Results 7,861-7,880 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant (26 Apr 2018)

Damien English: The Housing Aid for Older People Scheme provides grants of up to €8,000 to assist older people living in poor housing conditions to have necessary repairs or improvement works carried out. The grant eligible works include the provision of heating and any repair or improvement works which are considered reasonably necessary.  The detailed administration of these grants,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Pyrite Remediation Programme Implementation (26 Apr 2018)

Damien English: The provides the statutory framework for the establishment of the Pyrite Resolution Board and for the making of a pyrite remediation scheme to be implemented by the Board with support from the Housing Agency. The is a scheme of “last resort” for affected homeowners who have no other practical option to obtain redress and is limited in its application and scope. The full...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Bodies Establishment (26 Apr 2018)

Damien English: I propose to take Questions Nos. 243 to 245, inclusive, together. Project Ireland 2040 signals a significant policy shift towards securing more compact and sustainable urban and rural development, which requires significantly more effective land management in key development areas. Against that background, it is proposed to establish a National Regeneration and Development Agency to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Stations Provision (1 May 2018)

Damien English: The provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs, and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Service Act, 1981. My Department supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Seaweed Harvesting Licences (1 May 2018)

Damien English: Applications to harvest seaweed, most of which are by companies, are effectively on hold until such time as I am in a position to bring clarity to the regulatory regime applying to the harvesting of wild seaweed. This includes the interaction between the applications on hand from companies and any seaweed related rights that exist. At that point the applications on hand will come before me...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Home Loan Scheme (8 May 2018)

Damien English: As the Deputy will be aware, the Rebuilding Ireland home loan is targeted at first-time buyers who wish to own their own home, satisfy the relevant income limits, have access to an adequate deposit and have the capacity to repay a mortgage, but who are unable to access a mortgage sufficient for them to purchase their first home. As previously noted regarding this issue, the primary earner...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Home Loan Scheme (8 May 2018)

Damien English: Some of these issues were also raised at the meeting. As with any scheme that is only three months old, there will be some teething problems. There were some issues with the assessment of data at the outset. Additional training is to be provided at all levels in local authorities. The Housing Agency has processed 460 applications and has sanctioned about 224 of those. If somebody has...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Home Loan Scheme (8 May 2018)

Damien English: The scheme set out the ambitions at the start and it will be a demand-led scheme. It is the credit committee's job to judge the different types of overtime. The overtime is very clear from someone's employment record. Applicants are asked to give a lot of information on the form as well. The credit committee analyses the data and makes the decision, as they do in banks, credit unions and...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: It is grouped with No. 63.

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: It is No. 63.

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: I propose to take Questions Nos. 31 and 63 together. The social housing assessment regulations 2011 prescribe maximum net income limits for each local authority, in different bands according to the area, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard household means policy. The income bands and the authority area assigned to each band were based on an assessment of the...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: I acknowledge that Deputy Brendan Smith has raised this quite often. The last time we discussed this, I did say that we hoped to have the report by June. I hope it will not be much longer than that before we have it. To be clear, a ring around will answer some of the questions. We know from our own analysis with the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, what the rent increases are. We know...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: I would be surprised if someone was taken off a list for ten years because of a bit of overtime. The story might not add up. We will check that.

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: I am happy to look at it with the Deputy. I would be surprised. We had a discussion about overtime earlier, and how that is judged. To be clear, the reason for the review of the guidelines and the establishment of a national standard was because there was a different policy in every local authority prior to that. There were different income limits, gross or net, different allowances for...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: The Deputy should not misquote me. I did not say that I could sort it out, rather that I doubt the story that someone lost their-----

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: I said that I would check out the story. I doubt that someone lost their ten year history over working a little bit of overtime. I am doubting how the story was portrayed in the House.

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: If I am wrong, then so be it. I am happy to check out the story. To allow for social housing mix, there are a range of schemes which blend social, affordable and private housing on State-owned lands. There are plans afoot to provide enough land to build 50,000 houses, taking the mix of social, private and affordable houses into account. People will benefit from that. In addition, to...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: We are trying to ensure that the housing scheme is brought forward, using State-owned lands to deliver housing to the public through social and affordable schemes and in conjunction with the private sector. I do not believe that social housing policy in the past brought forward projects that provided that mix. I look at the consequences of that in many places where very large scale social...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (8 May 2018)

Damien English: -----to change that now to ensure it is done correctly through the clever use of State land, as well as using State finances. Guidelines were issued in the first instance because we had to make sure that all interventions target the most needy. That is how taxpayers' money is best used, and that is why we have the schemes that exist and why we set a national standard. The review, carried...

Other Questions: Emergency Accommodation Provision (8 May 2018)

Damien English: On the issue of student accommodation, many changes have been made in that area since Rebuilding Ireland was launched. It is an issue of supply, like every other form of housing. We are intervening in the area of supply and are attempting to dramatically increase the amount of student accommodation. I do not have the specific figures for Galway because it was not part of the Deputy's...