Results 6,361-6,380 of 9,994 for speaker:John Gormley
- Written Answers — Housing Statistics: Housing Statistics (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: My Department collates and publishes a wide range of housing statistics that inform the preparation and evaluation of housing policy. Among the areas of activity covered are statistics on: the delivery of various social and affordable housing supports, housing construction activity, inspections in the private rented sector, and house prices and lending activity. My Department also collates...
- Written Answers — Housing Grants: Housing Grants (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: My Department's involvement with the new Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes for Older People and People with a Disability relates primarily to the recoupment of a proportion of local authority expenditure on the payment of individual grants. These schemes, introduced in November 2007, are funded by 80% recoupment available from my Department together with a 20% contribution from the resources...
- Written Answers — Social and Affordable Housing: Social and Affordable Housing (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008 provides for the introduction of an Incremental Purchase Scheme for lower income households assessed as eligible for social housing support and who wish to become home owners. The scheme will also enable existing local authority tenants who wish to become home owners to transfer to and purchase homes made available under the scheme. The scheme...
- Written Answers — Fire Stations: Fire Stations (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: The development and modernisation of the Dublin Fire Brigade's Training Centre at the O'Brien Institute, Marino by Dublin City Council will be carried out on a phased basis over a number of years. To date, the Department has recouped â¬1,031,277 to Dublin City Council in respect of Phase 1 of the project, which provided for design, architectural and engineering services, the replacement and...
- Written Answers — Building Regulations: Building Regulations (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: Responsibility for assessment of Fire Safety Certificate applications is vested in the 37 local Building Control Authorities. Applications for fire safety certificates are made to the authorities under the Building Control Regulations, 1997. When applications are validated and assessed, Building Control Authorities may grant, grant with conditions or refuse to grant a fire safety...
- Written Answers — Social and Affordable Housing: Social and Affordable Housing (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: Legislative provision to facilitate arrangements under which a local authority could agree to its clawback charge ranking in second place behind a new or topped-up mortgage charge, thereby facilitating persons in affordable housing wishing to re-mortgage with a private lender, is included in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill which is currently before the Oireachtas and is targeted...
- Written Answers — House Prices: House Prices (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: The price of units transferred to local authorities under Part V primarily reflects the costs negotiated, in accordance with the relevant legislation, between authorities and developers. These costs are based on the sum of the site costs, calculated at existing use value, actual construction costs as agreed between the local authority and the developer, plus reasonable profit on those costs....
- Written Answers — Water and Sewerage Schemes: Water and Sewerage Schemes (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 598 and 599 together. My Department is finalising its examination of applications from a number of local authorities for loan approvals in respect of expenditure on water services projects, including for the Tuam Town Water Supply and Sewerage Scheme Stage 2. Local Authorities will be notified of the outcome of this examination as soon as possible....
- Written Answers — Planning Issues: Planning Issues (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: I understand that the rezoning of the lands referred to in the Question has been included for consideration in the draft Clifden Local Area Plan which is currently being considered by Galway County Council. In my role as a statutory consultee on draft local area plans, my Department raised a number of concerns with the Council at draft and amendment stages of this plan in relation to the...
- Written Answers — Departmental Correspondence: Departmental Correspondence (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: A reply to the correspondence in question will issue within the next 10 days.
- Written Answers — Private Residential Tenancies Board: Private Residential Tenancies Board (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: Preparatory work on the legislative amendments required to underpin the merger of the Rent Tribunal and the Private Residential Tenancies Board is underway in my Department. While it had been intended to introduce these amendments during the passage through the Oireachtas of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008, the need to progress other priority amendments in the context of the...
- Written Answers — Local Government Services Board: Local Government Services Board (22 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: A process is in place to bring about the merger of the Local Government Management Services and Computer Services Boards as quickly as possible. This takes into account the existing functions of the two organisations and the needs of relevant stakeholders as well as the recommendations of the OECD report and The Report of the Task Force on the Public Service. Priority is being given to...
- Written Answers — Litter Pollution: Litter Pollution (23 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: Under the Litter Pollution Acts 1997 to 2009, primary responsibility for developing and implementing responses to litter lies with local authorities, who are required to take all practicable measures for the prevention, control and disposal of litter in their functional areas. In addition to their own income generating activities, my Department provides funding for local authorities from the...
- Written Answers — Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (23 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: Under the Carbon Fund Act 2007, the National Treasury Management Agency has been designated as purchasing agent for the State. In 2008, the Agency purchased some 3.5m certified emission reduction units at a cost of â¬53m. To date in 2009, they have purchased 1.8m units at a cost of â¬21.6m. No credits were purchased in 2007. In January 2007, prior to the designation of the National...
- Written Answers — Local Government Elections: Local Government Elections (23 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: The provisions governing local authority membership and local authority employment are set out in Sections 13 and 161 of the Local Government Act 2001. Under section 13 of the Act, a person employed by a local authority who is not the holder of an employment designated by order under section 161 is disqualified from being elected or co-opted to, or from becoming a member of, a local...
- Written Answers — Departmental Expenditure: Departmental Expenditure (23 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: Details of the number of expense account credit cards paid by my Department are set out below. Number of cards Credit Limit 1 â¬5,000 2 â¬6,350 4 â¬7,000 The total amount spent on expense account credit cards from January 2004 to date in 2009 was â¬230,232.45. The following table sets out the instances where the annual expenditure on a single card exceeded â¬5,000 during that time:...
- Written Answers — Equal Opportunities Employment: Equal Opportunities Employment (23 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: My Department currently exceeds the Government's 3% target for the employment of people with disabilities. Fifty four people with disabilities are employed, representing 3.9% of staff. The Department adheres to the guidelines contained in the Code of Practice for the Employment of People with Disabilities in the Civil Service. Recruitment of civil servants, including the recruitment of...
- Issue of Writ: Dublin South (28 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: The timing of the European Parliament elections is determined by the EU Council of Ministers by reference to the period corresponding to the first direct elections in 1979. Accordingly, they are held within a specified four day period in June every five years subsequent to 1979. The Council announced that the 2009 European Parliament elections would take place between Thursday 4 and Sunday...
- Issue of Writ: Dublin South (28 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: Moving the writ now makes no sense in terms of electoral efficiency or administration. It takes no account of costs and the state of the public finances or of the disruption and inconvenience to voters. There is no real logic behind the Fine Gael motion and I fundamentally disagree with its timing on this occasion.
- Issue of Writ: Dublin South (28 Apr 2009)
John Gormley: I do not know if Fine Gael really wants to hold by-elections at least a week ahead of the local and European elections. I find it difficult to believe it wants to expose the taxpayer to the extra expense and disruption involved in holding the polls on two separate days within such a short period of time.