Results 14,221-14,240 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Approved Housing Bodies (24 Oct 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: My Department is currently engaging with Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector representatives and examining, in detail, proposals which were put forward as a possible means to achieve reclassification.  In this regard, my Department met with the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) on 16 October and is scheduled to meet with the Housing Alliance on 7...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Expenditure (24 Oct 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The overall capital provision for my Department next year as set out in Budget 2020 is €2.226 billion, an increase of €102 million on the 2019 provision.  The capital provision for the Housing Programme will increase to €1.529 billion in 2020 (including Local Property Tax receipts of €76 million), an increase of €118 million on the comparable...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Legislative Programme (24 Oct 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The General Scheme of the Bill to establish the Land Development Agency (LDA) on a primary legislative basis was approved by Government and has now been published. It was referred to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government for Pre-Legislative Scrutiny which has been ongoing since the beginning of October.  I will consider the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payment (24 Oct 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Scheme is deemed to be a social housing support under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014. As a long term housing support, an assessment of housing need must be completed in order for a household to qualify for HAP. Any household with an identified housing need is eligible for HAP. In order for housing assistance to be provided under the Act...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Legal Cases Data (24 Oct 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: In the past five years a financial settlement was reached in one case involving my Department.  That case included a confidentiality agreement. Information in relation to financial settlements reached by agencies under the aegis of my Department is an operational matter for each agency.  Arrangements have been put in place by each agency to facilitate the provision of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant Expenditure (24 Oct 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: In 2019, a total of €71.25 million is available for the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability Scheme, in respect of private houses. This is made up of €57 million Exchequer funding, with the balance of €14.25 million being contributed by the local authorities.  A total of €45.9 million has been spent to...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rent Pressure Zones (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. On 4 June, my Department wrote to planning authorities with rent pressure zone, RPZ, designations seeking estimated resource funding requirements for the implementation and enforcement of the new short-term letting provisions, to cover the period to the end of 2021. My Department wrote again to planning authorities on 2 July and 26 September seeking new...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rent Pressure Zones (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the follow-up questions. There were a few parts and I will try to over all of them. Each planning authority already has a planning section, an enforcement section and everything else. Dublin City Council has more than 170 staff. It was quite clear in the first few months of implementation of these new laws that local authorities would be required to reallocate...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rent Pressure Zones (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy. Each local authority came back with information on the number of additional staff they will require and the funding they will need out to 2021. We are now engaging with them in terms of the actual funding we have, and what that means in terms of how many new staff can be hired and how they may have to reallocate staff within their own planning authorities which are the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Water Supply Contamination (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. Leixlip water treatment plant is publicly operated by Fingal County Council through a service level agreement with Irish Water and not a private operator. The EPA report of the audit of the recent incident at the Leixlip water treatment plant, published on 30 October, found that the recommendations of the EPA's previous audit of the plant in March 2019...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Water Supply Contamination (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the follow-on question. When we read the EPA audit of the October event, if we want to call it that, and the March event, and now we have a November event, I think we were all pretty shocked by what was not done between March and October. It was a very detailed report and I thank the EPA for the work it did very quickly as a result of this boil water notice being put...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Water Supply Contamination (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for his follow-up question. If he has the opportunity to visit a water treatment plant and see a UV system in operation, he will see how it works and its benefit. My understanding is that even if a UV system had been put in place, it would not have prevented what has happened in this third incident, so it is important to separate that out. My immediate concern is to...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Compulsory Purchase Orders (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for his question. Local authorities have a range of existing legislative powers available to them to deal with derelict and underutilised properties in their functional areas, for example, through the compulsory purchase powers and under derelict sites and housing legislation. This legislation is kept under constant review. There is a clear focus on increasing the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Compulsory Purchase Orders (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: One of the complications we have to acknowledge with CPO is that it involves some 70 pieces of legislation, some of which have their roots in the nineteenth century. The Law Reform Commission is undertaking a piece of work to see how we can reform and streamline CPO powers so they can be clearer. We have held workshops in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government in the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Compulsory Purchase Orders (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Deputy Darragh O'Brien is absolutely correct concerning the fair deal scheme. It is one of the things I first suggested when I came into this role. There was a huge backlash publicly about forcing people in nursing homes to become landlords. That is not what we were talking about at all. We were talking about a situation where someone might want to get a property back into use and...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The strategy for the rental sector, developed under Rebuilding Ireland, was published in December 2016 and outlines a range of measures to develop further a viable and sustainable rental sector. Structured around the four key areas of security, supply, standards and services, the strategy sets out a number of targeted measures and initiatives with the aim of providing better security of...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: We have to be careful regarding the language we use in this Chamber concerning a whole host of issues. We should not seek to demonise one part of our community. As Deputy Michael Healy-Rae rightly stated, many of the landlords in this country, some 70%, own only one property. Many of them are accidental landlords who did not mean to become landlords, but became such because of what has...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The Deputy's point about those who are renting and wanting to leave the rental sector to buy a home is well made. Rents are too high in too many parts of the country. People cannot afford their rent and are making sacrifices just to meet the cost. They should not have to make those sacrifices. In addition, they are unable to find the space to save in order to purchase their first home....

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. Over the course of the six-year Rebuilding Ireland action plan, the Government is firmly committed to meeting the housing needs of more than 138,000 households, with more than 50,000 homes being delivered through build, acquisition and leasing programmes. The implementation of Rebuilding Ireland is a key Government priority supported...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: All Deputies receive numerous representations in relation to people in housing difficulty, whether they are trying to rent, buy a home or secure social housing or are at risk of going into emergency accommodation. The difficulties we have are fundamentally supply difficulties. Until we get supply surpassing demand, we will continue to have people facing difficulties in the housing sector. ...