Results 7,221-7,240 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

National Planning Framework: Statements (Resumed) (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: We are not saying which rail service has to be provided but it is in the document

National Planning Framework: Statements (Resumed) (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: That is fine but that is why the process started last February.

National Planning Framework: Statements (Resumed) (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: So am I.

National Planning Framework: Statements (Resumed) (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: I am not against that.

National Planning Framework: Statements (Resumed) (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: That is fine. We are doing that.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: Given the constraints on resources in the years following the economic downturn, the local authority house building programme had to be reduced dramatically. This was evident in all local authority areas, including in Tipperary, where just 11 social houses were constructed by the council in the period 2012 to 2016. The focus in recent years has, instead,  been more on achieving good...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: There were 11 houses built.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: This is not new information.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: Before the Deputy gets carried away-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: We have been through these matters before endless times. There is no hiding figures and no codding anybody whatsoever. We are very straight with the figures. I gave the Deputy the figures for the years prior to the start of the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness. I can give him the figures for the time since then. At this stage, the pipeline of projects is over 244 for Tipperary....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: There is no fudge here. The facts and the figures are published every month on the website. The Deputy can see them. We have engaged with Tipperary County Council on a regular basis and will do that even more, directly with the county manager. I have met the Deputy and his councillors down there twice myself. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, has been down there too. We want to engage...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Property Tax Administration (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: Local retention of local property tax, LPT, commenced in 2015 and is now established as an alternative and essential source of funding for the local government sector, thereby reducing reliance on central funding. The Government decided that 80% of the estimated LPT liability in each local authority area for a given year is retained in that area to fund public services,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Property Tax Administration (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: The baseline figures being used date back to 2005 rather than 2001. It is based on the 2005 assessment of the various services and income and expenditure as well. The Deputy is right that since then they have only been tweaked on a plus or minus basis every year thereafter. As the Deputy knows, the original needs resource model was cumbersome to manage and it did not always prove...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Property Tax Administration (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: We are constantly looking at the funding situation of all local authorities. We are very conscious of the great differences between them. In accordance with Government decisions on local retention of the local property tax, certain local authorities with large property bases receive additional income from the local property tax compared with their baseline. The Government decided that...

Other Questions: Housing Provision (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: Like many other counties around the country, Wexford has experienced a low level of construction activity, both public and private, over the last number of years. I spoke earlier about the shortage of money in the private and public sectors. Now that money is becoming available, we are trying to prioritise it for housing. A budget of €6 billion has been secured to fund housing...

Other Questions: Housing Provision (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: No Member thinks the figures for recent years are anything to cheer about. The trend has improved and the figures are going in the right direction. Only 75 houses were delivered two years ago by local authorities throughout the country. That is not something anyone would cheer about. That figure was increased to more than 600 last year and this year more than 2,000 new houses will be...

Other Questions: Housing Provision (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: One of them must have been Deputy Cowen's.

Other Questions: Housing Provision (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: We all want those houses to be delivered more quickly. We have made improvements in that regard which have had an impact. There has not been enough of an impact and we are going to go even further. However, we have gone from 75 houses being built two years ago to over 2,000 this year and 3,800 will be delivered next year. There is no doubt about that. The rapid construction was not...

Other Questions: Regeneration Projects Funding (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: The area in question is one of three development sites that Dublin City Council intends to bring to the market and which offer the combined potential to provide over 1,600 homes and the opportunity to create three new, high-quality urban quarters. Accordingly, it is not intended to fund this project solely through the Exchequer. However, taxpayer funding will...

Other Questions: Regeneration Projects Funding (26 Oct 2017)

Damien English: It is an area of high social housing. I have discussed this in many arenas outside this House and know many members of the community favour the approach of a mixed development. I think Sinn Féin would rather it was all paid for by the State, with some houses then sold on as private houses, and that it is not against a private housing mix, although the Deputy can correct me on that....