Results 2,301-2,320 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Senator for putting forward the amendment. In the first instance, removing the Circuit Court from the confirmation process is unconstitutional. I will explain why, even if it were constitutional, I believe it would be necessary to have the provision in place. I do not like just to say it is unconstitutional and shut down debate. If the Senator does not mind, I will take a...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Separate from that, for lesser offences where a landlord has acted offside, we have a new administrative sanctioning process in this Bill and new offences concerning improper conduct. For example, we talked about section 34 notices to quit being served. Where a landlord serves such a notice, asks the tenant to vacate the premises because it is going to be done up to such an extent that the...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: In the budget for this year we increased Exchequer funding by 67% for the RTB to allow for inspections to be done by the RTB and local authorities. Under the Bill, we are bringing about this new concept of an authorised officer and a decision-maker. The RTB will be able to hire people to be investigators, essentially, and we provided money in the budget for the board to do that. A lot of...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I very much respect the work that Senator Humphreys has done on short-term letting. We had some conversations around this. When we conclude this legislation, I will then have to commence this section of and I will have to bring forward the regulations under these legislative changes. The meat for the regulation of short-term letting is in the regulations. The legislative changes are more...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homelessness Strategy (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: As part of the implementation of Construction 2020 – A Strategy for a Renewed Construction Sector, a Housing Supply Coordination Taskforce for Dublin was established in June 2014 and comprises of representatives from my Department, each of the four Dublin local authorities, NAMA and other agencies. The focus of the Taskforce is to address supply-related issues relating to the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Shared Ownership Scheme (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: In 2011, the Government announced the standing down of all affordable housing schemes, including the shared ownership scheme. Following a review of the shared ownership scheme undertaken in 2013, my Department together with the Housing Agency, the Housing Finance Agency and local authorities, considered the affordability issues facing some borrowers, who purchased properties under the shared...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing for People with Disabilities Provision (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: My Department issued Stage 3 pre-tender approval in November 2018 for a proposal under the Capital Assistance scheme to provide accommodation for persons with a disability adjacent to the school referred to. The proposal will involve the redevelopment of a property previously used as a day care facility, to provide a five bedroomed unit to permanently accommodate four residents and a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Supply (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project has been in development since the mid-1990s, originally under Dublin City Council and under Irish Water since January 2014. It is the first comprehensive upgrade of Ireland’s water infrastructure in over 60 years. An additional 330 million litres of treated water a day is estimated to be needed in the Greater Dublin and Eastern and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan launched on 1 February 2018. Prior to its launch, an initial tranche of €200 million of long-term fixed-rate finance was borrowed by the Housing Finance Agency to provide funds for the scheme to local authorities. When the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan was initially being developed, it was estimated that the drawdown of loans under the scheme would...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water and Sewerage Schemes Status (15 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Details of the measures being funded under the Multi-annual Rural Water Programme 2019-2021 were notified to local authorities by my Department on 8 February 2019. Local authorities were invited to submit their bids for the funding of schemes or projects in their functional areas, with the deadline for receipt of proposals set as 14 March 2019. Westmeath County Council has...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. He had a specific point around advertising and a group being led by the Department of the Taoiseach has been working with my Department, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and others to see how we might address this area as we also address offline advertising. The more important piece of work is the establishment of an...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I am aware of the difficulties some local authorities are facing because they are tied to the last baseline which was set in 2014 and when we introduced the local property tax, LPT. The Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, has led a review of funding allocations to local authorities which is almost complete. The heavy and substantial work has been done but it is linked into the work we need to...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. I am afraid it is Sinn Féin which is misleading the public on this issue. We know rents are unacceptably high. That is why last week we prioritised in this House legislation that will extend rent pressure zones and rent caps in time but also in geography, that will take away important loopholes that people were abusing, and will for the first time...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (14 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: That is what we are doing. We will finish that work in the House this week.

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Second Stage (14 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: We all know that we are in the middle of a serious housing and homelessness crisis. The early enactment of this Bill has been given priority by the Government and the Attorney General and facilitated by Deputies in all parties in Dáil Éireann and it now comes to the Seanad for its careful consideration. I thank Members for the time they are devoting to it this week in order that,...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Second Stage (14 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: We are reducing it to €40.

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Second Stage (14 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Home sharing is allowed; short-term letting is not.

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Second Stage (14 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: If it helps the Senator, we are going to have a debate on the regulations themselves that flow from these amendments to the legislation, before they are finalised.

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Second Stage (14 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank everyone for the contributions they have made. In particular, I thank those who stayed after they spoke to engage in the debate. When I asked the Chair if there was a time limit on my response, he said "No." I am very sorry if I go on too long because I know people have had a long day. When I speak in this Chamber, I like to go through each Senator's contribution and respond in...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Second Stage (14 May 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The 70% figure relates to those landlords who own just one property. I think that is what Senator Mullen meant. His point was that most landlords in this country own just one property. He was commenting on how we talk about landlords. Maybe this relates to the points that have been made about the Irish psyche. Perhaps the word "landlord" has a connotation that does not apply to landlords...