Results 12,341-12,360 of 26,184 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (1 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: For 2021, total funding of €75 million has been provided for the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability scheme for private houses. Details of the funding provided for the grants from 2008 up to 2020 are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.housing.gov.ie/housing/statistics/social-and-affordble/o...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (1 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 229 and 230 together. My Department provides funding under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants in respect of private houses. There are three separate grants available, including the Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability, the Mobility Aids Grant and Housing Aid for Older People grant, with responsibility for the apportionment between them...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Expenditure (1 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Information on the funding provision under the Capital Assistance Scheme for the years 2018-20 is set out below. Under the Capital Assistance Scheme, funding of up to 100% of project costs may be advanced by local authorities to Approved Housing Bodies to provide accommodation for priority categories on the waiting list including elderly, people/families who are homeless and people with a...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Amendment No. 1 technically amends section 1 on the definitions of the Bill, to remove the definition of: "Minister". My full title, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, is now used in section 5 of the Bill, which is the only provision in the Bill that refers to me as Minister. It is just a technical change. The next Government amendment is No. 6. This amendment...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: No. Amendments Nos. 8 to 10, inclusive, are not in my name. I have addressed all the others. Amendments Nos. 1 and 6-----

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Yes, I will happily do that.

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Not at all.

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: We certainly do not want that.

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Senators may wish to move their amendments. It is up the Leas-Chathaoirleach.

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Okay.

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I will respond to all Senators, including Senators Moynihan and Warfield. I thank Members for the constructive approach they have taken towards this Bill. It is good to see there is broad agreement. I appreciate it. As I said, there are other elements, which I will speak about towards the end of the debate. We will also be bringing forward a further tenancy reform Bill later in the...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I will be brief but I thank Senator Moynihan and her colleagues for tabling this amendment. In this Bill we are restricting the value of deposits to a maximum of two months' rent. This relates to a deposit equal to a month's rent and then a month of advance rent. Effectively, it has been capped absolutely at two months' rent. The deposit should be returnable and it remains the property of...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I will comment on the four Government amendments. Amendment No. 13 inserts a new section 6 into the Bill to amend section 20 of the 2004 Act which provides for frequency of rent reviews. Currently, section 20 of the 2004 Act provides that, generally, rent reviews are allowed to occur no more frequently than annually in an RPZ or biannually outside an RPZ. However, a rent review is allowed...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Senator Warfield and his colleagues for tabling this amendment. We discussed this issue at some length on Second Stage, when I outlined the position in this regard. Included in this important legislation is, as the Senator rightly said, the extension of protections for those worst affected by the impact of Covid-19. Those protections include a ban on evictions and a ban on rent...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: It is magnificent to be in the House on a day when unanimity has broken out across the board. This is great. Gabhaim fíor-bhuíochas le gach Seanadóir a ghlac páirt sa díospóireacht thábhachtach úsáideach agus phráinneach seo. Táim fíor-bhuíoch as a gcabhair agus an obair atá déanta acu an tseachtain agus an mhí...

Ban on Rent Increases Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (6 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after “That” and substitute the following: “Dáil Éireann resolves that the Ban on Rent Increases Bill 2021 be deemed to be read a second time this day 12 months, to allow for the Government’s Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021, which is due to be enacted shortly and which will provide a change from the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (6 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department publishes a Social Housing Construction Status Report (CSR) each quarter, which contains details of all social housing developments completed, under construction or at the planning and design stage in each local authority area. The most recent report, published on 28 May 2021, covers the period up to the end of Quarter 1 2021 and is available at the following link:...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (6 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department seeks, where possible, to minimise the amount of negative interest it incurs from commercial banks and the Central Bank of Ireland while processing over €5.7 billion in annual payments through the Vote and Local Government Fund. The table below sets out details in relation to negative interest incurred by my Department in the Vote and the Local Government Fund in the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (6 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended. The 2011 Regulations prescribe maximum net income limits for each local authority, in different bands...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Records (6 Jul 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: It is my understanding that a file that had been delivered to the Minister's Office during September 2014 was misplaced within the Office. The file was searched for by members of the staff of the Office of the then Minister and was found after a period of time among other papers, where it had been inadvertently placed. Accordingly, the matter was not reported to An Garda Síochána as...