Results 9,001-9,020 of 18,851 for speaker:Fergus O'Dowd

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: If that meeting does not take place, can it still proceed to make a decision? I do not understand why it would not have that meeting.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: If the applicant is refused planning permission later, could he or she mount a case against An Bord Pleanála? Is the Minister ensuring that that will not be able to happen? While it is important, it is not critical that a meeting take place. Is that the case?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: Do I understand the Minister correctly, that the process is provided for in existing legislation?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: Is the Minister including it in the Bill to strengthen the point?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: If I do not build at all and I have my extension, where does that leave me as opposed to-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: Do they have to apply publicly?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: If I am an aggrieved party from a previous-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: Should the person in question state that it is their intention to apply? I do not know what the process is.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: I do not have a problem with the principle. It is just the transparency of it, particularly if no development has taken place and a person has their extension. It seems to me-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: -----that it should possibly be put on the website of the local authority so that people know.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: That is fair enough.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: We have cases like that in my constituency.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: This is a very important point. A change to reduce standards is significant. The quality of life for families is very difficult in many apartments, particularly if they go above a certain number of floors. My key point is that the physical environment in which the apartments are located is one aspect but the recreational and other amenities nearby are another. Many European cities have...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: I hear the Minister but one will find that where the cost of land is highest, one will find the smallest houses, pokey apartment and the poor amenities.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: That certain size is the base level. The larger that size is the better. While the Minister is talking sense, I am happy I made those points.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: I support the thrust of what my colleagues have said. I agree that we do have a housing emergency and this legislation is specifically dealing with it. I welcome the principle of what the Minister is doing. Later on, we will have a debate on the rental changes the Minister is making which, from what I have read, I very much welcome. There are 198,000 vacant homes in the State, not...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: This is an important debate. When we have the Minister's full proposals and amendments, which are coming in this Bill, we will be able to debate them more fully. Landlords are paid well enough. The rents for those who are receiving the increased HAP supports in Drogheda have shot up in the past couple of years. There has been a significant increase in Drogheda. The national increase in...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: I understand that. I have been putting some thought into one of the main issues. A group of young men with whom I spoke told me that their landlord was putting them out of the house, not because they were not paying but because if he switches to Airbnb, he will make much more money. Their rent has increased by 35%. They cannot pay it, so they must leave. The landlord will make a killing...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: Is the Government dealing with that?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: I did not see it in what I had read so far. That is excellent. Given the statistics that I have been reading, approximately 1,200 homes in Dublin that are not owner-occupied are listed on Airbnb. There is a website-----