Results 7,781-7,800 of 8,153 for speaker:James Browne

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: The programme for Government commits to the introduction of a new, all-of-government national housing plan to follow Housing for All, underpinned by multi-annual funding. This plan will take a whole-of-government approach, as Housing for All did. My Department is engaging across government to agree the high-level measures to be included in the plan. They must be supported by the required...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: The Deputy's proposal a number of weeks ago was simply to write blank cheques for local authorities. That is not a solution. We have to manage our finances and we have only a certain amount of funding. We want those voids brought back in but, as the Deputy will recall, one of the properties was a property that could not be let because it had not had a stairs for five years. There is no...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I am treating it as an emergency. The number seeking social housing is increasing, as it is for cost-rental and affordable and private housing, because the population of this country is exploding as a result of the successful economic steerage of this country. It is a good thing that our population is increasing as a result of our economy. It puts more pressure on me and the Government to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authorities (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I thank Deputy Sheehan for asking when funding will be made available for a project. This is the shortfall of €5 million to cover infrastructure for the Mungret LDA development of 250 units in Limerick. The Deputy's question relates to the development of the lands at the former Mungret College, which is a key strategic priority for Limerick City and County Council. The site will see...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authorities (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: Funding for the housing activation office will come under the national development plan, which is currently being agreed. Limerick City and County Council has received local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, funding for the delivery of the first two phases of a new distributor road at Mungret. LIHAF funding approval of €22.1 million was given, of which €6.6...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authorities (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: The Department has not received any formal submission on funding. We have been made aware that there is a funding issue and we are engaging with the local authority to see what is the best way forward to address it.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Construction Industry (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this question about the encouragement of new technologies in the construction sector, including modular housing. I understand he has raised this issue on numerous occasions. The use of modern methods of construction, MMC, is a key policy measure to boost construction sector productivity and to support the scaling-up of delivery of new housing supply....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Construction Industry (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I fully agree with the Deputy that MMC is critical to housing delivery in this country. When modular units were first proposed for schools, for example, there was a little bit of pushback from school principals, who were concerned as many of them had grown up with very poor prefabs and perhaps they thought that was what was coming. I was chair of a school board of management at the time,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Construction Industry (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I agree. It is simply taking too long to get certification for the use of modular builds in this country. The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, is engaging with his counterpart in the Department of enterprise. We are determined to get to a situation where we can get certification done at a much quicker pace. We need it done. We have an ageing workforce. It is getting more difficult to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: Data returned to my Department from local authorities indicates that there were 934 refusals of offers of social housing in 2024, of which 693 were first refusals and 241 were second refusals. I will provide the Deputy with a breakdown of the data by local authority. There is some inconsistency in how this data is recorded at local authority level. My Department has been working closely with...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: The Programme for Government recognised the need for acceleration of home building by unblocking infrastructure delays and by coordinating investment in servicing zoned land. Government has agreed to the establishment of a new Housing Activation Office, which will be the delivery mechanism for the PfG commitment, and my Department has already begun putting together a team of specialists in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: Following the appointment of the EU Commissioner for Energy and Housing Mr Dan Jørgensen, a Housing Task Force was established by the Commission with effect from 1 February 2025. The EU Housing Taskforce is preparing the first ever European Affordable Housing Plan which is expected to be published by the Commission in early 2026. Recognising that housing is a national competence, but...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: Cost Rental is a new form of tenure which was introduced under the Affordable Housing Act 2021 and since then we have been actively building a pipeline of cost rental homes, with nearly 4,000 homes delivered to the end of last year. The Government has made a clear commitment in the Programme for Government to build more cost rental units through the LDA, local authorities and Cost Rental...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: My Department provides funding under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People, to assist those in private houses to make their accommodation more suitable for their needs. The suite of grants, which include the Housing Adaptation Grant for Disabled People, the Mobility Aids Grant and the Housing Aid for Older People Grant, are funded by my Department with a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: A key principle of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is that eligible households source their own accommodation in the private rental market. The accommodation sourced by tenants should be within the prescribed maximum HAP rent limits, which are based on household size and the rental market within the area concerned. Since 11 July 2022, each local authority has statutory discretion to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: Under Section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he/she is responsible and the requested information would be available directly from each local authority. On 15 October 2024, my Department published a Ministerial Action Plan on...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: Affordability and the chance to own a home are at the heart of the Government’s housing policy. As detailed in the Housing for All strategy, the Government has introduced a number of measures to support households and individuals wishing to purchase a home, as well as increasing the overall supply of new homes, with an ambitious target of 300,000 new homes up to 2030.  The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: There are a number of housing estates across the country – including a number in the village in the details supplied - that rely on Developer Provided Infrastructure (commonly called DPI) for their water services. These estates have not been taken in charge and their water services are not connected to the Uisce Éireann network. In June 2023 more than €3.3 million of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: Cost Rental is a key element of the Housing For All strategy to improve affordability in the rental sector and to provide secure, long-term homes for moderate-income households. Though it was introduced in 2021, cost rental delivery is accelerating, with over 3,600 homes already delivered by the end of 2024, and a substantial pipeline now in place. My Department is providing significant...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (1 Jul 2025)

James Browne: Government is fully committed to delivering affordable housing at scale, and continuing to accelerate housing supply across all tenures. A comprehensive implementation strategy is in place to support the various affordable housing schemes now being delivered by a range of delivery partners. Overall, nearly 13,000 affordable housing solutions have been delivered since the launch of Housing for...