Results 241-260 of 1,352 for speaker:Mary Fitzpatrick

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Mary Fitzpatrick: City.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Mary Fitzpatrick: It could cover the whole country – I do not mind – but I would like to see-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Affordable Homes, Public Lands, Strategic Planning and Projects: Land Development Agency (23 Jan 2024)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank the Deputy for his presentation of the Bill. I easily understand why he brought the Bill forward in 2020. I presume he worked on it in 2019. However, he rightly mentioned that the world has changed very dramatically since then. The Bill would need to be updated as regards notice periods. The Bill references 60 days. That would have to be changed to 90 days. Is that what the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Is that okay?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Would the Bill have to state 90 days?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: We have moved on and most tenancies have 90 days, but the more valuable change that has been made for tenants is that landlords are required to notify the RTB and the notice to quit must be validated. Would the Deputy consider amending the definition of when the homeless prevention plan needs to be put in place to coincide with that date? If we are to consider this, we need to consider how...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Among the changes that have been brought in are homeless HAP and tenant in situ, which has been extended nationally, as well as housing support workers. They were not in place back in 2020. There are now housing support advisers or workers and key workers assigned to people. To be fair, the key workers are assigned to people who are in homelessness and emergency accommodation. The Deputy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: That is because the majority of homelessness is in Dublin.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: The DRHE does, however. It operates for the four local authorities.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I am not trying to be pedantic. The service is there from the DRHE.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I asked whether there has been an assessment of the number of tenancies likely to require this legislation, other than from anecdotal evidence.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: It relates only to affordable housing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: May I ask another question? I was thinking about the definition of "homelessness". In practice, the definition of being at risk of homelessness is when one's current accommodation is no longer securely available. The definition in the Bill is that one receives a valid notice to quit that is going to expire within a set period of time and as a consequence of that, one is at risk of losing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I have to disagree with the Deputy about the functioning of the tenant in situ scheme. It is working well from the perspective of social housing tenants. There was a bit of a culture change and a need for local authorities that have not been experiencing as much homelessness to adapt and to develop a sensitivity to realising they had this tool and to providing it. That has now largely been...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Deputy Ó Broin said that only 5% of the homeless budget is spent on homelessness prevention.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: This statement ignores the fact that the housing capital budget includes all of the tenant in situand social housing capital spend. A total of 5% of the homeless emergency accommodation budget is spent on prevention because that budget is for the provision of emergency accommodation. The budgetary spend on preventative measures is captured in the housing capital budget.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I know but it is an important point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: It is playing with numbers. It is a presentational matter but it is an important statement of fact that it is not only 5% of €300 million, which is a very large number dedicated to homeless services. It would be incorrect for this committee to allow an impression to be created that 5% of that €300 million of a homeless services budget is all that is being spent on homeless...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of Homeless Prevention Bill 2020, Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 and Dereliction and Building Regeneration Bill 2022: Private Members' Bills (14 Dec 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Could Deputy O'Callaghan go back over what he said about four cases? Can the Deputy give us a bit more information on that?