Results 1,041-1,060 of 8,873 for speaker:Batt O'Keeffe
- Seanad: State Property (26 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: The Senator knows of my abiding interest in Killarney and the national park.
- Seanad: State Property (26 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: The difficulty for me is that this is not my area of responsibility. Any deputation that might seek a meeting on this matter should contact the Minister, Deputy Gormley. I will make him aware of Senator Coghlan's thoughts on this issue. The Minister visited Killarney recently. He has given a commitment in this regard. I thought we made great progress tonight when it was clearly indicated...
- Planning Regulations. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: The vast bulk of the delivery to date under Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000-2006 has been in the form of completed homes, land and individual sites. Financial settlements account for only a small share of the delivery and any such moneys received by a planning authority must be used as capital for its functions under Part V or for its functions with regard to the provision...
- Planning Regulations. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: At present, local authorities have â¬78 million in Part V funds, plus â¬11.4 million in withering levies, which allow an additional five years on planning applications. This is a once-off payment. Thus, the total is about â¬90 million, of which about â¬11.2 million had been spent up to the end of 2006. My understanding is that a fair amount of money was spent in 2007. Unfortunately I...
- Private Rented Accommodation. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: Standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 1993, made under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992. The regulations specify requirements for matters such as structural repair, absence of damp and rot, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light and safety of electrical and gas supply. All...
- Private Rented Accommodation. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: Obviously the situation was less than greatââ
- Private Rented Accommodation. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: ââuntil the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, was set up. In 2006 the number of inspections increased by 44%ââ
- Private Rented Accommodation. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: ââand stood at 2,000. Last year it improved to 9,825 and, while the final figures are not available for 2008, I expect at least an increase of 33% â I can say that with confidence. Local authorities were not acting as they might in this sector. As part of Towards 2016, it was agreed to upgrade the standards in private rented accommodation. Since the PRTB was set up, â¬7 million has...
- Private Rented Accommodation. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: I am not sure Deputy Lynch was listening to me. I am giving the local authorities â¬1.5 million to ensure they carry out inspections.
- Private Rented Accommodation. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: There has been a significant increase in the number of inspections. Some 80% of the inspections have found that houses are up to regulation standard. I will introduce new standards at the end of March. I will publish the standards so that people can make submissions on that and other ideas and suggestions they may have. Some 700,000 new units have been built in the past ten years so much...
- Private Rented Accommodation. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: Where the standard is up to scratch there is no problem. Where a property is not up to scratch, it must be reported to the PRTB, which will make sure that the landlord is registered and that the accommodation is brought up to standard. The fines are clearly set out, up to â¬3,000 or six months in prison, and â¬250 per day after that.
- Social and Affordable Housing. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: I am aware of information regarding vacant dwellings published by the Central Statistics Office as part of the 2006 census results, which was derived from analysis of cases where census forms were not received from dwellings by enumerators. The total number of dwellings reported vacant by the CSO on this basis on census night, 23 April 2006, was 266,000. This represented approximately 15%...
- Social and Affordable Housing. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: I wish to address the vacant houses figure, which the CSO puts at 50,000. There is an acceptance that tax issues relate to many holiday homes and that there is a significant further number of holiday homes.
- Social and Affordable Housing. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: The Deputy will understand the dual abode situation obtaining in Dublin. A significant number of people own second homes, particularly in Dublin, where they conduct business.
- Social and Affordable Housing. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: They have bases of work in Dublin and homes elsewhere. Given market trends, there is an overhang of approximately 30,000 vacant units in the country, of which 5,500 are in the Dublin area. It is important to remember that certain developers have generated significant buyer interest by reducing prices. The House will recall a 28% increase in house prices in the 18-month period between 2005...
- Social and Affordable Housing. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: The question put by the Deputy concerned the overhang of houses, but he is discussing a separate issue.
- Social and Affordable Housing. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: The Deputy is discussing RAS. As part of our development plan in the 2008 to 2010 period, we will transfer an additional 1,000 new units from the private sector. There is ample evidence that many developers are making private accommodation available to RAS if there is an overhang in the market. We will continue with our policy. This year, we will spend â¬2.5 billion in the affordable and...
- Social and Affordable Housing. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: We will spend â¬18 billion in the period of the national development plan, which is unprecedented.
- Social and Affordable Housing. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: Of course.
- Social and Affordable Housing. (27 Feb 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: We achieved 2007's social housing target.