Results 341-360 of 4,700 for speaker:Noel Ahern

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: They do not.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: I have tried to make the position clear to Deputy Durkan.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: It is appalling that certain people gave a certain interpretation of the matter last November. No matter how many times we try to tell Deputy Durkan——

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: Will the Deputy do us a favour? Will he listen, for a change?

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: The detail of the——

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: The Deputy has never listened in his life, that is his problem.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: I suggest that Deputy O'Sullivan's constituents should go to Limerick City Council to have their needs assessed. When their needs have been assessed and their housing needs have been accepted by the local authority, they can get rent allowance. There is no difficulty.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: There was a doubt last November, at the beginning. The regulations, which were issued by the Minister, are in place. There is no doubt about them. There may have been some confusion before the regulations were issued, but they are working well.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: A working group, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach and involving the social partners, has been established to facilitate engagement with the social partners about monitoring the operation of the changes made by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs. It is not my job to explain what the Minister, Deputy Coughlan, was doing, but we should be honest by admitting that rent allowance...

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: Rents in the private sector were decreasing. It is obvious that she had to make a change. Approximately €250 million was spent on rent allowance in 2002, but that figure increased to €330 million last year.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: However, we are being told left, right and centre that rents came down.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: We all know——

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: ——that pressure on rents has been relaxed in the past two or three years because of the supply that has been provided. Rents have been falling in all sectors other than the rent allowance sector.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: I am surprised by the behaviour of the Labour Party, which is supposed to have a social conscience.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: It is not normally on the side of the landlords.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: Labour Party Members should be careful to make sure they know whose argument they are fighting.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: The Labour Party has also suggested the introduction of a housing benefit. The introduction of any benefit is primarily a matter for the Minister for Social and Family Affairs. The Minister indicated in the House that she has no plans to introduce a housing benefit. She said that any further changes in the qualification criteria for receipt of rent supplement will be considered as part of the...

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: We have to move people on from emergency accommodation to transitional accommodation and then to standard housing.

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: Many people have——

Housing Provisions: Motion. (25 May 2004)

Noel Ahern: Contrary to the figures that were thrown at me yesterday, we know that Dublin City Council housed more than 100 single homeless people last year. More than 200 people were removed from the homeless list altogether.