Results 14,741-14,760 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Spending Code (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Any confusion around the matter was cleared up earlier in the year. The draft documentation can be used to carry out the cost-effectiveness analyses. The reason we do such analyses rather than cost-benefit analyses is that we consider social housing projects. We determine them in different ways and it is a question as to whether it is a better way of delivering the project, not whether the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Spending Code (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I have examined the projects the Deputy outlined but the delay is not with us. It is up to the local authorities to do the work-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Spending Code (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Local authorities are great at pointing the finger-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Spending Code (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: -----at the Custom House, but whenever I investigate individual cases, I find that the truth lies somewhere else. They have the draft guidance to work to and know how to do the work. We have helped them in every way we can and will continue to help them through the process. The change that is coming, which will be announced later, is welcome. They will still have to do the analysis - that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Delivery of more affordable homes to rent or buy is a priority for the Government and my Department has developed a range of measures to assist local authorities to provide homes of this nature, which are being utilised at the three sites referred to by the Deputy. In relation to Clonburris, which will provide 8,000 homes, the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, and the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I welcome that the Deputy has recognised that the delivery of affordable housing is coming and is welcome under Rebuilding Ireland. It is happening now and we are on sites. Obviously we want it to happen more quickly but with cost rental in particular we must make sure the finances add up. We would not want a person securing a rent for ten or 15 years or for longer, only to then find that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for his follow-up and clarification. The Enniskerry Road project is a very interesting example of how complicated the delivery of cost rental can be. It does not have to be. This is why we are working on a national policy framework, and we have a working group set up to do that. This is also why the EIB is involved and it means we can something that is a bit more...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: -----but I take the Deputy's point that people can get less than what they applied for and there is a bigger gap to fill when making up the difference. Even the 10% requirement can be structured so that only 3% of it has to come from the person's savings. There are further mechanisms to assist there. Ultimately, when we consider the approval of a Rebuilding Ireland home loan it is linked...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 85 together. Earlier this year, I published the 2019 targets for social housing delivery on a local authority basis and by delivery mechanism, including build, acquisition, leasing, housing assistance payment, HAP, and rental accommodation scheme, RAS. Each quarter, I publish details of progress against those targets and the outputs for the third...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I am not playing with figures and there is no grand conspiracy here. We published the targets for a reason. They include local authority builds, AHB builds, what is happening on private sites with Part V developments, what my Department oversees and what the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform approves. If those figures were made up, there would be a grand conspiracy involving...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: This year we will increase the social housing stock by 10,000 homes. More than 6,000 of those will be directly built for social housing, either by local authorities, AHBs or using the Part V process. We no longer rely on one stream of social housing delivery because we learned from the past that outsourcing it to the private sector leaves the strategy completely exposed if the private...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Some €2.4 billion was spent on housing this year. It is the largest amount a Government has ever spent in a single year on housing. That is our commitment to public housing. The Deputy does not understand how the build programme works because, in 2018, the exact same claims were made in quarter 1, quarter 2 and quarter 3 that we would not meet our build targets. By the end of 2018,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: We were 3% shy in the context of more than 4,000 homes. The Deputy is claiming today we are nowhere near our targets. I am telling him we are close to them and we will know by the end of the year whether we achieved them. It was the exact same narrative last year and it proved to be untrue. The Deputy can stop telling his untruths, stop spinning and get his ideology out of the way because...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. The Galway social housing task force, which I established earlier this year, has held four meetings to date. It is working to improve and accelerate social housing delivery in both of the Galway local authority areas. Galway County Council and Galway City Council have a combined target of just over 2,000 social housing homes to be delivered through...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the follow-up questions. She is correct that Galway needs help and that is why we put the task force in place. Those minutes will be published but the priority has been to get the task force to work on different sites and schemes so we can see delivery. We know the task force model works because we developed it and deployed it in Cork. Let me give an example of what...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: That is all available on the Rebuilding Ireland website.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I have given a commitment, on which I followed through, to publish the targets for every local authority each year. Those targets are published and a follow-up is given. The task force is to try to achieve the targets. Last year, there were 24 builds in the city. That is not very good. We are going to increase it by four this year. That one local authority can increase the number by...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Constitutional Amendments (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 78 together. The Government is firmly committed to keeping public water services in public ownership, as reflected in the Water Services Acts and in the water services policy statement 2018-2025.  This position is consistent with the April 2017 report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services, which...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Constitutional Amendments (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I have several pages before me detailing the various engagements we have had with Deputy Collins and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government on this matter.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Constitutional Amendments (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The last engagement was on 15 July, when the committee was notified of our concerns. I have spoken to Deputy Collins in person since we came back after the summer recess about the work that was ongoing in the Office of the Attorney General. I have an email from the Attorney General dating from October which outlines several concerns that are still held in that office. The Office of the...