Results 18,221-18,240 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Cybersecurity Policy (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: 397. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if a schedule will be provided of IT and email security costs incurred over the past five years to date; and the contractor engaged to deliver the services and or system. [27284/21]

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Apologies have been received from Deputy Stanley. I welcome everybody to our online meeting. Due to the current situation regarding Covid-19, only the clerk, support staff and I are in the committee room. Members of the committee are attending remotely from within the precincts of Leinster House. This is due to the constitutional requirement that, to participate in public meetings,...

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Today we engage with the Think-tank for Action on Social Change, TASC, to examine expenditure on schemes for the provision of housing, including the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and the housing assistance payment, HAP. This follows on from our examination of the accounts of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage last November. The Department funds these schemes and...

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: We can see the presentation. Before we begin, I remind Dr. Sweeney that our time is limited and I ask him to be as concise as possible. This briefing, however, will be very useful to the committee, so I ask him to present for approximately ten minutes.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: We do not have a list with the sequence of Members who will be asking questions, so I ask them to indicate their desire to do so by using the raise hand function in the software. I now ask Dr. Sweeney to start his presentation.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: No.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Yes, but it is only the first page.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Can I stop Dr. Sweeney? We are still on the table. We need to move on to the chart.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: We can. For anyone watching from outside I wish to state that, with the agreement of the committee, we will publish the presentation on the committee's web page because it is appearing for those of us at the committee meeting but it does not appear to be appearing for those who are watching. We will publish the presentation afterwards.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: I thank Dr. Sweeney for his very helpful presentation, which will stimulate discussion. I open the debate to the members of the committee. Each member will have six minutes. I ask that members virtually raise their hands to indicate when they wish to contribute and I will take members in the order that they indicate. As our time is limited I will keep them to their time and will allow...

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Deputy Burke's time is up. I ask Dr. Sweeney to provide the source along with the information he is going to forward to the committee so that Deputy Burke will have it to hand immediately. I must move on because our time is limited.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: I call Deputy Verona Murphy.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: There is a long-standing commitment to look at the eligibility criteria used for income grounds and qualification to housing waiting lists. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage issues the limits for HAP. The local authorities do not have discretion except with the risk of homelessness. Rent assistance is with Department of Social Protection.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: The next contributor is Deputy Munster. I am calling the contributors in the order they are showing my screen. Deputy Devlin made the point that members are not being called in the order in which they indicated, but I am calling them in the order in which they appear on my screen. That is by way of explanation.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: The Deputy's time has expired. Time permitting, I will allow her back in.

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Deputy Hourigan has asked that her apologies be noted. I would like to pose a number of questions. If any member would like to come back in, he or she should raise a hand and I will call him or her in the order indicated on my screen. I recall very well the debate in the House on the introduction of the housing assistance payment, HAP, when it was stated that unless it was accompanied by...

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: When we are told that the spend is €3.5 billion, HAP is a component of that spend. Am I correct that the more the HAP spend grows, the less we have to spend on direct build?

Public Accounts Committee: Housing Schemes Expenditure: Think-tank for Action on Social Change (20 May 2021)

Catherine Murphy: The local authority completions and acquisitions are relatively similar for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. We do not yet have the figures for 2020 which, owing to the pandemic, are likely to be lower. I understand total output was approximately 21,000, a component of which was local authority build. We can get those figures. The figures for 2015 to 2019 are low when one considers the...