Results 19,861-19,880 of 26,350 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Staff (24 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department does not maintain the requested information in respect of the State bodies under its aegis. Arrangements have been put in place by all bodies under the aegis of my Department to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas. This provides a speedy, efficient and cost effective system to address queries directly to the relevant bodies. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (24 Jan 2024)

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, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (24 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All targets the delivery of 18,000 new Cost Rental homes to 2030. A strong pipeline is in place and under continuous development by Local Authorities, by Approved Housing Bodies using the Cost Rental Equity Loan, and by the Land Development Agency. The core principle of Cost Rental is that the rents cover the development, management, and maintenance costs of the homes, so that...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Irish Sign Language (24 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The information requested is being compiled and will be forwarded in accordance with Standing Orders. The information requested in relation to bodies under the aegis of my Department is a matter for the individual bodies concerned. Arrangements have been put in place by each Agency to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas. The contact email address for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme was introduced in 2012 for borrowers of commercial lending institutions and is targeted at those households in mortgage arrears who have had their mortgage position deemed unsustainable by their lender under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP), who agree to the voluntary surrender of their home and who have very limited options, if any, to meet...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Wind Energy Generation (25 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 260 and 261 together. My Department is currently undertaking a focused review of the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines which is addressing a number of key aspects of the Guidelines including shadow flicker, noise, setback distance, community obligation, community dividend and grid connections. With regard to shadow flicker, my Department intends to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Staff (25 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department does not generally keep a record of qualifications held by staff members, and accordingly there may be staff working in various roles in the Department who have a qualification in quantity surveying but applied for different positions. However, we do currently have seven fulltime equivalent (FTE) quantity surveyors employed in the department in roles where this is a requirement...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (25 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Data on the number of residential units purchased by households and non-households are published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). These data are available in table HPA02 (Residential Dwelling Property Transactions) on the CSO website. Data from 2010 to 2022 are available from the CSO at data.cso.ie/table/HPA02.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (25 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department has received a copy of the draft report referred to. I will give consideration to the recommendations contained in the final report when it is received.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (25 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act), which contains the Enhanced Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme commenced on 22 June 2023 and the related Regulations were adopted on 29 June 2023. The Enhanced Grant Scheme provided for the extension of the scheme to include dwellings damaged due to the use of defective concrete blocks in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (25 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 269 and 270 together. The design and construction of buildings is regulated under the Building Control Acts 1990-2020. The Acts provide for the making of Building Regulations, Building Control Regulations and designates local authorities as building control authorities. The 31 local building control authorities have extensive powers of inspection and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (30 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Emergency Refurbishment (Ukraine) Programme comprises two delivery strands, one of which is focused on buildings in public ownership and the other which supports owners of private buildings to refurbish them to the appropriate standard as per guidelines from my Department. These guidelines are available on my Department's website at this . Private owners can upload their properties for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (30 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme is open to eligible tenants of local authority houses that are available for sale under the scheme. The scheme is underpinned by the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 and the Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015. The 2015 regulations were amended by the Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) (Amendment) Regulations...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Services (30 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The monitoring of operational standards in Uisce Éireann is a matter for which I have no function. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) is statutorily tasked with monitoring Uisce Éireann's performance in accordance with section 39 of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 (as amended). I have asked the CRU to respond directly on this matter. The CRU has a dedicated...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (30 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 317 and 318 together. The standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 and specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light, fire safety and the safety of gas, oil and electrical supplies. These...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Contracts (30 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The information requested is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (30 Jan 2024)

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, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Staff (30 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department does not generally keep a record of qualifications held by staff members, and accordingly there may be staff working in various roles in the Department who have a qualification in quantity surveying but applied for different positions. However, we do currently have seven full-time quantity surveyors employed in the Department in roles where this is a requirement. There were...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Septic Tanks (30 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 332 and 358 together. In November 2023, I announced substantial improvements to the terms and conditions of all three Domestic Waste Water Treatment System (DWWTS) grants available to households. At the time my Department also advised all local authorities of the changes made which are an increase of the grant amount available to €12,000 from...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Electoral Process (30 Jan 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The polls for European Parliament and Local elections in Ireland are typically taken on the same day. Under section 26 of the Local Government Act 2000, an election of members of every local authority shall be held in the year 2004 and every fifth year thereafter. The poll at local elections shall be held in the month of May or June, as may be fixed by Ministerial Order. The procedure for...