Results 3,601-3,620 of 7,024 for speaker:Willie Penrose

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: The Deputy is mixing us up with his party.

Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: He should.

Written Answers — Housing Aid for the Elderly: Housing Aid for the Elderly (1 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: In June 2008 my Department issued approval to Dublin City Council to proceed to detailed design stage for a project at the site in question, which my Department understands from Dublin City Council is currently being advanced with an Approved Housing Body. It will be a matter for the Council, in the first instance, to prioritise and manage the further advancement of the project within their...

Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (1 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: In response to the downturn in the housing market and the prevailing economic climate in 2008, the private investment envisaged for a number regeneration projects in Dublin City did not materialise. As a result, the City Council suspended its PPP programme for a number of estates including O'Devaney Gardens, Dominick Street, Croke Villas, and St Teresa's Gardens. In the absence of PPP...

Written Answers — Local Authority Charges: Local Authority Charges (1 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: As Minister, my role is to provide the necessary statutory and policy framework within which individual development contribution schemes are adopted by each local authority. The adoption of individual development contribution schemes is a reserved function of the locally elected members of each planning authority. It is a matter for the members to determine the level of contribution and the...

Written Answers — Rental Accommodation Scheme: Rental Accommodation Scheme (1 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: One of the main features of the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) is that local authorities, in sourcing accommodation for households, co-operate with the private and voluntary sector and enter into contractual arrangements to secure medium to long-term availability of rented accommodation. It is a matter for each local authority to negotiate appropriate contracts to suit their needs. Under...

Written Answers — Rented Accommodation: Rented Accommodation (1 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: Minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, made under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992. These Regulations were further amended by the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses)(Amendment) Regulations 2009 which expanded the definition of 'a proper state of structural repair' to allow for all...

Written Answers — Architectural Heritage: Architectural Heritage (2 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: Under my Department's renewal or repair of thatched roof grant scheme, a grant of up to €3,810, or two thirds of the approved cost, whichever is the lesser, may be payable in respect of necessary works to renew or repair the thatched roofs of houses. A higher grant of up to €5,714 may be payable where the house is situated on certain specified islands off the West and South coasts. In the...

Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (7 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: A total of 183 applications for housing loans have been referred by local authorities to the central loan processing unit in the Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency. Of these, 31 were recommended for approval, 104 were recommended for decline, 3 were withdrawn and 45 applications are in progress. The further detailed information sought in the question in relation to time taken to...

Written Answers — Planning Issues: Planning Issues (7 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: I propose to take Questions Nos. 229, 240 and 241 together. The regional planning guidelines 2010-2022, adopted during 2010 by each of the regional authorities, are in the first year of their 12-year life-span and, as a key implementation mechanism for the national spatial strategy, the RPGs provide a long-term strategic and sustainable planning framework for each region. The coherence and...

Written Answers — Urban Regeneration: Urban Regeneration (7 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: My Department currently supports an ambitious programme of regeneration projects which seek to address the causes of disadvantage in the country's most disadvantaged estates through a holistic programme of physical, social and economic regeneration. The national regeneration programme includes a wide variety of projects ranging from large-scale urban regeneration projects such as those in...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (7 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: Section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) provides that, where estates have not been completed to the satisfaction of the planning authority and enforcement proceedings have not been commenced within the relevant period, the planning authority must, if requested to do so by the majority of owners, initiate the procedures for taking the estate in charge. The decision...

Written Answers — Planning Issues: Planning Issues (7 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: The Provision of Schools and the Planning System - A Code of Practice was jointly published, in August 2008, by my Department and the Department of Education and Skills. The Code of Practice sets out co-ordinated actions to be taken in relation to forecasting future demand for school places by the Department of Education and Skills and planning for the provision of school sites within the...

Written Answers — Planning Issues: Planning Issues (7 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: It remains open to the public to make detailed submissions on zoning for consideration by the planning authority in respect of draft development plans and draft variations to such plans under sections 12 and 13 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), with similar provisions applying in the case of draft local area plans under section 20 of the Act. Notwithstanding these...

Written Answers — Planning Issues: Planning Issues (7 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: My Department's Guidelines to Planning Authorities on the Planning System and Flood Risk Management, which were published on 30 November 2009, are aimed at ensuring a more consistent, rigorous and systematic approach to flood risk assessment and management in the planning system. The Guidelines were issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended) which requires...

Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (7 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: My Department has been working for some time on the necessary statutory provisions to enable the tenant purchase scheme for local authority apartments under Part 4 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 to be given effect as soon as possible. I am committed to maximising the potential for tenant purchase in the context of the implementation of sustainable communities policies and...

Order of Business (8 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: Deputy McDonald would not understand it.

Written Answers — Environmental Policy: Environmental Policy (8 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: Further to the reply to Question No. 230 of 31 May 2011, I have no plans at present to introduce specific legislation to regulate the permitted heights of hedges and trees in privately owned gardens. As previously indicated, complaints or disputes in relation to such matters are normally addressed under civil law.

Written Answers — Planning Issues: Planning Issues (8 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: Under Class 4 of Schedule 2, Part 1 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (as amended), the erection on or within the curtilage of a house of a dish-type antenna used for the receiving and transmitting of signals from satellites is exempted development, subject to certain conditions relating to the location, size and number of antennae. This exemption does not apply to apartments....

Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (8 Jun 2011)

Willie Penrose: In line with overall national policy which promotes a reduction in energy use, the enhancement of energy efficiency standards remains a priority within my Department's overall strategy for the improvement of local authority housing. Under my Department's Social Housing Investment Programme, local authorities are allocated capital funding each year in respect of a range of measures to improve...