Results 25,801-25,820 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Issues (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: Article 10(4) of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001-2015, dealing with change of use exemptions for planning purposes, provides that development consisting of the use of not more than 4 bedrooms in a house, where each bedroom is used for the accommodation of not more than 4 persons as overnight guest accommodation, shall be exempted from the requirement to obtain planning...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Approved Housing Bodies (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: Where social housing units are provided by AHBs under Payment and Availability  (P&A) arrangements with local authorities, it is a condition of such funding that rents be determined in accordance with the differential rents scheme of the housing authority in which the house is situated. The AHB must obtain written permission from the housing authority if it intends to impose any...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Policy (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: Households wishing to obtain social housing support from a housing authority or an approved housing body must first apply to the relevant local authority for a social housing assessment. Where the household is deemed qualified for support it is placed on the housing authority’s waiting list, and offers of suitable accommodation are made in accordance with the authority’s...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Data (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: Rebuilding Ireland sets out ambitious but achievable targets for social housing delivery across a blend of delivery mechanisms including the Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector, who will be relied upon to deliver significantly not only under the Build category, but also under Acquisitions and Leasing. It is expected that AHBs will deliver Build units through models such as the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments Data (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: The details on Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) tenancies you have requested are not collated by my Department. Since commencement of the HAP scheme in September 2014, over 22,340 HAP tenancies have been set-up, which includes 2,370 tenancies which subsequently closed. HAP is currently being paid in respect of some 19,970 separate households across all 31 local authority areas. HAP is a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Policy (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: I refer to the reply to Question No. 339 of 4 April 2017 which sets out the position in this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Water Meters Expenditure (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: The expenditure incurred on the domestic metering programme, including the cost of meters and installation, amounted to €467m (including VAT) resulting in Irish Water installing over 891,500 meters on completion at the end of January 2017.  The domestic metering programme was funded by Irish Water borrowing facilities.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Gender Balance (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: My Department gathers quarterly data on staff numbers in local authorities. The data gathered does not provide detail on gender breakdown. My Department will however, be working with the sector to collect the data with a view to publishing the figures later this year and on an annual basis thereafter.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Rates (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes, in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015. The legislative basis for the levying of rates is spread over a number of enactments, dating back to the Poor Relief (Ireland...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Wind Energy Guidelines (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: Since May 2016, I have been liaising closely with my colleague Minister Naughten, having regard to his responsibility for renewable energy policy, on the review of the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines relating to noise, setback and shadow flicker, recognising the need to bring the review to a close to give certainty on the matter to all stakeholders, local authorities, the energy...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Constitutional Amendments (5 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Government recently decided to hold a referendum to amend the Constitution to give the right to vote at presidential elections to Irish citizens resident outside the State, including Northern Ireland. In order to inform public discourse on the significant policy change proposed, I published an Options Paper on 22 March 2017, which is available on my Department's website at . The Options...

Questions on Promised Legislation (6 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: We will bring the legislation to which Deputy Lisa Chambers referred to government in the next two or three weeks, certainly before the end of the month.

Questions on Promised Legislation (6 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: I do not have an exact date for that but the report is being handled by the Minister of State, Deputy English, and I understand it will be published shortly. I do not have an exact date but I can come back to the Deputy on that.

Questions on Promised Legislation (6 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: As I have said many times in the House, the scheme introduced last year was a pilot with a new approach. We said we would review it at the end of a year and that review is being finalised. As soon as the review is complete, we will implement the recommendations in the context of any scheme.

Questions on Promised Legislation (6 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy will see that within weeks.

Questions on Promised Legislation (6 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: I will happily answer that. The Valuation Office is actually in the Department of Justice and Equality and not in the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. What we are planning to do with this legislation is give local authorities more autonomy and flexibility in terms of how they charge for and collect rates locally depending on business type, geographical...

Questions on Promised Legislation (6 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Minister, Deputy Naughten, and I have had a number of meetings on this. We are close to agreement at this stage. We will hopefully be in a position within the next few weeks to publish draft guidelines. Those guidelines will then undergo a consultation process, which we are required to facilitate under EU law. At the end of that process, we will be able to finalise a new set of wind...

Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2017: First Stage (6 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: No.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Funding (6 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: In November 2014, my Department submitted potential projects to the Department of Finance in respect of the task force report for the European Fund for Strategic Investment, including the social housing PPP programme. Investment in social housing through the public private partnership, PPP, model is part of a wider plan to accelerate the supply of social housing, and is now reflected in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Funding (6 Apr 2017)

Simon Coveney: I agree in principle with the Deputy. A European fund is targeted at investment across the European Union to improve competitiveness and increase economic activity. That is the whole point of the Juncker plan. Ireland has an infrastructural deficit. We have been unable to afford to spend the kind of money that we would like to have spent over the past seven or eight years. The previous...