Results 9,641-9,660 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Public Sector Staff Remuneration (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: My Department is based across a range of locations, primarily Dublin, Wexford and Ballina, each of which was impacted somewhat differently by Storm Emma. For reasons of safety, staff were informed that Departmental buildings in Wexford and Dublin would close at 5pm on Wednesday 28 February; for mainly travel and also safety reasons, some staff departed prior to this time with the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Planning Framework (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The National Planning Framework (NPF) was published by Government on 16 February 2018, alongside the National Development Plan 2018-2027 as part of Project Ireland 2040. The NPF sets out an ambitious high-level, national vision for Ireland for 2040, and provides the framework and principles to manage future population and economic growth over the next 20 years, including the need for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Regeneration (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Preparatory work on the Vacant Home Strategy was undertaken by a working group chaired by the Housing Agency which also comprised senior representatives from my Department, local authorities, the Irish Council for Social Housing and from the Housing Agency itself. My Department received the output of the working group in June 2017 and is presently further developing the strategy with a view...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Irish Water Funding (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels, pursuant to Section 7 of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 which provided for the transfer to Irish Water of all water services functions conferred on the county and city councils by the Water Services Act...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Issues (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: On 1 July 2017, updated regulatory standards, the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2017, came into effect. These Regulations focus on tenant safety and include new measures covering heating appliances, carbon monoxide, ventilation and window safety. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with the Regulations. As set out in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Maintenance (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966 provides that the management and maintenance of local authority housing stock is a matter for each individual local authority. This includes the achievement of energy efficiency, the implementation of planned maintenance programmes and carrying out of responsive repairs and pre-letting repairs.  My Department operates certain funding programmes to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The active management of the publicly-owned housing land bank is part of a range of complementary actions being progressed under the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, designed to accelerate and increase housing output. The Oscar Traynor Road site referred to is one of three significant sites being brought forward by Dublin City Council under its Housing Land...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The process of allocating funding under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund began in August 2016 when Local Authorities were invited to submit proposals which were subsequently assessed and 34 of those proposals received preliminary approval in March 2017. The fund was fully allocated at that time. However, as part of Budget 2018, I announced an additional €50 million...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Loans (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Following a review of the two existing local authority home loan schemes, the House Purchase Loan and the Home Choice Loan, a new loan offering, the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, was introduced on 1 February 2018. Section 63(3) of the Local Government Act 2001 provides that, subject to law, a local authority is independent in the performance of its functions. Section 6 of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Data (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1028 to 1030, inclusive, together. The delivery of more affordable homes, to buy or rent, is a major priority for Government, focusing in particular on the cities of Dublin, Galway and Cork, where people are facing the greatest affordability challenge. Increased delivery of homes at more affordable prices will involve local authorities...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Charges Data (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1034, 1037 and 1038 together. The consolidated local authority Annual Financial Statements (AFS) compiled by my Department from the audited financial statements published by each local authority provide a summary of major revenue collections, including in respect of commercial water, at Appendix 7. The AFS are available on my Department’s Website at:...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is a key element Rebuilding Ireland: An Action Plan for Housing & Homelessness. The objective of the fund is to provide public off-site infrastructure to relieve critical infrastructure blockages. Funding of €200 million was originally  provided under LIHAF, of which €150 million is funded by the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 prescribe maximum net income limits for each local authority, in different bands according to the area, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard Household Means Policy. The income bands and the authority area assigned to each band were based on an assessment of the income needed to provide for a household's basic...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Supply (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Water Supplies Act 1942 governs the abstraction by local authorities of water for public drinking supply.  There are at present no legislative provisions in Ireland dealing with the abstraction of water by parties other than local authorities. However, the Water Framework Directive requires that abstractions of surface water or ground water which are likely to have...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: House Purchase Schemes (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Following a review of the two existing local authority home loan schemes, the House Purchase Loan and the Home Choice Loan, a new loan offering, known as the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, was introduced on 1 February 2018. As with the previous local authority home loan offerings, the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan is a local authority product and loan applications are made directly...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: House Purchase Schemes (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1044 and 1046 together. Following a review of the two existing local authority home loan schemes, the House Purchase Loan and the Home Choice Loan, a new loan offering, the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, was made available on 1 February 2018. The new loan will enable credit worthy first-time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Emergency Planning (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: As the National Meteorological Service, Met Éireann issues colour coded weather alerts and warnings for a range of weather hazards, including wind, rain, snow, fog, thunderstorms, low/high temperatures, and coastal winds. These are based on meteorological ‘threshold’ parameters with impact considerations taken into account and the system is aligned with the European...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties Data (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1047 to 1050, inclusive, together. Between 2014 and 2017, my Department provided funding to local authorities to return some 9,227 vacant units to productive use. Details on the number of voids, derelicts and 2 into 1s brought back into use are set out in the table. The purpose of the voids programme is to ensure that vacant units are actively targeted and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: My Department does not collate data in relation to accommodation let on a short-term basis for tourism purposes. Under Action 18 of the Strategy for the Rental Sector, my Department established a Working Group in June 2017, with representatives of all major public stakeholders with a policy interest in short-term lettings, to develop guidance in relation to planning...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Data (20 Mar 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: At the second Housing Summit, held on January 22nd, I asked each Local Authority Chief Executive to furnish a report to my Department, confirming and setting out how their Local Authority will deliver on its social housing targets over the coming years. This process will have a particular focus on 2018 delivery profiles. Templates were provided to Local Authorities for completion...