Results 8,181-8,200 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Legislative Process (27 Sep 2018)

Damien English: As outlined during the 2nd Stage debate on the Urban Regeneration and Housing (Amendment) Bill 2018 introduced by Deputy Wallace which, among other things, proposes a number of amendments to the vacant site levy provisions, the Government shares the same overall objective as the Deputy regarding the need to tackle land hoarding and ensure that vacant under-utilised sites are...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Sites Data (27 Sep 2018)

Damien English: The Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 introduced the vacant site levy, which is a measure aimed at incentivising the development of vacant, under-utilised sites in urban areas.  Under the Act, planning authorities are required to establish a register of vacant sites in their areas, beginning on 1 January 2017.  While all 31 local authorities have established vacant site...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (27 Sep 2018)

Damien English: The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) is provided by Dublin City Council as the lead statutory local authority in the response to homelessness in Dublin. The DRHE is responsible for the planning, co-ordination and administration of funding in relation to the provision of quality services to people who are homeless in the Dublin area, and for the development of responses to prevent...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (27 Sep 2018)

Damien English: The Expert Panel on Concrete Blocks was established by my Department in 2016, to investigate problems that have emerged in the concrete blockwork of certain dwellings in Counties Donegal and Mayo. The Panel had the following terms of reference: (i) To identify, insofar as it is possible, the numbers of private dwellings which appear to be affected by defects in the blockwork in the Counties...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Stations Upgrade (27 Sep 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 section 10 of the Fire Services Act 1981. My Department supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Building Regulations Compliance (2 Oct 2018)

Damien English: In the first instance, primary responsibility for compliance with the requirements of the Building Regulations rests with the designers, builders and owners of buildings. The purpose of the Building Regulations is to protect the health, safety and welfare of people in and around buildings. Part B of the Second Schedule to the Building Regulations deals with Fire Safety. Building defects,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Seaweed Harvesting Licences (2 Oct 2018)

Damien English: I replied to the correspondence referred to on 29 August last. In my response, I advised that I had recently clarified the legal position regarding the interface between applications to my Department for licences to harvest wild seaweed and existing harvesting rights. My letter explained that in conjunction with the Attorney General, it had been established that there were: - appurtenant...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: National Planning Framework (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: I thank the four Deputies for raising these matters and welcome the opportunity to discuss the implementation of the national planning framework, NPF, on which we are now focused. The national plan was published earlier this year. It sets out the long-term strategy for the future development of Ireland as a whole, and the NPF implementation roadmap was published subsequently to address a...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: National Planning Framework (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: I will give a quick reply, if that is in order.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: National Planning Framework (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: I will be brief. I apologise about the script. I have copies here.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: National Planning Framework (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: It is my fault. I had copies with me but I forgot to arrange for them to be handed out. In fairness to Deputy Casey, he asked at the end of the debate on the planning Bill if we would have a discussion on this matter. I am sure that can be facilitated either in the House or in committee because in our Department we like to do that and talk through what we are trying to achieve with...

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: It changed six months ago and has worked very well since.

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: I will respond to a few of the points raised. It continues to be said we are opposed to social housing.

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: Opposition Members cannot keep saying that because the facts do not back it up. They might not like the facts, but the Government has put a structured plan in place and taxpayers' money behind it of €6 billion to build houses. The plan is delivering. It is delivering more houses than any other speaker can provide in his or her plans.

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: Please do not keep telling me that we lack the desire, ambition or nature to do it. We are fully committed to doing so. We all accept that it cannot happen quick enough to solve the problem. We genuinely wish it could. Who would not? Nobody wants people to have to live in hotels, family hubs or anywhere else of that nature. They are not places in which to raise a family. We are...

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: Sinn Féin's plan is to provide 100,000 houses. That is the plan for tonight.

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: We have been consistent in our message in recent years. What is more important is that the plan is delivering because it has been thought out and worked out site by site. There are more than 1,000 projects in the pipeline which aim to deliver more than 16,000 houses. We want to double that number and add more to it. Houses are being built. Deputy Maria Bailey is correct. We are not...

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: There was ambition, talk, plans and everything else but no concrete ideas on how we could provide housing more quickly. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae is conveniently no longer in the Chamber. I am talking about physically building a house quicker.

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: Let me finish the point. He spoke about solutions. I thought he was going to give a list of ideas, but he sat down without providing any solution and then went out through the door. In fairness to Deputy Michael Collins, he referred to the rural resettlement scheme, with which we totally agree. There has been some movement in that regard and we want to see more. It is a good solution....

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (3 Oct 2018)

Damien English: The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, publishes the figures every day of the week. It is very important that those who are homeless understand an effort is being made to make things better. There is an effort to improve the position for those who are homeless but also to find a permanent solution. We are doing so. A total of 7,060 adults who were homeless are not homeless today. Members...