Results 4,261-4,280 of 20,796 for speaker:Alan Kelly

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Departmental Investigations (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I have considered what next steps need to be taken in respect of certain Donegal County Council planning matters taking account of advice from the Office of the Attorney General. My Department is finalising arrangements for the imminent appointment of a Senior Counsel, on a non-statutory basis, nominated by the Attorney General to prepare a report in relation to these matters in line with...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: MacCabe Durney Barnes Consultants were appointed in February 2014 to carry out an independent planning review on the performance of planning functions in six selected planning authorities (Carlow, Cork, Galway and Meath County Councils and Cork and Dublin City Councils) in accordance with section 255 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. I expect to receive the final...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Meters (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The Water Services Act 2013 provided for the establishment of Irish Water as an independent subsidiary within the Bord Gáis Éireann Group (now Ervia) and assigned the necessary powers to allow Irish Water to undertake the domestic water metering programme. I have no responsibility for the rollout of the metering programme. However, I understand that water meters are being installed...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The implementation of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a key Government priority and a major pillar of the Social Housing Strategy 2020. The HAP scheme will bring all social housing supports provided by the State under the aegis of local authorities. The scheme will remove a barrier to employment by allowing recipients to remain in the scheme if they gain full-time employment. HAP...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Information on the funding provided by my Department to local authorities for the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability is available on my Department’s website at the following link: by selecting ‘Social and Affordable Housing’, ‘Housing Adaptation Grants by Area 2008 to date’. The average payment per recipient in...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The statutory social housing needs assessments carried out in 2008, 2011 and 2013 detail the number of households on social housing waiting lists during the period concerned, broken down by each local authority. The full results of the assessments undertaken in 2008 to 2013 are available on my Department’s website at the following links: 2008: 2011: 2013: The 2013 figures are the most...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Voluntary Housing Sector (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: A number of Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) provide internal dispute resolution facilities, including mediation, for their tenants; however, where it is not possible to resolve a dispute between an AHB and their tenant, the dispute must ultimately be resolved before the Courts. The current law for AHB tenancies is based on a combination of tenancy agreements, the Landlord and Tenant Acts...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The implementation of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a key Government priority and a major pillar of the Social Housing Strategy 2020, which I published on 26 November 2014. The HAP scheme will bring all social housing supports provided by the State under the aegis of local authorities. The scheme will remove a barrier to employment by allowing recipients to remain in the scheme if...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: My role as Minister with regard to development contributions is to provide the necessary statutory and policy framework within which individual development contribution schemes are adopted by each local authority. The adoption of these 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...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Renewal Schemes (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: A Capital Appraisal for the regeneration of the Dominick Street flats complex was submitted to my Department by Dublin City Council at the end of January 2015, in accordance with the requirements of the Capital Works Management Framework. This is currently under consideration and my Department will be in contact with the City Council as quickly as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Ministerial Responsibilities (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Minister of State Ann Phelan’s responsibilities were extended by the Government in late 2014. In addition to her assignment to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, she has taken on additional responsibilities in my Department, which include a range of functions relating to Community, Local and Rural Development. The...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant Data (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Exchequer funding of over €37 million was provided by my Department to local authorities in 2014 for the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability. Combined with an additional 20% contribution by individual local authorities, there was an overall spend last year of €46.3 million in this area. I am pleased to confirm that the 2015 amount will...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Departmental Staff Recruitment (6 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: As announced in Budget 2015, the moratorium and the Employment Control Framework for the Public Service have been lifted but recruitment/promotion will be subject to adherence to binding 3 year pay ceilings. Staffing resources must be managed within these overall ceilings. Detailed arrangements in terms of the local government sector and state agencies will be worked out between my...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Nitrates Action Programme Implementation (7 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The EU Nitrates Directive and Ireland's National Nitrates Action Programme limit the amount of nitrogen from livestock manure which may be applied to land each year, including by the animals themselves, to 170 kg of nitrogen per hectare per annum. On 27 February 2014, after lengthy negotiation, the EU Nitrates Management Committee renewed Ireland’s derogation which enables farmers...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Provision (7 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The social housing targets that I recently announced for all local authorities cover the period to 2017 and include almost 7,500 units that will be capital-funded and 15,400 current-funded units, which will support a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes by local authorities. My announcement also contained provisional funding allocations within the overall announcement of over...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Capital Assistance Scheme (7 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Proposals for this scheme were submitted and funding was approved under my Department’s Capital Assistance Scheme in 2014. As the design has now been amended, my Department has requested and is awaiting additional information from Cork City Council, to allow the altered proposal and design to be evaluated.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Public Sector Staff Retirements (7 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Representations have previously been received by my Department on this matter and were responded to. With regard to local authority employment, the position is that since the enactment of the Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004, the minimum age at which pensions will be payable to new entrants to the public service, from 1 April 2004, is age 65 and there is no...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant (7 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The provision of housing to support independent living by people with specific categories of need, including people with an intellectual, physical or mental health disability, older people, the homeless, returning emigrants and victims of domestic violence, is supported through my Department’s Capital Assistance Scheme. The scheme provides funding of up to 100% of the approved costs....

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Public Sector Staff Increment Payments (7 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: It is not possible to extract historical increment financial data from the system on a global basis for the years 2008 - 2011. Historic costs could be calculated manually on an individual basis but this would take a prohibitively long time.  The number of increments awarded to staff in my Department, along with indicative approximate values of new increments paid, in each of the years...

Independent Planning Regulator: Motion [Private Members] (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I move amendment No. 1:To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "welcomes the progress made to date by the Government to support the implementation of the planning-related recommendations of the final report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments, particularly the publication of a general scheme of the Planning and...