Results 9,681-9,700 of 28,221 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Offshore Exploration (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: In respect to issuing of and consultation on exploratory offshore licenses the local authorities have no functions in this regard.  Functional responsibility of the local authorities ends at the high water mark and the seaward side out to 12 nautical miles is a shared responsibility, depending on the activity being licensed, between myself and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities have a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes.  An initial three-month waiver of rates for businesses forced to close business due to COVID-19, was announced in May.  In order to enhance the supports available for enterprise, and in recognition of the fact that not only were many ratepayers forced to close business due to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Home Loan Scheme (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan is designed to enable credit-worthy first-time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand properties in a suitable price range. The scheme is targeted at first-time buyers who have access to an adequate deposit and have the capacity to repay a mortgage, but who are unable to access a mortgage sufficient for them to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Sites (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the vacant site levy provisions in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015, planning authorities were empowered to apply a vacant site levy of 3% of the market valuation of relevant properties which were listed on local authority vacant site registers in 2018, which relevant owners were liable to pay in January 2019. The rate of the levy increased to 7% for sites listed on local...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015, provide the basis for the current Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme, which came into operation on 1 January 2016, which allows local authorities to sell local authority owned dwellings to existing social housing tenants. The Scheme does not extend to houses owned by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). Under the terms of the...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Heritage Schemes (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department provides financial support for the protection of heritage buildings and historic structures through two grant schemes, which are, in the main, administered by the Local Authorities. These are the Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS) and the Historic Structures Fund (HSF). Both schemes are run on an annual funding cycle and, in general, all funds must be drawn down and claimed...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Commercial Rates (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 322 and 328 together. Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015. The levying and collection of rates are matters for each individual...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Planning Issues (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: There are no specific criteria for anaerobic and biogas systems facilities under the planning code and it is a matter for planning authorities or An Bord Pleanala, as appropriate, to assess applications for such projects in line with the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act), and the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended. I am aware that the Irish Bioenergy...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Heritage Projects (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: In November 2019, funding of €5m was awarded under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund to Waterways Ireland and its partners, Kildare and Laois County Councils to progress the Barrow Blueway from Lowtown to Athy. Waterways Ireland commenced construction of the Barrow Blueway in early August 2020. The construction work is being undertaken by Waterways Ireland’s direct...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Heritage Projects (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department provides financial support for the protection of heritage buildings and historic structures through two grant schemes which are, in the main, administered by the local authorities. These are the Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS) and the Historic Structures Fund (HSF). To date, a combined sum of over €4.3m has been allocated to 450 built heritage projects across...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Rent Supplement Scheme (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Across the period 2016 to 2021, we are working to meet the housing needs of more than 138,000 additional households. This includes 50,000 long term supports in build, bought or leased homes, being delivered by both local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) and also congoing support under the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS). The...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Water and Sewerage Schemes (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Section 70B(13) of the Water Services Act 2007 (No. 30 of 2007), as inserted by Section 4 of the Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012 (No. 2 of 2012), and the Domestic Waste Water Treatment System (Registration) Regulations 2012 (No. 222 of 2012)provide that all owners of houses served by an individual domestic waste water treatment system, have the system entered into the register maintained...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Grant Payments (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the Water Services Acts 2007 and 2012 (Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems) Regulations 2012, the owner of a domestic waste water treatment system is responsible for its maintenance and renewal and shall ensure that its parts and components are fit for purpose, operational where appropriate and kept in good order and repair so as to prevent a risk to human health or environment. ...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Hare Coursing (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 331 and 358 together. On 16 September last my Department issued licenses under the Wildlife Acts to the Irish Coursing Club on behalf of its affiliated clubs to net and tag hares for the forthcoming 2020/2021 coursing season.

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Local Authority Housing (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: There are over 135,000 social housing homes nationally in the ownership of local authorities. My Department has been funding an Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Programme for these properties since 2013. The Programme has two phases: Phase 1, which comprises the bulk of the work undertaken to date, has focused on the lower cost improvements such as cavity wall and attic insulation, while...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Building Regulations (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: New buildings and extensions or material alterations to existing buildings must comply with the legal minimum performance standards set out in the Building Regulations 1997 - 2019. In this context, the Building Regulations (Part M Amendment) Regulations 2010, and the accompanying Technical Guidance Document M – Access and Use (2010), which came into effect on 1 January 2012, set out...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Mica Redress Scheme (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The regulations for the Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme came in to operation on 31 January 2020. The Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) Regulations 2020 provide for a grant scheme of financial assistance to support affected homeowners in the counties of Donegal and Mayo, to carry out the necessary remediation...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Housing Assistance Payment (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) supports the delivery of social housing by providing financial support to local authorities for the long term leasing of houses and apartments from private owners, developers and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). Details on SHCEP expenditure for the years 2015-2019, broken down by local authority, and the number of SHCEP agreements...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Planning Issues (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The provisions in relation to proposed local authority "own development" projects - commonly referred to as Part 8 projects - are provided for in Section 179 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act) and Part 8 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended (the Regulations). Under these provisions, a planning authority is required to advertise its...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Capital Assistance Scheme (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 337 and 338 together. Under my Department’s Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS), capital funding of up to 100% of project costs may be advanced by local authorities to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) to provide housing for specific categories of housing need, including for older people, people with a disability and people who are homeless. CAS funding...