Results 241-260 of 7,010 for speaker:James Browne

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Rental Sector (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: I can assure the Deputies that this is an absolute priority for me. It is not ideal that it was not resolved before the general election. The funding is now in place. I will be acting with absolute speed to get this circular out. The very same people who are in that very distressing situation come to me. It might surprise Deputy O'Reilly but they do come to Fianna Fáil TDs as well-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Rental Sector (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: -----and they come to my office and my clinics.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Rental Sector (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: The Deputy does not have a monopoly on sympathy in these situations. We are doing everything we can to address the housing crisis.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: Rents for cost-rental homes are set to cover the cost of delivery, financing and managing and maintaining the homes modelled over at least 40 years. Cost rents paid will vary between households and schemes and is dependent on the size of the home and the location but cost rental is a more affordable option compared with the pressures of the private market and will always be made available at...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Planning Issues (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: The planning permission data released by the CSO last week is concerning. It can be seen within the data that the overall dip is driven mainly by a fall in the permissions for apartments. This illustrates the enormous challenge of meeting our revised housing targets, the critical role of apartment delivery in this regard, and the importance of securing private capital investment to fund...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Planning Issues (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: This year the Government has already committed €6.5 billion towards delivering housing in this country. We need probably a minimum of €20 billion spent on housing to deliver the necessary housing. The rest of that money has to come from the private sector. Financial firms, whether national or international, are a key part of that because you need that private funding to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Planning Issues (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: It is private finance that will also want a profit. No matter what way you do it, private finance will always seek a profit - even those Irish savers if you tapped into them. I am not against that. We are going to examine that carefully to see if that can be done, but they will still want a profit for their funding. They are not going to put their money away if they do not think they are...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: I thank the Deputy for his question. Under Housing for All, the Government set out plans to deliver 54,000 affordable homes, including 36,000 affordable purchase and 18,000 cost-rental homes, by 2030. The target for 2024 across all of the various delivery streams was 6,400. A comprehensive implementation strategy is in place to support the various affordable housing schemes now being...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Schemes (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: As I say, I am awaiting the quarter 4 figures to be verified but I anticipate 2024 will be the best year to date for the delivery of affordable homes by our delivery partners. We will continue to work with all of our partners to increase the delivery of affordable homes in any shape or manner that they can be delivered in.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: The Department never makes projections of what housing delivery will be. We have heard in the past number of weeks everything from 30,000 to 40,000 through different sectors in terms of various projections for completions. The outcome will be what will be. My intention will be to maximise the delivery of housing over the next 12 months and, indeed, over the next number of years. As...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: I agree, in that apartment delivery has collapsed. That is very clear. We need to have radical thinking in terms of how we get that supply of apartments moving again. That is where the significant shortfall in reaching our targets has happened, particularly in Dublin city but also in our other cities, including Limerick. Apartments need to be delivered. I intend to take significant...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: The Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver social, affordable and cost rental homes at scale, with a record level of investment being provided for the delivery of housing in 2025 - capital funding of €6.5 billion supplemented by current funding of €1.65 billion. The number of new-build social homes in the pipeline for delivery in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: I thank the Deputy for his question. We received an additional €450 million a couple of weeks ago to release up to 3,000 new properties to be delivered. We are working our way through those approvals as quickly as possible. As the Deputy will know, they need to be assessed before final approval. The majority of those have now been done. It is something that is in flux at any...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: I understand the frustration among local authorities and approved housing bodies but there was a general election, which caused a certain delay in projects. Those projects are being worked through now as quickly as possible, though. A final check always has to be done on every project before its approval is notified to the local authority. I cannot guarantee that every single house will be...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: I thank the Deputy for his question. We recognise the need to address the short-term letting sector in areas of housing need, especially in areas of high demand such as Dublin city, and where properties are not compliant with planning requirements. The Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment is committed to introducing a short-term letting and tourism Bill that will provide the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: I thank Deputy Ó Broin again for raising this important question. We know that short-term lets are a problem, not just in Ireland but right across the world, particularly where properties are taken over and used. It is an increasing problem in Ireland, putting significant pressure on areas of high demand, such as Dublin city. I am working with the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: It is unacceptable that there are commercial entities profiteering from situations where people are in breach of the law. We want an approach where we can enforce the law in such a way as to ensure these properties are brought back into use and are available for long-term renting in high pressure zone areas, while ensuring the impact on more rural areas that rely on short-term lets for...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: The programme for Government commits to delivering more than 300,000 houses between 2025 and the end of 2030, an average of over 50,000 per annum. Delivery over the period will need to rise incrementally to 60,000 homes per year by 2030. This target of reaching an annual average of over 50,000 homes is both ambitious and credible. It is drawn from the work done by the ESRI in 2024 on...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: The Local Authority Home Loan is a Government-backed mortgage for creditworthy applicants who cannot get sufficient funding from commercial banks to purchase or build a home. It has been available nationwide from local authorities since 4 January 2022 for first-time buyers and fresh start applicants. It is a successor loan to the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan. The loan can be used both for new...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (20 Mar 2025)

James Browne: Tenant in Situ Acquisitions were introduced by way of Government decision in 2023 as a short term response to the reported uplift in sales by landlords of homes which were within the HAP and RAS schemes in order to prevent potential homelessness where other solutions could not be found for the affected tenants. A further Government decision extended such acquisitions into 2024 with...