Results 8,481-8,500 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I move amendment No. 18: In page 46, to delete lines 6 to 18 and substitute the following:“(c) in section 20 by substituting the following for subsection (5):“(5) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), a household shall not be eligible for social housing support where—(i) at any time during the 3 years immediately before the carrying out of the social housing assessment, the...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I move amendment No. 19: In page 46, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following:“(f) in section 43(1) by substituting the following for paragraph (a) in the definition of “eligible household”:“(a) a household assessed by a housing authority under section 20 as being qualified for social housing support, which has been allocated a dwelling to which this Part...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I move amendment No. 20: In page 46, to delete lines 25 to 42, and in page 47, to delete lines 1 to 11 and substitute the following:“(f) in section 43 by substituting the following for subsection (2):“(2) (a) A housing authority shall not proceed with the sale of a dwelling under an incremental purchase arrangement to a household referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The section provides that payment of housing assistance by a housing authority in respect of a dwelling will not mean that the dwelling has been let by a public authority within the meaning of section 3(2)(c) of the Residential Tenancies Act. The Residential Tenancies Act will apply, so it still be under the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, even if the person is in HAP, because he...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Yes, it will. That is the intention. The Residential Tenancies Act and the PRTB will apply, except to dwellings provided under the capital assistance scheme, CAS.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Yes, they will still be obliged to register with the PRTB and they will still subject to the latter's rules. Legislation designed to bring voluntary housing bodies under the remit of the PRTB is before the Seanad at present. There will be a need to co-ordinate that Bill and the one before us.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: It will apply when the other legislation to which I refer has been enacted. It is really a question of which Bill is passed first.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: That is a fair question. We will be obliged to consider this matter, particularly in the context of which legislation might be enacted first. I am advised that the Bill before us will be enacted first and that when the other legislation is passed, all the approved housing bodies will be brought under the remit of the PRTB. It is a question of timing. The intention is that the legislation...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: That is a fair point. I may be in a position to clarify the matter on Report Stage at which point I will know a little more about the timeframe relating to the passage of the other legislation.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: My understanding that recourse to the Office of the Ombudsman is available to people who have undergone the various processes and who are not satisfied with what has occurred. There is nothing to suggest that this will not be-----

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: There is no exclusion and as is the case with any matter relating to local authorities, I presume it will be open to people to approach the Office of the Ombudsman.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I agree with Deputy Ellis that we need to look at rent control but we do not have it here right now. Whether we like it or not, the current position is that the money is going into landlords' pockets and the question is whether we leave it with the Deposit Protection Service, DSP. What was meant to be a short-term payment of rent supplement effectively has become long-term for many people...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: -----whereas this scheme will involve the tenant's proportion behind deducted at source and the entire amount due to the landlord being paid to the landlord by the local authority. In that sense I am not so sure about it. We will have to see what happens as it rolls out. As the Deputy knows, it started in one local authority and will roll out in an additional six this year, and gradually...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I did not answer that the first time. I will come back to that.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I said on Second Stage that people will be eligible for a transfer into a local house from the housing assistance payment, HAP. Each local authority has allocation schemes in this regard. Already, if a person is in council housing which is inappropriate, he or she can be transferred to more suitable accommodation. Therefore, these people will be eligible to be transferred into a local...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: This has to do with where people share a house and qualify for partial assistance as they are not considered to be one household. There are some, but not many, situations where this happens but they qualify separately for support.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Yes, it is where they currently qualify separately for rent supplement. It might, for example, be two or more single women who have their individual space but share some parts of the house. This provision is to provide for a process that already exists in the context of rent supplement.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I move amendment No. 23: In page 48, line 12, after “may” to insert “, subject to subsection (3),”.These two amendments are linked. Amendment No. 23 is a technical amendment that will allow for amendment No. 24. This amendment tempers the demand driven element of the new housing assistance payment to take account of affordability, from the perspective of the...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The specific wording of this provision does not stitch us into current rent caps. The reference to a cap is not to rent caps but to the overall availability of funding for the scheme. One of the officials here with me today is from the Department of Social Protection, which has commenced a rent review which will be completed in time to feed into the budgetary process. That review will be...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: None of us wants topping up to happen, as it impoverishes people. The Department of Social Protection asks, if there are false declarations, that they be reported to departmental representatives, who will discuss the circumstances of any case. The point Deputies are really raising is that people cannot find accommodation. Households sourcing accommodation themselves is the norm with regard...