Results 11,061-11,080 of 25,999 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Since 2014, Exchequer funding has been provided through my Department's Voids Programme to support local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-letting. This funding is increasingly targeted to support local authority's to ensure minimal turnaround and re-let times for vacant stock. In relation to the Standard Void and Homeless Void options, these were introduced in 2020 based on...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme (24 Feb 2021)

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: Housing Assistance Payment (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: A landlord or an agent acting on behalf of a landlord is not legally obliged to enter into a tenancy agreement specifically with a Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) recipient. However, on 1 January 2016, the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015 introduced “housing assistance” as a new discriminatory ground. This means that discrimination in the provision of accommodation,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Act 2020 was enacted and came into operation on 24 October 2020 to help mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on tenants and to support the efforts of Government in restricting the movement of people in order to suppress the spread of Covid-19. The Act modifies the operation of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2020 to prevent any notices of termination served by...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payment (24 Feb 2021)

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 Social Protection (DSP). In reviewing the rent limits, my Department worked closely with DSP and monitored data gathered from the Residential Tenancies Board and the HAP Shared Services Centre. The HAP rent...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Irish Water (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. My Department provided capital stimulus funding of €87 million to Irish Water in 2020 . This was composed of €43m announced in the July stimulus package (€30m Leakage Reduction Initiatives and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Nursing Homes Support Scheme (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government – Our Shared Future contains a commitment to reform the Fair Deal Scheme to incentivise renting out vacant properties. This commitment builds upon commitments included in the former Government's Strategy for the Rental Sector and National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy, to examine the treatment under the Nursing Home Support Scheme’s (or Fair Deal...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Approved Housing Bodies (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The information requested is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Expenditure (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department has not incurred any expenditure on advertising in national newspapers, regional newspapers, national radio, regional and local radio stations and across social media platforms on COVID-19 awareness raising campaigns. However, in 2020, my Department spent €192,907 on public information material as part of the Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 340 to 343, inclusive, together. The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) was launched in 2018 to support more compact and sustainable development. The Fund is providing part-funding for projects that will enable a greater proportion of residential and mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Schemes (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Responsibility for the management and maintenance of the local authority housing stock is the responsibility of the local authority under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. My Department supports local authorities with annual funding to support management and maintenance of their social housing stock under a number of funding programmes. The programmes include the newly revised 2021...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Flood Prevention Measures (24 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. As part of Budget 2021, I secured funding of over €1.4 billion to support water services. This includes €1.3 billion in respect of domestic water services provision by Irish Water. This overall investment...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Further details of the contracts referenced in Parliamentary Question No. 76 of 25 November 2020 are set out in the attached table. My Department endeavours to comply with Section 27 of the Disability Act, 2005, with reference to the National Disability Authority (NDA) guidelines on the subject. These include the NDA’s 2012 publication, ‘Access and Procurement’, which can...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 121 and 122 together. The Government announced that additional public health restrictions would apply under Level 5 of the Plan for Living with COVID-19 on 6 January 2021. The additional restrictions required all construction activity to cease from 6pm on Friday 8 January, with a number of exceptions. These measures are set out in The Health Act 1947...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Energy Efficiency (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 124 and 125 together. The Energy Efficiency Programme for 2021 will be the first year of a newly revised ten year programme designed to help deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to retrofitting 500,000 homes by 2030 to a B2/cost optimal BER standard. It is expected that approximately 36,500 of those will be local authority owned homes. The 2021...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Approved Housing Bodies (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: There are a range of funding and delivery mechanisms available to local authorities to deliver social housing supports in partnership with Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). The funding is provided by my Department directly to local authorities, who in turn, advance the funding to the AHBs, as appropriate. The organisation detailed by the Deputy is an Approved Housing Body and details of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Home Loan Scheme (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department operates the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, which is targeted at first time buyers who wish to own their own home, have access to an adequate deposit and have the capacity to repay a mortgage, but who are unable to access a mortgage sufficient for them to purchase their first home. With a Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan you can borrow up to 90% of the market value of a residential...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Data (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the Voids Programme funded by my Department, 13,769 vacant social housing homes were returned to productive use in the period 2015-2020. This figure does not include homes which were returned to productive use by local authorities using funding from their own resources. Between 2015 and 2020, Exchequer funding of approximately €202.5m was provided supporting local authorities in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) was launched in 2018 to support more compact and sustainable development. The URDF is one of four funds established under the National Development Plan 2018-2027 and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has responsibility for its implementation. The Fund is providing part-funding for applicant led projects that will...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Data (25 Feb 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department publishes comprehensive programme level statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity. Delivery statistics to the end of Quarter 3 2020 are published on my Department’s website, at the following link: . Statistics for Quarter 4 are being collated and will be published in the coming weeks. The Buys and Renew Scheme facilitates local authorities in...