Results 8,821-8,840 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I believe a blanket provision to permit local authority tenants to have an authorised delegate in all their dealings with the local authority would hinder and delay the normal process of landlord and tenant communications that tenants are generally well able to handle themselves. Housing authorities engage with third parties speaking on behalf of tenants who clearly need assistance in this...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am willing to do so if people feel it is necessary. I will certainly look at it. I know from my experience, and discussions we have had in the Dáil, that public representatives frequently accompany somebody to a housing department, as do people from voluntary housing associations and other people whom a tenant trusts. If there are suggestions this might not be facilitated I am...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The tenancy warning is a formal legislative measure with a particular purpose. In this regard a statement of the supports available to tenants is not appropriate in the statutory warning. I will add to the existing procedures of housing authorities to deal with instances of anti-social behaviour in their housing stock. The purpose of a tenancy warning is to inform a tenant that a condition...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Housing authorities already manage their rent systems in accordance with existing good practice, the development of which involved the Department and the County and City Managers Association. These guidelines deal comprehensively with the various aspects of rent management through rent assessment, collection and accounting and have a particular emphasis on rent arrears prevention and...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The provision proposed by Senator Reilly is similar to the provisions in section 7(3)(c) which states a tenancy warning relating to anti-social behaviour must indicate that if the breach is repeated within 12 months the authority may apply for either a possession order in respect of the dwelling or an excluding order against the person engaged in such behaviour. The reference to an excluding...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: These amendments would require the Child and Family Agency to be notified of every excluding order application in respect of a person less than 18 years old and multi-agency involvement as a prerequisite for the making of such an order. The granting of every excluding order involves striking a balance between the rights of the respondent and the rights of the local community. The...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I have had a general discussion with the previous Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the current Minister on issues to do with young people and housing, for example, young people leaving care when they turn 18 and the specific issues that arise. We have discussed a wide range of issues, but regarding this one, as the Minister is relatively new in the job, the discussions are at a...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: This amendment relates to a new section 29A proposed to be inserted into the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 that empowers the Minister to prescribe amendments to the terms of existing local authority tenancy agreements that are consequential to new or existing legislative provisions. It would not be appropriate to limit the application of this new section to procedures for...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I will respond to the general issue first. Senator Reilly is right to be concerned that local authority houses are allocated as quickly as possible after they become vacant. With regard to Senator Mooney's request, I will get the figures for him. There is a significant number and there are big variations among local authorities. Some local authorities leave houses idle for more than a year...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I must respond to the comments made by Senator Reilly, specifically on her amendment.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: There has been progress with the NAMA properties. Local authorities have said that some of the NAMA properties were unsuitable but we have asked them to look at them again because times have changed and there is a different type of person who needs housing. In the past that person might have thought certain properties were unsuitable but he or she may think otherwise now. We have asked the...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I would say I have been more proactive than any Minister before me on empty houses. This practice has been going on for years. For the first time, we have decided to tackle the issue and to allocate specific amounts of money for those requiring major works. Significant work has to be done on some of those houses, some of which have been lying there for years and are a blot on the landscape...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: These amendments duplicate an existing enactment in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Section 13 of the 2009 Act provides that capital moneys accruing to a housing authority from a number of sources, including the sale of a dwelling under the old tenant purchase scheme provided by the 1966 Act, or the two incremental purchase schemes provided for in the 2009 Act, will be...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Section 25 provides for the sale to a tenant by a housing authority of a house under Part 3, which includes the determination of the purchase price of that house. That sale is subject to certain terms and conditions, including conditions relating to occupation of the house as the normal place of residence of the purchaser or a household member, proposed changes to the status of the house in...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Is it in regard to the last two amendments?

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Which amendment is it?

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I replied to the two of them together at that time.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am sorry. This is to do with where a local authority agrees to the disposal. I think I did reply to that.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The first part of amendment No. 13 proposes to insert a new subsection (1A) into section 44 of the Act of 2009 in what would appear to be an attempt to extend the incremental purchase arrangements for newly-built local authority and approved body houses of Part 3 of the 2009 Act to existing local authority and approved housing bodies. The proposed amendment is unnecessary insofar as it...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Yes.