Results 4,301-4,320 of 20,797 for speaker:Alan Kelly

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Section 157(4)(a)of the Planning and Development Act 2000 provides, in respect of unauthorised development, that no warning letter or enforcement notice may be issued by, and no proceedings for an offence may be commenced by, a planning authority - (i) in respect of a development where no permission has been granted, after seven years from the date of the commencement of the development; (ii)...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Irish Water Administration (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. Under the Water Services Acts 2007-2013, Irish Water has statutory powers to request its customers and certain specified persons or bodies to provide it with information so that Irish Water can perform its functions under...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: My Department is in discussions with Cork County Council in relation to the purchase of social housing arising from the Part V provisions and a decision in this matter will be made as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: My Department provides funding to local authorities for various social housing supports, including for adaptations and extensions to the social housing stock to meet needs of local authority tenants with a disability or to address serious overcrowding. Funding provided by my Department meets 90% of the cost of such works, with each local authority providing the remaining 10%. The...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Proposed Legislation (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I have received no representations in relation to this issue which is a matter reserved to elected members for decision in accordance with the provisions of sections 31 and 32 and Schedule 8 to the Local Government Act 2001, as amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014. Section 32(1A) of the 2001 Act provides that where, prior to 1 June 2014, Limerick City Council used the title of...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Irish Water Expenditure (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: No Exchequer funds have been provided for the establishment costs of Irish Water. The only Exchequer funding provided to Bórd Gáis or Irish Water in 2012 or 2013 was a grant of €0.57m to Irish Water in 2013 to fund the cost of a pilot study in relation to Phase 2 of the Water Metering Programme which is targeted at metering those properties that were not meterable in the...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Data (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The number of vacant social housing units returned to productive use in 2014 with support from my Department was 2,333. The breakdown of the units per local authority was as follows - Local Authority Returned Units Carlow 42 Cavan 23 Clare 65 Cork City 212 Cork County 155 Donegal 167 Dublin City 467 Fingal 165 South Dublin 92 Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown 5 Galway City 24...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: House Purchase Schemes (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Currently, there are two types of house purchase loan s available from local authorities: standard annuity loans targeted at lower income first time buyers and those under the Home Choice Loan scheme which are available to qualifying middle income first time buyers. The terms and conditions governing the operation, including eligibility terms, of annuity mortgages and the Home Choice Loan...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Homeless Persons Data (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities. Data on...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Ministerial Meetings (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Neither I nor Mr. Paudie Coffey, T.D., Minister of State at my Department, have had meetings with the company referred to in the Question. The company concerned is involved in a pilot rural broadband initiative in a number of areas around Ireland. I understand that my colleague, Ms. Ann Phelan T.D., Minister of State with special responsibility for Rural Affairs has met with the company on...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Shared Services (12 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Shared services have been identified in the Local Government Efficiency Review and the Public Service Reform Plans as an important opportunity to make further savings in administrative costs, through streamlining and improving service delivery without impacting on front line services. This builds on practical experience, over many years, in the local government sector of local authorities...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Provision (13 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Responsibility for the administration of my Department’s Rural Water Programme , under which funding is provided for group water and group seweragesschemes, has been devolved to local authorities since 1997. The selection, prioritisation and approval of individual group scheme proposals for advancement and funding under the programme , within the overall priorities set by my Department...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Living City Initiative (13 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I am not aware of any grant assistance schemes operated by any Government Department for the renovation of commercial buildings.The operation of tax relief schemes are a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Finance. In this regard, a new tax relief scheme entitled the Living City Initiative was launched by the Minister for Finance last week. This initiative is a targeted pilot tax...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (13 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 186 and 189 together. I announced a major social housing construction programme on 5 May 2015, with €312 million to be invested nationally, covering all 31 local authorities and with over 1,700 social housing units to be built across more than 100 separate projects. That announcement included projects for Co. Wicklow covering the construction of 50...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Motor Tax Collection (13 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I have no plans currently to introduce a system of monthly direct debit payments for motor tax. Any such proposal would require to be underpinned by robust legislation to ensure that there is a system in place to recoup income lost to the taxpayer where there are insufficient funds in personal accounts to meet the payment or where a direct debit or standing order option is cancelled by...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Irish Water Administration (13 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I refer to my reply to Question No. 593 of 12 May 2015 which sets out the position in this matter. The information provided to Irish Water under this provision is a matter for the utility. Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. They may be contacted via email at or by telephone on 1890 578 578.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Data (13 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: To the end of April 2015, over 6,000 housing units have been delivered under the Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme, previously referred to as the Social Housing Leasing Initiative , since the same began in 2009. The Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme comprises a range of methods for local authorities and approved housing bodies (AHB’s) to deliver units for social...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Data (13 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 194 to 198, inclusive, together. I recently announced social housing targets for each local authority, including Mayo County Council, out to 2017, along with provisional funding allocations. Full details of this announcement are available on my Department’s website at the following link: . I announced a major social housing construction programme on 5...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Charges Administration (13 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I am fully supportive of all technologies which contribute to the conservation of water. Rainwater harvesting has the potential to contribute to reducing the cost of water services for certain uses as well as benefiting the environment. Article 9 of the Water Framework Directive of 2000 requires Member States to take account of the principle of recovery of the costs of water services, in...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Consultancy Contracts Data (14 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The information requested on expenditure and the number of consultants engaged by my Department is set out in the following table. The information relates to the current configuration of my Department (i.e. Heritage consultancies are excluded and Community consultancies are included from 2011). - 2011 2012 2013 2014 Consultancy Expenditure €1.826m €3.251m...