Results 15,901-15,920 of 26,293 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (4 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Following on from the Government decision of the 30 November 2021 in respect of the enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme, the Government approved the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022 on 21 June and the Bill passed through both Houses of the Oireachtas and was subsequently signed into law by the President on the 23 July,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2022 (RTA) regulate the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented sector and set out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Acts to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Expenditure (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Details of the allocations provided to Met Éireann in the years 2002 to 2022 are set out in the table below. These can also be found in the Revised Estimates for Public Services published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for the respective years and are available at the following link:   www.per.gov.ie/en/rev/ Met...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Staff (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department continues to work as per transitional work arrangements following the lifting of restrictions on workplace attendance in the spring of this year. Staff who normally worked from home under pandemic restrictions currently attend the office on a minimum of 2 days per week. The Blended Working policy for my Department was formally launched in July 2022, this policy was developed in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All was published in September 2021 and, as part of a broad suite of social housing reforms, committed to reviewing income eligibility for social housing. The review, which examined inter alia the efficiency of the current banding model and income limits applicable to local authorities, has been completed and I have recently approved implementation of its recommendations. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Energy Conservation (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: A new enhanced ten year energy efficiency programme was launched in 2021 in response to a commitment made under the Programme for Government, which called for the 'retrofit' of 500,000 homes to a B2/Cost Optimal Equivalent BER standard by 2030, of which approximately 36,500 are expected to be local authority owned homes. The energy efficiency programme which is run by my Department...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: A table setting out the details of the three bands and the limits currently applicable in each local authority area is available on my Department's website on the following link: The income of all persons aged 18 years and over included in a social housing application is assessable for social housing assessment purposes, local authorities have no discretion in this regard. Housing for All was...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: While grant-aid is not provided for the purposes of purchasing and renovating properties which will not be occupied by the purchaser, the Repair and Leasing Scheme does provide an upfront loan, to a maximum of €60,000 (including VAT) per unit, to owners of vacant properties which require work to bring the units up to the required standard for rental properties.  Under the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme was reviewed in 2021 in line with Programme for Government and Housing for All commitments, with a number of changes subsequently coming into effect from 1 February 2022. The changes include a reduction in the minimum reckonable income required to be eligible under the scheme from €15,000 to €12,500. The time an applicant is required to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Pathway 4 of Housing for All sets out a blueprint to address vacancy and make efficient use of our existing housing stock. Many areas of cities, towns and villages of all sizes face the blight of vacant properties, which, if brought back into use, could add real vibrancy and provide new accommodation in those areas. The Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund is a key initiative which underpins...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing First recognises that a stable home provides the basis for recovery in other areas. With Housing First, the priority is to support a person who has experienced homelessness into permanent housing as quickly as possible, without any preconditions around addiction or mental health treatment. Then, intensive work continues on these issues once they are housed. Housing First has been a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Contracts (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Office of Public Works engaged Top Security to provide security services for the Custom House, Dublin during the renovation of the Visitors Centre in 2015. My Department assumed responsibility for payment of this service in 2016, and the contract was extended twice. A new Office of Government Procurement managed procurement process began in 2018 for the provision of security services to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Expenditure (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 153 to 164, inclusive, together. Total expenditure in 2022, to end September, under the various Housing capital programmes is set out in the table below. Overall expenditure on the housing programme, including at individual programme level, will not be determined until the end of the year. Typically, Quarter 4 sees the highest level of capital expenditure...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a form of social housing support for people who have a long-term housing need. In order for a household to qualify for HAP, they must first be assessed as eligible for social housing support by their local authority. Any household assessed as eligible for social housing is immediately eligible for HAP and those households must source their own...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Recycling Policy (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department is committed improving its Environmental Management systems. This is evidenced by my Department achieving ISO 14001 accreditation for our Energy Management Systems. My Department takes pride in continuing to minimise waste in Departmental sites through the implementation of programmes for waste prevention and reduction, and for the collection, segregation, re-use, recycling,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Planning regulations, introduced in 2018, which provide a temporary exemption for certain vacant commercial premises, including shops, services, offices, and guesthouses; from requiring planning permission to change to residential purposes such as ‘over the shop’ living, have been extended until 2025. The scope of the exemption was also extended to include ‘public...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Contracts (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 180 and 188 together. I refer to the reply to Dáil Question No. 152 of 5 October 2022 which sets out the position on this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 181 and 182 together. The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) are forms of social housing support, provided by my Department, for people who have a long-term housing need. The table below details the number of active HAP tenancies, by local authority, on the 1st January 2020, 2021 and 2022:- Local authority...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All, is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes by 2030. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 184 and 185 together. Local authorities will always have a level of vacancy in their housing stock. This will fluctuate over time as tenancy surrender and re-letting of stock is an ongoing process. Data in relation to levels of vacancy, average turnaround times and reasons associated with this are not routinely collated by my Department. However,...