Results 25,321-25,340 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The policy of Sustainable Communities, that is encouraging the provision of a choice of house type, size and tenure within a single neighbourhood - referred to as the “sustainable neighbourhood” - has been Government policy since 2007. Its objective is to avoid the significant effects of social isolation and limiting of opportunities that can occur with large mono - tenure...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: As the Deputy will be aware, I announced stage 1 funding approval of €17,859,976 for Dublin City Council to progress the delivery of 56 Social Housing dwellings at the site concerned last December. These dwellings benefit from an existing approval under the Planning Acts for 110 social and affordable units on a portion of the site. This is the first phase of a mixed tenure...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Maintenance (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including heating systems and the achievement of energy efficiency, is a matter for each relevant local authority, and it is open to each authority to address maintenance or improvements to their housing stock from within their own resources. My Department operates certain funding programmes to support local authorities in the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Shared Ownership Scheme (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 276 and 277 together. My Department, together with the Housing Agency, the Housing Finance Agency and local authorities, has considered the affordability issues facing some borrowers who purchased properties under the Shared Ownership (SO) schemes and devised a more affordable long-term path towards full home ownership. Indeed, a range of measures have already...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Wind Energy Guidelines (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: I understand that the legal case referred to is still before the Courts in relation to the determination of costs and damages and therefore it would not be appropriate for me to comment on the matter, including in relation to any possible implications for the review of the 2006 Wind Energy Guidelines. Pending the finalisation of the review of the 2006 Guidelines, the existing Guidelines...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Wastewater Treatment (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the environmental regulator responsible for the licensing, authorisation and enforcement of urban waste water discharges consistent with the requirements of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive which sets out requirements for the collection, treatment and discharge of urban waste water, with the objective of protecting the environment from the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Information and Communications Technology (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: My Department’s Geographic Information Systems use An Post’s GeoDirectory address database which now contains Eircodes. Modifying the existing address search software to include Eircodes incurs a cost of €2,240.00 (ex Vat) per annum. This functionality is intended to be available in the next release of the MyPlan.ie GIS due by April 2017. Other than MyPlan.ie, there is...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Protected Disclosures (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: I can confirm that I received the correspondence referred to last week and that it is currently being carefully examined, informed by the provisions of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. My Department’s Protected Disclosure Policy, which sets out the general process follows when a confirmed protected disclosure is received, is available online at: .

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Water and Sewerage Schemes Funding (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: Under my Department’s new Multi-annual Rural Water Programme 2016 - 2018 there are six different funding measures. New group water schemes and new group sewerage schemes are addressed by two of the measures, namely: - Measure 3 - Rural development (group water sector): This measure supports social and economic development in rural towns and villages and their hinterlands by...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Deposit Protection Scheme Establishment (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015 provides for, among other things, the establishment of a tenancy deposit protection scheme to be operated by the Residential Tenancies Board. Indecon Consultants were originally appointed to carry out the research on the development of a deposit retention scheme and they reported in November 2012. The provisions in the 2015 Act were developed...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: EU Funding (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: My Department currently accesses European Union funding from the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and Horizon 2020. There are plans to seek funding from the Connecting Europe Facility funding instrument and to seek additional funding from the European Social Fund under the Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) 2014-2020 and from Horizon 2020....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Departmental Funding (21 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The following funding was made available to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in the years 2015 and 2016, in its role as a member of the Community and Voluntary Pillar. Trade Union/Representative Body Payments made in 2015 Payments made in 2016 ICTU €18,840  €18,840 

Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: We are, as the Deputy knows, doing a number of things. The main focus has been on increasing the supply of emergency accommodation dramatically in recent months so that people do not feel they are forced to find accommodation in totally unsuitable circumstances, whether that is in Internet cafés or elsewhere. On the overcrowding within the private rental market, the focus has been on a...

Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: As the Deputy knows, the Government puts a lot of store on this new developing national plan. The technical term is the national planning framework. We attempted to do this only once before as a country with the national spatial strategy which did not work out too well. We are in a consultation process at the moment. I have already been to Sligo. I was in Ballymun yesterday. I will be...

Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: I will check the issue of credit unions for the Deputy and come back to him, but my understanding is that the relaunch and revamp of the mortgage-to-rent scheme, which I think he and many others have welcomed, needs to extend across all the financial institutions.

Questions on Promised Legislation (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: In view of the latitude the Ceann Comhairle has shown to many on the Opposition benches today, perhaps I will take a little bit of time on this. The answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes". It takes time to build houses. We have huge demand today, next week and next month for social housing and more housing in the private rental market. That is why tomorrow we will launch the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Water Pollution (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (Council Directive 91/271/EEC) mandates waste water collection and treatment requirements for urban agglomerations. There are various deadlines for meeting the requirements of the Directive, one of which was the requirement for secondary treatment to be provided for all agglomerations which discharge to freshwaters and estuaries and have a population...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Noise Pollution (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: Under the provisions of section 25 of the Control of Dogs Act 1986, the District Court may act on a complaint by any person where a nuisance has been created by excessive barking by a dog. A copy of the form used for complaints to the Courts regarding barking is available from local authorities. The Court may make an order, requiring the occupier of the premises in which the dog is kept to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016. The Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme. The Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015 governing the Scheme provide for a number of specified classes of houses to be excluded from sale, including units...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Government Reform (22 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The last meeting of the Local Government Forum, which was appointed by my predecessor for engagement with local authority elected members as part of an operational review of the 2014 local government reforms, was held in January 2016. The Forum has not been reconstituted since the current Government came into office and is not currently operational. I will be consulting with all relevant...