Results 921-940 of 4,700 for speaker:Noel Ahern

Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: My Department is not involved in the financing or supervision of this scheme which, I understand, is being undertaken by the approved voluntary housing association under an agreement with Dublin City Council. Information relating to the procurement, management or progress of the scheme may appropriately be sought from Dublin City Council.

Written Answers — Homeless Persons: Homeless Persons (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: The number of transitional and move-on accommodation units funded under section 10 of the Housing Act 1988 in various local authority areas in 2004 was 568. This does not include social housing units provided directly by local authorities or voluntary bodies or units sourced in the private sector by resettlement services, the housing access unit operated by Threshold on behalf of the homeless...

Written Answers — Misuse of Drugs: Misuse of Drugs (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: As the Deputy may be aware, the British-Irish Council was established under the Strand Three Provisions of the Good Friday Agreement as a forum to promote the harmonious and mutually beneficial development of relationships among the peoples of these islands for its members to exchange information, discuss, consult and co-operate on matters of mutual interest within the competence of relevant...

Written Answers — House Prices: House Prices (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: The unprecedented demand for housing, fuelled mainly by rapid economic growth and demographic changes, has been the major driver of house price increases in recent years. While precise information is not available, it is clear that there has been significant activity over this period by investors and owners of second properties. This is to be expected in a growing economy. While at different...

Written Answers — Housing Provision: Housing Provision (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: Total State spending on affordable housing, including non-Exchequer financing, for each of the past five years is set out in the following table. Information on expenditure by local authorities on the provision of affordable housing is not available in my Department. 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 â'¬,000 â'¬,000 â'¬,000 â'¬,000 ...

Written Answers — Housing Provision: Housing Provision (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: The total amount of capital expenditure on the local authority housing construction-acquisition programme for the years 2000 to 2004, which is funded by a combination of Exchequer capital grants and local authority internal capital receipts, and expenditure under the voluntary housing schemes is set out in the following table 1. The number of units completed in the years 2000 to 2004 under...

Written Answers — Housing Provision: Housing Provision (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: I refer to the reply to Question No. 682 of 17 November 2004. Following the receipt of the documentation from Donegal County Council, which is responsible for the detailed administration of the voluntary housing scheme in its area, further clarification has been sought from the council and is awaited. When this is to hand the application will be further considered by my Department and the...

Written Answers — Housing Provision: Housing Provision (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: Over recent years, the Government has introduced a broad range of targeted measures to address equally diverse housing needs. Affordable housing measures seek to support low income households by providing access to housing at discounted prices while housing loans are provided for those who cannot access finance from private institutions. To ensure effective targeting of resources to support...

Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: My Department does not have information on the total amount of land utilised for housing purposes in the past seven years. For the past number of years my Department has monitored overall levels of zoned residential lands. The results of the sixth national inventory of such land indicated that there were 12,500hectares of serviced residential land as at 30 June 2004. This would give an...

Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: Available information on the number of units provided in each local authority area in respect of the voluntary housing schemes is published in my Department's quarterly and annual housing statistics bulletins. Copies of the bulletins, including September 2004, are available in the Oireachtas Library and the information contained in the bulletins is also available on the Departments website at...

Written Answers — Housing Grants: Housing Grants (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: There is no record of the receipt of an application for a new house grant from the person named at the address given. Applications for a grant, which was terminated as and from 14 November 2002, were required to be received in my Department by 4 December 2002.

Seanad: Grant Payments. (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: I thank Senator Browne for giving me the opportunity to speak about the disabled persons grant scheme. He will be glad to learn that a review of the scheme is well advanced in my Department. The grant scheme serves a useful purpose in helping to meet the housing needs of disabled persons. The grant is available for the provision of additional accommodation or the carrying out of adaptation...

Seanad: Grant Payments. (13 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: I hope the Senator is right. There are building regulations in place but they may not cover every case. There are regulations for door width and fewer steps but higher density housing could cause difficulties for disabled people in future. Even higher density developments, however, are built with full life living in mind. The review is more or less complete, it must be approved by certain...

Written Answers — Youth Services: Youth Services (14 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: As the Deputy is aware, the young people's facilities and services fund, YPFSF, was set up in 1998 to assist in the development of youth facilities, including sport and recreational facilities, and services in disadvantaged areas where a significant drug problem exists or has the potential to develop. The main aim of the fund is to attract "at risk" young people in disadvantaged areas into...

Written Answers — Dormant Accounts Fund: Dormant Accounts Fund (14 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: The Deputy will be aware that disbursements from the dormant accounts fund are for the purpose of assisting three broad categories of persons — those who are economically or socially disadvantaged; those who are educationally disadvantaged and persons with a disability. Decisions on the disbursement of funds from dormant accounts moneys are currently a matter for the Dormant Accounts Fund...

Written Answers — Charitable Trusts: Charitable Trusts (14 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Question Nos. 16 and 113 together. In 2004, the Law Reform Commission agreed to assist and advise my Department on addressing issues raised in the section on Governance in my Department's consultation paper on establishing a modern statutory framework for charities, as these relate to charitable trusts. On 16 February 2005, I launched the consultation paper on charitable...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (14 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: As the Deputy is aware, my Department has overall responsibility for co-ordinating the implementation of the National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008. The strategy contains 100 individual actions, under the four pillars of supply reduction, prevention, treatment and research, to be implemented by a range of Departments and agencies. In this regard, I am aware of the recent comments made by the...

Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (14 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Question Nos. 23, 25, 45 and 54 together. As the Deputies are aware, my Department has overall responsibility for co-ordinating the implementation of the National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008. The strategy contains 100 individual actions to be implemented by a range of Departments and agencies. In this regard, a progress report covering the first three years of the strategy, up...

Written Answers — Voluntary Sector Organisations: Voluntary Sector Organisations (14 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 24, 27 and 37 together. I dealt comprehensively with this issue in the House already. I refer the Deputies in particular to my replies to Questions Nos. 4 and 5 of 22 February and Nos. 360 and 367 on 22 March 2005. Since the decision to discontinue funding under the national anti-poverty networks programme was communicated to the CWC on 17 December 2004, my...

Written Answers — Voluntary Activity: Voluntary Activity (14 Apr 2005)

Noel Ahern: I refer the Deputy to my response to Question No. 63 on 14 December 2004. As I indicated in that response, while the broad principles of the White Paper remain, it is appropriate that the mechanisms for addressing these be adjusted to appropriately reflect wider developments including contextual, programme and structural changes. In any event, current funding commitments to support certain...