Results 10,421-10,440 of 25,999 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Data (24 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The granting, modification or refusal of local authorities ‘Own Development’ under Section 179 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, is a reserved function of the elected members. I am specifically precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case with which a planning authority or the Board is or may be concerned. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Data (24 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 387 and 388 together. My Department does not collect information on the number of Rebuilding Ireland Home Loans applications on hand and awaiting approval as requested by the Deputy. However, my Department does publish information on the overall number and value of (i) local authority loan approvals and (ii) local authority loan drawdowns. Local authority...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (24 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 389 and 390 together. The Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) was designed to support housing supply by relieving critical infrastructure blockages. 30 projects were approved with an overall budget of €195.7m, €146.8m Exchequer funded and the remainder funded by local authorities. Full details of the approvals are available...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (24 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The relevant details are being compiled and will be provided to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (24 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Recognising the difficulties faced by businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Programme for Government – “Our Shared Future” committed to set out how commercial rates would be treated for the remainder of 2020. One of the earliest priorities of Minister O'Brien and I was to secure funding to provide a waiver of commercial rates for businesses impacted by the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme (24 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016. The Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme. To be eligible, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum and having been in receipt of social housing support...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Stations (24 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The existing five-year Fire Services Capital Programme managed by my Department comes to an end this year. That programme has seen more than €60 million invested in fire appliances and specialist equipment, building or upgrading of prioritised Fire Stations, upgrading Communications and Mobilisation systems and improvements to Training Centres. A new capital programme for the period...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (24 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: In Budget 2021, the total funding made available for the delivery of housing programmes was €3.3 billion. This represents an increase of €641m or 24% on 2020 and the single biggest spend on housing by any Government, and will be the largest build programme in the history of the State. From this sum, €110 million was ring-fenced for two new national schemes to deliver...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Student Accommodation (24 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Acts 2004 - 2020 do not prescribe specific terms and conditions regarding the payment of rents or deposits for inclusion in individual letting agreements in the private rental market including the student-specific accommodation sector. Contract law governs such arrangements. The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015 provided for, among other things, the establishment...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Residential Tenancies Board (24 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2020, to operate a national tenancy registration system and to facilitate the resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants. Additional powers and functions were conferred on the RTB by provisions in the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) 2019 Act, which...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: In line with requirements, my Department maintains a contracts register for contracts in excess of €25,000. Many of the contracts procured by the Department and on that register over the period in question, are for specialised equipment (e.g. for meteorological purposes) or for ICT licensing arrangements and were not always conducive to social clauses. Social clauses have been...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (25 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Increasing the supply of housing, particularly new build social and affordable is a priority for me and for this Government. The Programme for Government commits to increasing the social housing stock by more than 50,000, with an emphasis on new builds. In Budget 2021, we backed this objective with funding of €3.3 billion for the delivery of housing. The available funding will deliver...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (25 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 81 to 85, inclusive, together. My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on all social housing delivery activity under Rebuilding Ireland. This is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: . Detailed information on Part V delivery is available on my Department's...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Second Stage (25 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Senators for facilitating the introduction of the Planning and Development Bill 2020 and the urgent passage of this important legislation through the Houses of the Oireachtas. For this reason, I will be requesting, in due course, that this House considers a motion to enable the President to sign the Bill earlier than would be routine. I am bringing forward the Planning and...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Second Stage (25 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: On a point of order, I do not want to be argumentative in any way but I have outlined what happened clearly, in good faith and in a truthful manner. The Senator is trying to twist that. That did not happen so let us be honest about what happened.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Second Stage (25 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I was trying to be helpful.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Second Stage (25 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: It has been a tough week for them.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Second Stage (25 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I know.

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Second Stage (25 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Was he okay?

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Second Stage (25 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Members for their contributions and for the points they have raised, all of which I have taken note of and some of which I will do my best to respond to today. We can come back to some of the others on Monday, but all of the points have been taken on board. At the outset, I will mention an issue which was raised by a Senator today. I refer to a very tragic death in the vicinity of...