Results 1,121-1,140 of 2,180 for speaker:John Cummins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: -----as a result. I will go back to Mayo County Council. It operates the website vacanthomes.ie. Will its representatives give the committee an overview of its operation? Who operates it for the council? If somebody clicks on vacanthomes.ieand registers a vacant property in, for example, Longford, what happens?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: The scheme limits are per unit as opposed to per property.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: The choice-based letting system is the appropriate system for determining need in a particular area. As I have said to multiple local authorities, I know there are areas of choice that they operate but there will always be demand for a unit in a locality. If decisions are being made not to take units under the repair and lease scheme because an arbitrary list says that there is no demand,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: It is very rare. It is a breakthrough.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: Do both councils operate a framework for turning around properties when they become vacant or do they tender those on an individual or bundle basis?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: Sure. I appreciate that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: Sure, but there is a framework so Mr. Mahon does not have to go out to tender each time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: How about in Mayo?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: What is the turnaround time from a property becoming vacant to re-letting?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: That is in the higher percentile. What about Longford?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: Okay. It is not to hone in but I am just trying to understand, with a framework in place, how it is so long because frameworks have worked well in reducing it in other local authorities. What I saw in the past was the difficulty in getting people to tender. When the local authorities went out with a bundle of properties they might get a single tender and then they would have to go back out...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: I still do not understand how the average could be so high with a framework in place. Is it that no timelines are attached to the frameworks? Is there no penalty in place for non-compliance? If someone on the framework takes 69 weeks to turn around a property, clearly he or she should not be on the framework.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: So that is what has been happening essentially. X contractor had multiple properties and was doing them piecemeal, which essentially defeated the purpose of the framework and that is now being addressed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: How is it being addressed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: That is okay, I thank Mr. Brannigan.

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

John Cummins: On amendment No. 64 on parking for people with disabilities, I accept the Senator's concerns are valid but I think the matter is captured in what we saying in relation to the wider availability of parking. In my experience, where schemes have been put in place in Waterford, while it may have necessitated the moving of disabled parking spaces, they have always been replaced as closely as...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Planning Issues (8 Feb 2023)

John Cummins: I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. I am seeking the rectification and regularisation of planning permissions that were granted for holiday villages and allow them be used for full-time residential accommodation. This matter has come to my attention not only in my own county of Waterford, but also through being contacted by full-time residents in holiday villages in other...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Planning Issues (8 Feb 2023)

John Cummins: I thank the Minister of State. He has opened the door to the possibility of this but what I want to see now is follow-through on that. I accept all of what he said in his response about the requirement for sustainable planning. The two instances I referred to in Dunmore East and Faithlegg are certainly not remote locations. In one of those instances there were applications from residents...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

John Cummins: All of us here are acutely aware of the challenges experienced by those who seek planning permission for whatever purpose. We are aware of the challenges that exist at An Bord Pleanála regarding decision-making and some of the stats that have been provided to us. The decision making within the statutory time period has dropped from what I think was an already 57% rate to 45% in 2022....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (7 Feb 2023)

John Cummins: A priority focus needs to be put on developments that are going to the board in terms of housing. One can put a number on it, one can say housing developments of X number of units must get priority. There are the normal circumstances versus the circumstances that we are in with An Bord Pleanála now. We are addressing the staffing concerns. This legislation is for the next 20 years,...