Results 9,721-9,740 of 25,999 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

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

Darragh O'Brien: As highlighted in the Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent bathing water quality report released earlier this year, encouraging progress is being made in improving bathing waters across the country. I was particularly pleased to see the continual increase in the number of bathing waters meeting or exceeding the minimum water quality requirements. It is well known that our...

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

Darragh O'Brien: My Department publishes comprehensive statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity. This is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: This data provides a breakdown of social housing delivery across a range of mechanisms. In addition to the statistical overview of activity in each local authority, a detailed Social...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Increased rent limits for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and the Rent Supplement Scheme were introduced in 2016. These limits were agreed in conjunction with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP). In reviewing the rent limits, my Department worked closely with DEASP and monitored data gathered from the Residential Tenancies Board and the HAP Shared Services...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I understand that on December 6th, 2019 Dublin City Council entered into a development agreement with Bartra Capital Limited for the development of it's residential lands at O'Devaney Gardens. The legal agreement requires that 30% of the residences developed shall be for Social Housing, 20% of the residences shall be Affordable Purchase units and 50% of the residences shall be Developer...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 364 and 365 together. The current position in relation to the refusal by households of offers of social housing dwellings is set down in Regulation 12 of the Social Housing Allocation Regulations 2011, made under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Under Regulation 12, a household that refuses two reasonable offers of such...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Licence Applications (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I understand that a license has issued in this case.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Animal Culls (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Both species of seal in Irish waters - the Harbour or Common Seal and the more numerous Grey Seal - are protected under the EU Habitats Directive and Ireland is obliged to maintain their numbers at a favourable conservation level. We are also required to monitor their populations and report to the European Commission on their conservation status. A standardised monitoring programme has been...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Accommodation Scheme (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 requires all housing authorities, as a reserved function, to make an allocation scheme determining the order of priority to be accorded in the allocation of dwellings to households qualified for social housing support and to households approved for a transfer, the allocation of which would, in the opinion of the authority, meet the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Emergency Accommodation (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department's role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the statutory role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. My Department does not fund any homeless service directly but provides funding to housing authorities towards these costs. Under the funding arrangements, housing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority area is provided in the annual statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The purpose of the SSHA is to capture the total number of households qualified for social housing support across the country whose social housing need has not yet been met, in order to better inform policy and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department provides Unit Cost Ceilings (UCCs) to each local authority as a key benchmark for the development and costing of new build social housing. The tables below outline the current UCC values for houses and apartments being developed by local authorities. HOUSES 1 bed 2 bed (1 storey) 2 bed (2 storey) 3 bed 4 bed ...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Accommodation (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Social housing supports are available to eligible households on the local authority waiting lists. If a household is homeless, and eligible for social housing, then the appropriate structure for their support will be determined by the relevant local authority having regard to their scheme of allocations. The cost of delivering additional social housing homes is largely dependent on a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government contains a commitment to explore expanding Part V to encompass affordable purchase and cost rental units and the cost of such measures will be considered as part of that work. The costs associated with Part V vary depending on the numbers of units developed in any given year by the private sector, the existing use value of the sites, and the type, size and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Census 2016 figures indicate that there were approximately 183,000 vacant homes (down from 230,000 in 2011) but, in considering that figure, it should be noted that those numbers were recorded at a single point in time and included houses for sale or for rent, as well as homes that are not recoverable for occupancy for a wide range of reasons. More recent GeoDirectory (An Post and OSi) data...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Issues (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department is committed to supporting older people to live in their own home with dignity and independence for as long as possible, as this has the best outcomes both for the individual and for society as a whole. To this end, my Department, in conjunction with the Department of Health, is developing policy options for supported housing/housing with care so that older people have a wider...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Part V units can be delivered through a range of programmes funded by my Department, including: - The Social Housing Capital Investment Programme which is Local Authority (LA) led and 100% capital funded - The Capital Assistance Scheme which is Approved Housing Body (AHB) led and 100% capital funded - The Capital Advance Leasing Facility which is AHB led and operates with a range of 0% to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 94, 95 and 97 together. Cost information on the delivery of social homes through the local authority construction and turnkey programmes and through the Capital Assistance Scheme, is collated by my Department at development level rather than at granular or individual housing unit level. Disaggregating such development level information into individual unit...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Approved Housing Bodies (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) funding is capital support provided to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) by local authorities to facilitate the funding of construction, acquisition or refurbishment of new social housing units. This loan facility can support up to 30% of the eligible capital cost of the housing project, with the housing units provided to local authorities for social...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 98 to 100, inclusive, together. Given the critical lack of residential development, as an initiative of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is primarily designed to fund the provision of public off-site infrastructure to relieve critical infrastructure blockages and enable...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (23 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the Voids Programme funded by my Department, 10,162 vacant social housing homes were returned to productive use in the period 2015-2019. This figure does not include homes which were returned to productive use by local authorities using funding from their own resources. Between 2015-2019, Exchequer funding of approximately €146m was provided supporting local authorities in...