Results 11,101-11,120 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Senator has raised several topics because she is so well informed on this issue. I appreciate the time she gives to it and thank her for recognising the improvements. I will work backwards through her questions. Several documents have been published this week, ahead of this scheduled meeting but also because it is the end of quarter 3, we are looking back to quarter 2 and this is the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Whenever there is a problem there is always a bit of blame to go around. That is why I looked for full transparency with local authorities at the beginning of this year, asking them to publish their targets for the year, making sure we had a layer of accountability that we had not had previously and that we could work to those targets throughout the year so that the members, as elected...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Apologies for that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Senator for acknowledging the hard work of the officials; it is very much appreciated. I also thank him for the congratulations he offered to Mr. David Walsh. I cannot think of a better person to lead An Bord Pleanála into the future. I wish him well too. The Senator is correct to note that people are angry and hurt. They are right to be. We have to continue to make...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for his questions. I asked officials to drop down the recategorisation survey summary, so it might be dropped down shortly and I can then pass it around. It has been published. I just asked for it to be printed as I left the meeting. Regarding Housing First and the targets-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I think so. To go back to Senator Boyhan's points, we need to move away from confusion about numbers to look at who we are trying to help and how we help them. The recategorisation was certainly a very important part of that work. I did not get to clarify earlier the work the CSO will do. It is not that we are taking responsibility away from ourselves for the CSO to do the work. This was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Okay. I will come back on the vacant home tax.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for his questions. I will run through them as quickly as I can in the time available. I have spoken on the point that was made about passing the buck. I recently communicated with local authorities about emergency accommodation. That intervention was about looking at the number of families in hotels without seeing a corresponding programme to get them out of hotels and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Exactly. If anyone knows of a legitimate shortcut that might work without creating other problems-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: That is one I am looking. The point I would make about slowness is that if we are building 20 homes, we need to ensure they are still standing as safe and secure structures 70 years from now. This is not something that can be rushed. Approximately half of valid applications for home loans have been approved by the Housing Agency.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: More than 1,000 loans have been approved. If they were all approved by the credit committee, we would have almost exhausted the first tranche of €200 million. A significant number of loans have been approved by the Housing Agency. The problem is with the credit committee. That is why we are assessing what is happening. Perhaps drawdown is not a fair measure. This was not opened...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: They go to the Housing Agency and they go back to the credit committee. They do not come anywhere near the Department.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Yes, but it is not underwriting them. It does the due diligence and the financials. The credit committee makes the decision. We need to make sure each credit committee applies the rules in a consistent way when it is making decisions. There is a need for consistency among local authorities. This is not the only area in which they are inconsistent. We can achieve consistency with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I will let them do their work, then we will see what we need to do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Some 26,000 households were supported last year, many of them because of HAP. We need to have HAP at the moment. In 2020 and 2021, we will put more people into the stock of social housing than we will into HAP. We will finally start to turn the current situation on its head. Members will be familiar with the commitment in Project Ireland 2040, beyond Rebuilding Ireland. Essentially, for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: In 2020 and 2021, we will house more people through the stock of social housing than we will through HAP. We will start to rebalance back in favour of controlled social housing, rather than using the private rented sector for private supports. We will still have HAP because people like HAP. It has been successful for many people. We will turn that balance on its head. Between 2021 and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: We have a projection, but-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: -----I am not going to come with a final figure on HAP.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: It will be increased. There will be more people in the HAP scheme next year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Sep 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: This means the current figure of €300 million will go up by-----