Results 9,821-9,840 of 25,999 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Functions (1 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 162 and 163 together. The arrangements in relation to the taking in charge of housing estates by planning authorities are provided for in section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act). Under section 181(1) of the Act, where a planning authority is satisfied that a development has been satisfactorily completed in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (1 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department is engaging with representatives of the local government sector and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the financial challenges facing local authorities as a direct consequence of the pandemic, both in terms of additional costs incurred as part of the local government response and declines in local authority income streams. These matters are under active...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (1 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities’ cost and income bases vary significantly from one another as a result of their size, population, public service demands, infrastructure and income sources. There are significant variances in their abilities to raise revenue locally and they therefore require differing levels of financial support. Until the introduction of local retention of Local Property...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Flood Prevention Measures (1 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My role and responsibilities as Minister do not extend to the maintenance, clearance, or dredging of rivers. I understand that the Office of Public Works is the statutory body responsible for Drainage Maintenance on water bodies where capital works have been carried out under the Arterial Drainage Acts 1945 and 1995; and for flood risk management in the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Functions (1 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 (the Act) introduced new streamlined arrangements to enable planning applications for strategic housing developments (SHDs) of 100 housing units or more, or student accommodation or shared accommodation developments of 200 bed spaces or more, to be made directly to An Bord Pleanála for determination. In line...

Priority Questions: House Purchase Schemes (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I am committed to ensuring that affordable, quality housing solutions are available to all and that is reflected in the programme for Government. I believe in home ownership and I have restated that on many occasions. I will come good on the programmes made in the programme. The programme details a wide range of measures to be brought forward over the lifetime of the Government to firmly...

Priority Questions: House Purchase Schemes (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Deputy will appreciate we are just a week from the budget and negotiations and discussions on expenditure for next year are at a crucial stage. I am not, therefore, in a position to give him any further details. This is not by way of being evasive; it is just an issue of timing. There are other measures, including affordability measures, that help people buy homes, one of them being...

Priority Questions: House Purchase Schemes (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: We have to work very hard with local authorities to help them to deliver faster on the land they own. I agree with this and I have made and restated that point here. It is a priority for me as Minister. The Deputy mentioned the Oscar Traynor Road site. Four times, that site has gone out for expressions of interest. It is a fine plot of ground that could house hundreds of people. It is...

Priority Questions: Housing Provision (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for the question. Addressing homelessness, as we mentioned at a committee meeting earlier, is an absolute priority for me and my colleagues in government and, no doubt, everyone in the House. The programme for Government commits to reducing and preventing homelessness and provides details on how the Government will approach this challenge. The national...

Priority Questions: Housing Provision (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I will get the date of publication and send it on to the Deputy. The Housing First data are published quarterly and are as up-to-date as we can get them. It is expected that services delivered in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin will be extended to the south west, mid-west and west. That is the plan. We have to ensure the requisite services, particularly health services, are in place. I...

Priority Questions: Housing Provision (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I cannot give the Deputy a commitment today. I have engaged intensively with the HSE in this regard. One of the first things I did when I was appointed Minister was set up a homelessness delivery task force. It meets every week and is made up of the stakeholders such as the homelessness NGOs and the tenancy advocates, as well as senior officials in my Department. From that has evolved a...

Priority Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for his question. Every single death in this regard is tragic and a loss to a family, as well as the support network looking after those individuals and the many committed volunteers working in homeless services. Tackling homelessness is an absolute priority for me. Since taking office, as I just said to Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, I have met a wide range of stakeholders...

Priority Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I agree with the Deputy. I am focused on doing whatever we can to ensure that the deaths in our homeless community are reduced as much as possible. It is obvious that we need to do that. That is why the first measure I took was establishment of the homelessness task force which I chair. Addiction services are important, as are mental health services and health teams. We have seen...

Priority Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: That is something we do in the context of every death that takes place. The issue of quantifying such deaths is that there is then a push to comment on each individual death. We have to respect the privacy of the individual and his or her family, as well as the fact that in many instances there are issues other than homelessness, such as serious health issues. We have to be cognisant of...

Priority Questions: Rent Controls (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for the question. The Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 provided a temporary moratorium on tenancy terminations, other than in exceptional or limited cases, and on all increases in rent during the period from 27 March to 1 August 2020. The emergency measures aimed to assist in restricting the movement of people to suppress the spread of...

Priority Questions: Rent Controls (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The facts simply do not bear that out. The Deputy voted against these protections in July this year that we brought forward to put protections on tenancies. These were not just temporary protections relating to the pandemic but also in relation to dealing with rent arrears, the extension of the rent arrears notice, the fact that if a landlord issues a rent arrears notice, it has to go to...

Priority Questions: Rent Controls (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: If the Deputy has any information or facts around landlords who are trying to circumvent regulations, he should bring it to the attention of the RTB. Since the RTB was empowered to initiate sanctions against landlords, it has processed information in relation to 704 tenancies and this has led to commencing investigations on nearly 200. That is what needs to happen. That is why we need to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Housing (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank my colleague, Deputy Brendan Smith, for raising this matter and agree with him completely. It is a frustration for all of us to see housing stock that is not in use and that is why, in July this year, I announced €40 million in funding and a targeted approach for all 31 local authorities to bring voids, which are vacant stock, back into use. We set each of the local...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Housing (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy. He has raised the important point that the voids programme provides local employment. The programme provides housing for local people and a lot of the work involves smaller local contractors. The scheme that the Government brought forward in July created 750 jobs across the country. We need that to be sustainable into the future. I mentioned earlier that we need to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Housing (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: To conclude, it is a priority. We want to build more new homes. Covid has had an impact on output this year. I mentioned to colleagues earlier that between 16,000 and 18,000 house completions will happen this year, half, or even less, of which will be local authority completions between acquisitions, leasing and builds. There is even greater pressure to use the existing stock we have in a...