Results 6,521-6,540 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation (31 Jan 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the tenant-landlord relationship in the private rented residential sector. The Act sets out the law relating to the rights and obligations of tenants and landlords in the sector covering, inter alia, security of tenure and the termination of tenancies. The maximum duration of a tenancy under the Act is four years, after which a new tenancy must...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation (31 Jan 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I have no function in the operational matters of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), an independent statutory body established under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, and cannot therefore comment on the specifics of any individual case.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Assistance Scheme (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: In March 2012, the Government approved in principle a joint proposal by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Social Protection to transfer responsibility for recipients of rent supplement with an established long-term housing need from the Department of Social Protection to local housing authorities. The new service would be provided using a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Assistance Scheme (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: First, two legislative items will be necessary to introduce the scheme. One measure must come from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to introduce housing assistance payment, HAP, and the other must come from the Department of Social Protection with particular regard to deductions at source. As for the pilot areas, my Department is considering what would be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Assistance Scheme (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: In response to the question on RAS, it is intended that the HAP will replace the RAS system, albeit not absolutely immediately, as it will be a gradual process. However, it is intended that it will replace the RAS system because the housing assistance payment will be a similar way of paying, with a differential rent-type way for the tenants to pay. In effect, it will duplicate the RAS...

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 133 and 193 together. Since December 2011, NAMA has identified 3,949 properties as being potentially available for social housing. The local authorities and the Housing Agency have been working systematically with NAMA to determine if there is a social housing demand for properties identified as potentially suitable for social housing, including the need...

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I accept that progress was slow in the early stages but it is accelerating. As he accepted, that is largely due to a couple of factors on which we have been working hard. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, and I met with the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, on a number of occasions last year. The special purpose vehicle is important because it involves gathering units into it which then...

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I appreciate that Deputy Stanley has put forward suggestions. We are examining all of them. The difficulty with NAMA is that as part of its legislative remit it must return an economic dividend to the State. At the same time they have a remit on a social dividend.

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: We must get that balance right. In fairness to NAMA, it has put several million euro into restoring and bringing these various units up to a level where they can be taken over. We will continue to meet with NAMA. We have not met with it yet in 2013 but we will do so. We will ensure that we get the best possible dividend from it. I understand there are still a number of empty properties...

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: -----and we want to get as many of them as we possibly can. There is an economic dividend involved. NAMA is holding them in the sense that it does not have them to give away for free and we must be conscious of that.

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I appreciate the points the Deputies have made but we are under severe constraints with regard to the troika agreement and the amount of public money that can be spent at present. Therefore, we have to get the best possible value for money. While I would love to be do what Deputy Boyd Barrett has suggested and provide for the building of a large number of local authority houses - I hope we...

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I agree but it must be done through the market as well as through the social housing system.

Other Questions: Commercial Rates Calculations (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Connolly is ours, not Deputy Boyd Barrett's.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Private Residential Tenancies Board Remit (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants in the private rented residential sector. The Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Act to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants in the sector. The Residential Tenancies...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Mortgage to Rent Scheme Application Numbers (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: On foot of the recommendations of the Keane Report on mortgage arrears the Government launched a mortgage to rent scheme on a pilot basis in February 2012. This scheme was extended nationally in June 2012, targeting those low income families whose mortgage situation is unsustainable and where there is little or no prospect of a significant change in circumstances in the foreseeable future....

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Homeless Persons Supports (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 143 and 595 together. The Government’s Housing Policy Statement, published in June 2011, clearly identifies that the priority for Government will be to meet the most acute needs of households applying for social housing support. I am determined to ensure that the social housing programme is framed in a manner which optimises the delivery of social...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Maintenance (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: 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 funding each year in respect of a range of measures to...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Voluntary Housing Sector (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Approved housing bodies (AHBs) are identified in the Government’s Housing Policy Statement as key partners in the delivery of social housing. However, the move from capital funded programmes of construction and acquisition by AHBs to more revenue funded options presents challenges for them. As such, I am developing an enabling regulatory framework for the sector that will provide...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Maintenance (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: An explosion occurred within a private house, one of a terrace of six houses, in this development in March 2012. Subsequently, Longford County Council established an expert steering group and appointed a firm of consulting engineers to investigate the cause of the explosion. A second explosion occurred in this development at the beginning of October 2012. The specific findings of the...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Government published its response to the recommendations of the Final Report of the Mahon Tribunal on 19 July 2012 including in respect of an independent planning regulator, to which it has agreed in principle. I also discussed this specific recommendation with the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht on 29 January 2013. In that context, I am now...