Results 22,721-22,740 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Staff (28 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: 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 authorities for which he or she is responsible. My Department is not aware of any problems with staff in the housing department in Wicklow County Council. Any local issue of this kind is a matter for...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Change Policy (28 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 237 to 239, inclusive, together. Climate change has been prioritised by the new Government as reflected in the establishment of a new role of Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. However, pending the formal legal transfer of the climate functions from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to the new...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Change Advisory Council (28 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: In accordance with Section 8(1) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act2015, the Climate Change Advisory Council was established on 18th January 2016 by Ministerial Order. The composition of the Council is as follows: Composition of Council - Professor John FitzGerald (Chairperson), formerly of the ESRI Professor Dr Ottmar Edenhofer Professor of Economics of Climate...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Government Reform (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: The decision to replace town authorities with a new model of municipal governance under the Local Government Reform Act 2014 was designed primarily to strengthen local government within counties and to address widely acknowledged and long-standing weaknesses and anomalies in the previous system, including divided administration between town and county authorities, for example, in matters such...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Government Reform (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I take the Deputy’s point. When considering new reforms around local government in the programme for Government, we are ensuring local government funding structures and responsibilities will strengthen local democracy. There will be the devolution of new powers to local authorities, the reduction in the size of local electoral areas, the possible introduction of directly elected...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Government Reform (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: On that last point, we need to value democracy, and that includes local democracy as well as what happens in this House. We need to encourage people into politics, and to do that, we need to ensure it is properly resourced in order that councillors can do a professional job and represent people properly. The demands on local councillors are now more severe than they would have been in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Emergency Accommodation Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: We have already spoken about this issue a number of times and we will continue to do so. There is no silver bullet, as the Deputy knows. Many of the actions that will be announced in the housing action plan are under way. Key measures already implemented or under way include the programme of rapid delivery housing, whereby 500 units are to be provided in Dublin to accommodate homeless...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Emergency Accommodation Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Many organisations are combining to try to provide better outcome for families in very vulnerable situations. The primary responsibility, of course, is with local authorities to be able to put systems in place that can respond quickly to people's needs. It is true to say, particularly in a peak tourism season such as now, there is pressure to find hotel accommodation for the many families...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Emergency Accommodation Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I assure the Deputy that funding will not be an impediment to this.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Emergency Accommodation Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I will finish on this.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Emergency Accommodation Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: We will launch our housing strategy in approximately three weeks, so it is not as if people will have to wait for very long to see the strategies we will adopt.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Emergency Accommodation Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: The response this evening to this type of pressure will be to find more bed and breakfast or hotel accommodation, which is exactly what Dublin City Council and other local authorities have been doing. Everybody knows this is not a medium-term solution for families. It is a short-term solution while more sustainable solutions are found. It is important to say that so far this year in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: The European fiscal rules, which are designed to ensure that countries in the EU maintain sound public finances, are not an insurmountable obstacle to providing the investment required for social housing over the coming years. If they were not there, we would not have to look at other vehicles and ways of funding; we would be able to do it in a much more direct way. The Government, however,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: The correspondence to which the Deputy referred, which was sent from the Taoiseach's office, was regarding EUROSTAT definitions around what is off-balance sheet and what is on-balance sheet, which is confusing. It is very difficult to get certainty about what is on and what is off-balance sheet. In the UK, much of the social housing build programme which the UK Government thought was...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Off-balance sheet funding is not necessarily more expensive and does not necessarily take longer. We are working to try to put new vehicles and models in place that we are satisfied will allow for significant investment that is off-balance sheet. We are working through it. I still maintain that it is frustrating trying to get clarity before signing off on a vehicle from EUROSTAT, about...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: While I take the Deputy's point, it is important to be realistic. While we are going to revise our social housing build targets, even if we were to build the number of social houses the all-party committee report has asked for, it still would not be anywhere near 70% of total housing output. We need to build as many social houses as feasible, given what can be funded and built through local...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I said we were going to review the social housing output targets. We will do it-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Let me answer the question. Deputies have raised the issue of families who are homeless in Dublin this evening. We are not going to be able to build houses for them by tomorrow, next week or in two weeks' time. However, we may be able to access rental accommodation for them in the meantime. I agree that we need to build many more social houses, and there are many ways we can do it. In...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: That is exactly what we are doing.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: We also need affordable private housing as otherwise more and more people will join social housing lists.