority receiving less than...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant Funding (11 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: On 28 May 2015, I announced details of the capital allocations for the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability. I have increased the level of funding available for the grant schemes by some 10% overall for 2015 and no local authority received less than their 2014 allocation. €1,788,778 is available to Kerry County Council for these grant...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Motor Tax Yield (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: The number of vehicles taxed at the end of December in each of the past five years is set out in this table. 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Private vehicles 1,872,715 1,887,810 1,882,550 1,910,165 1,943,868 Goods vehicles 327,096 320,966 309,219 317,849 317,378 Agricultural vehicles 63,677 64,423 63,080 89,492 85,042 Motorcycles 38,145 36,582 35,106 36,623...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: The State is currently finalising its observations on this complaint and will submit these to the European Committee of Social Rights by 29 June, the deadline set by the Committee. All submissions are made available on the ECSR’s website:

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Data (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: My Department collates and publishes a wide range of housing and planning statistics that inform the preparation and evaluation of policy. It includes data on the total number of units built (incorporating private, local authority and AHB contributions), broken down by year and house type, and those data are available on my Department’s website at: by clicking “Mthly house...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Shared Ownership Scheme (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: My Department, with the assistance of the Housing Agency, the Housing Finance Agency and the Local Authority Housing Loans Management Group, is currently reviewing the operation of the Shared Ownership Scheme for existing borrowers. The objective is to seek to address, where appropriate, any difficulties arising for some shared ownership borrowers. I expect the review will be finalised...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Data (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: My Department collates and publishes a wide range of housing statistics that inform the preparation and evaluation of housing policy and those data are available on my Department’s website. Data relating to household tenure status are not among that range as they are collected by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) as part of its Census work. The results of the 2011 Census are...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme Administration (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: Part 3 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 provides for a new scheme for the tenant purchase of existing local authority houses along incremental purchase lines. The Government’s Social Housing Strategy 2020includes a commitment to make the Regulations necessary for its introduction, in the second quarter of 2015, which will set out the full details of the new scheme. It...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: My Department does not collect the information requested by the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Grant Applications (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: Support provided by my Department in respect of refurbishment or adaptations to houses are primarily in respect of social housing. In the case of private houses, the main programme of support funded by my Department is via the local authorities and is focussed on house adaptations for older people and people with a disability. The suite of grants under Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes for...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: The interpretation and application of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, including the enforcement provisions of the Act, is a matter for the relevant planning authority in the first instance, and may ultimately be a matter for the Courts. I am not in a position to comment on the application of the planning law in individual cases. In this regard, I am specifically...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Wind Energy Guidelines (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: In December 2013, my Department published proposed “draft” revisions to the noise, setbacks and shadow flicker aspects of the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines. These draft revisions proposed: - the setting of a more stringent day and night noise limit of 40 decibels for future wind energy developments, - a mandatory minimum setback distance of 500 metres between a wind...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (10 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: The implementation of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a key Government priority and a major pillar of the Social Housing Strategy 2020, which I published on 26 November 2014. The HAP scheme will bring all social housing supports provided by the State under the aegis of local authorities. The scheme will remove a barrier to employment by allowing recipients to remain in the scheme if...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: This amendment proposes to set out definitions of baselines and baseline years in respect of greenhouse gas emissions with a view to more wide-ranging amendments in sections 3 and 4 of the Bill. I will reserve my principal observations on the more wide-ranging amendments until later in the debate. As I do not agree with the proposed large-scale amendments to section 3, I consider this...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: I thank the Deputies who tabled the amendment, Deputies Barry Cowen and Catherine Murphy, and their substitutes, Deputies Charlie McConalogue and Mick Wallace, who are proposing it, to include a reference to "climate justice" when the Government is considering for approval a national mitigation plan or a national adaptation framework. Few, if any of us, doubt the validity of the concept of...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: The concept is not the issue, as we all subscribe to it. I am knowledgeable in this area and accept the spirit of the loose term. The issue is how it can be defined in law. We must be careful about inserting something into Irish legislation without having a clear definition. This is a major issue. We must ask whether it would have knock-on effects or unintended consequences down the line...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: We did not seek legal advice from the Attorney General, but I will do so, if necessary. Our legal advice from within the Department was clear.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Jun 2015)

Alan Kelly: I will speak on amendments Nos. 10 and 11 together. Amendment No. 9 has been ruled out of order and while Deputies are welcome to submit another version of that amendment on Report Stage, amendments Nos. 9, 10 and 11 all pull together. In practical terms, with amendment No. 9 having been ruled out of order, the provisions in amendments Nos. 10 and 11 do not add up. I say this genuinely. As...