Results 10,021-10,040 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I do not know why Deputy Ó Broin wishes to misrepresent the progress that is being made when it comes to building social housing homes. He is not comparing like with like. He includes things such as voids when he wants to and then excludes them when he wants. This gives a very unfair impression of what is actually happening. Of course, we are building more units this year. We spent...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Deputy is absolutely correct. The call to acquire fewer homes by local authorities was my call because I did not want them competing with young families in the market in high-demand areas. Where it still makes financial sense to do it and it is not a high-demand area, local authorities can still make acquisitions and that is why this year, in the region of 900 more homes will be...

Other Questions: Housing Regeneration (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 28 and 37 together. I thank the Deputy for the question. St. Michael’s Estate is one of three significant sites being brought forward by Dublin City Council under its housing land initiative, HLI, the aim of which is to ensure the delivery of mixed-tenure homes in the Dublin City Council functional area. All three sites under the HLI are...

Other Questions: Housing Regeneration (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I have been invited to meet the regeneration team with the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, next week and I look forward to that. Dublin City Council has been supporting the establishment of the Kilmainham-Inchicore network as the primary vehicle for the interface with the local community on this. If a group has a new proposal that might work, I will, of course, be happy to engage...

Other Questions: Housing Regeneration (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputies. The public private partnership model is not always the best model to use on a particular site. Deputy Ó Broin's colleague is chair of the housing committee on Dublin City Council. I have met with him and I can meet with him again to discuss some potential ideas for this site if it is not proceeding under the public private partnership model. I have had...

Other Questions: Commercial Rates Valuation Process (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates in respect of 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 Commissioner of Valuation has responsibility for valuation matters, including the revaluation of properties, and...

Other Questions: Commercial Rates Valuation Process (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy. On the valuation process, as this happened in my local authority area, I know there are, generally speaking, more winners than losers when this occurs in terms of people seeing their rateable valuation decrease rather than increase. It is roughly a 65-35 split, so some 65% will find themselves paying less as a result. In some local authority areas, as the Deputy knows,...

Other Questions: Commercial Rates Valuation Process (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Increases of between 300% and 400% on the basis of revaluation sound very strange to me because-----

Other Questions: Commercial Rates Valuation Process (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: -----in my own local authority area 40% was a maximum and that was an outlier, with most people seeing rises or reductions of 10% or less. There is nothing I can do about it as the process is independent of me. Nevertheless, I would be interested to see how it is working out for businesses in those particular circumstances. In the rates Bill, which is separate from this issue, we want...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Funding (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Local authorities have been notified of their targets for social housing delivery via construction, acquisition and leasing which, in the case of Limerick City and County Council, is 1,365 units for the period 2018-2021. The targets are based on the summary of social housing assessments of 2017. Limerick City and County Council has an ambitious pipeline of new social housing...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Funding (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I have had the opportunity, on a number of occasions, to be in Limerick to look at regeneration schemes and new-build schemes and I was there at the weekend, albeit in a personal capacity. What is happening in the local authority at the moment is quite exciting. The Minister of State, Deputy English, has met the housing delivery team as part of the new delivery unit in the Department which...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Funding (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Deputy is absolutely right to highlight this as an issue. When we look at local authorities, of course we give them autonomy in respect of how they manage their resources. Some try to manage those resources between going for bigger schemes and bigger sites versus the resources that might have to be put into individual units or homes. Each local authority needs to strike that balance to...

Other Questions: Wind Energy Guidelines (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: My Department is currently undertaking a focused review of the 2006 wind energy development guidelines. As part of the overall review, a strategic environmental assessment, SEA, is being undertaken on the revised guidelines before they come into effect. This is in accordance with the requirements of EU Directive 2001/24/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on...

Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payment Administration (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: My Department and I are constantly monitoring housing assistance payment data and other key information relating to the private rental market. Indications are that the current HAP rent limits and the flexibility to exceed those rent limits provide local authorities with sufficient capacity to assist households in securing rented accommodation that meets their needs. Indeed, increasing the...

Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payment Administration (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. I recognise that in Dún Laoghaire, which is the area he represents, there is a particular difficulty in securing HAP tenancies. I can see that when I look at the data. We have a place-finder in place to assist those who are trying desperately to find tenancies as well as offering one month's deposit and the first month's rent. There is a potential...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector Strategy (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Strategy for the Rental Sector, published in December 2016, recognises that quality rental accommodation is critical to the success and sustainability of the residential rental sector and its attractiveness as a long-term accommodation option for households. A key commitment in the Strategy was to review the regulations governing minimum standards in rented accommodation, to bring them...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Proposed Legislation (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Water Framework Directive requires that abstractions of surface water or ground water which are likely to have a significant effect on water status must be regulated. In December 2017, the Government approved the commencement of work on a General Scheme of a Water Environment (Abstractions) Bill which will govern the abstraction of water in a proportionate and efficient way. I intend...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Against the background of the affordability pressures which currently exist in the rental market, the Government is determined to make cost rental a major part of the Irish housing system, similar to the role it plays in many other European countries. Under this approach, rents are set at levels to recover the construction costs and to facilitate the management and administration of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 78 together. The delivery of more affordable homes, to buy or rent, particularly in areas where people are facing the greatest affordability challenge, is a major priority for Government. While there is no single universally accepted definition of housing affordability, the widely used internationally accepted benchmark is that households, particularly...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Data (8 May 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 43, 61, 68, 69, 70 and 86 together. My Department currently publishes data on a monthly basis on the number of homeless persons accommodated in emergency accommodation funded and overseen by housing authorities. These reports are based on data provided by housing authorities, produced through the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS)....