Results 8,021-8,040 of 8,153 for speaker:James Browne

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (8 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 or she is responsible. My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector, including the monitoring of local government sector employment levels. Staffing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: The First Home Scheme, which launched in July 2022, is a shared equity scheme, designed to help bridge the gap for eligible first-time buyers, eligible homebuyers, and self-builders, between their deposit and mortgage, and the price of their new home (within price ceilings established across the country). Full details are available on the First Home Scheme website, www.firsthomescheme.ie/ ...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: Pathway 4 of Housing for All sets out a blueprint to address vacancy and make efficient use of our existing housing stock. The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant introduced in July 2022, provides a grant of up to €50,000 for the refurbishment of vacant properties for occupation as a principal private residence and for properties which will be made available for rent. A top-up...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 547 and 548 together. My Department publishes comprehensive programme-level statistics on a quarterly basis for social housing delivery, including numbers of completed social housing acquisitions by local authorities. Those statistics show that 1,829 such acquisitions were completed in 2023 by the local authorities, with 1,081 of these being tenant in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 549 and 550 together. The funding of local authority acquisitions, including tenant in situ, is in the main through my Department's Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP). The table below set out the funding provided to local authorities under SHIP for their acquisitions activity, including those for tenant in situ which was introduced in 2023. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 551 and 552 together. The funding of local authority acquisitions, including tenant in situ, is in the main through my Department's Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP). The table below sets out the average purchase price of a property purchased under the tenant-in-situ scheme from the initiation of the scheme in 2023. The delivery numbers for Q1...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 553 and 554 together. My Department undertakes the Lead Government Department role, as set out in the Strategic Emergency Management (SEM) Framework (2017), in relation to the coordination of national level responses to severe weather and flooding emergencies, where warranted. My Department's National Directorate for Fire & Emergency Management...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: Thank you very much, a Chathaoirligh. I thank Deputies and Senators for the opportunity to say a few words here today. I am committed to addressing the challenges of securing a housing system that meets the needs of society. Building new homes is a key priority and we must use every means available to do so. I will set out what we are doing to build on the achievements of Housing for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I thank Deputy McGrath for his questions. On housing output, we had obviously hoped for a much higher output last year. Everybody was disappointed with the final outturn. A lot of effort and record funding had been put in for housing delivery. We did see a significant increase in the number of commencement notices. There is a sense that many developers and builders may have turned their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: We are finalising our proposal on the over the shop scheme and what it will look like. We are engaging with the Department of public expenditure and reform. The work that has been done across the country to tackle vacancy and dereliction has been impressive. Local authorities have embraced it, as have people living in our cities and towns. The over the shop scheme is the next piece. In...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I agree the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. That is why we are bringing radical change to how we deliver housing in this country and in particular how we facilitate the private sector. Right now the State is delivering 50% of all homes, more or less. We are delivering-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I am addressing Deputy Ó Broin's full question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I will give context to the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I know Deputy Ó Broin does not like it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: I know Deputy Ó Broin does not like it, but he has to listen to me.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: If Deputy Ó Broin wants to hear me, he has to listen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: We are bringing radical change to how we deliver housing. If we are going to go from 30,000 to 50,000 or 60,000 homes, we have to activate the private sector. That is what we have been doing. We have extended existing planning permissions. The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, is undertaking work on planning exemptions to free work up. In terms of the savings, we are going to see a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Priorities of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (8 Jul 2025)

James Browne: By being able to provide more units onto the existing footprint of an apartment block.