Results 29,821-29,840 of 74,100 for speaker:Bernard Durkan

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: The first issue that needs to be determined is the extent to which the local authorities are to be relied upon to provide social housing in the future. We moved away from that over the past ten or 15 years which was a big mistake. We have the problems we have now because the requirement to provide social housing was taken away from the local authorities. It is absolutely imperative that we...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: Yes.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: We should-----

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: -----resolve initially to place the major part of the responsibility on the local authorities. They are best placed for this. By virtue of what has happened over the past number of years, we have reached our current position. There are no other bodies in the country better placed than local authorities. That requires money that can or has been provided in budgets and how they use it is up...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: Indeed it is.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: In response to that, we could be at cross purposes here. I have a strong view about the provision of local authority housing, and have had all my life. I did not have to read about it anywhere. I grew up with it and have pursued it all through my political life, which is quite a long time. I have no hesitation in saying that unless we rely on the local authorities to provide it, to be...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: If the first element is satisfactory, we will not have to talk so much about the second element because the local authority housing development will have taken place and we will not be reliant on the private rental sector, which, in turn, has been reliant on the Department of Social Protection, as a means of providing what used to be provided by the local authorities. In the course of our...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: I agree. Other representative bodies could include those from the construction industry. We need to know their capabilities and how they propose to go about it. This includes the Construction Industry Federation. We should consider representatives of estate agents and mortgage brokers as well, although I am unsure whether I want to talk to mortgage brokers after recent years.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: The cost of housing to the average household is way above what would normally be expected. As a result, too much of the family income must go towards paying a mortgage or rent. In some areas rents are moving towards €2,000 per month. Some are higher already. How does a family exist if it has to set aside €2,000 per month to pay rent or a mortgage? Supply in the private...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: The only problem is that we may have some questions to ask directly of NAMA ourselves, as elected public representatives. We may be able to come to a judgment as to what is realistic, achievable and attainable, what NAMA's responsibility might be and how it might be extended to accommodate the kind of housing situation we are faced with. I am not certain that we should have a general debate...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: Absolutely.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: What aspect of homelessness do we consider to be appropriate in this module?

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: I do not think that would be of any great benefit at this stage. As public representatives, we deal with people who are homeless on a daily basis. We should at least be able to consider ourselves to be somewhat expert in the area. Putting people who are homeless through a question-and-answer session about how they became homeless and what we can do to stop it is not appropriate. We all...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: I hope we would not be seen to be using the people who are homeless in the context of attempting to resolve a problem. They are abused already. One of the contributing factors is where lending institutions repossess homes. We need to have an exchange of views with representatives of the lending institutions because it is an issue we all come across on a daily basis. Court cases are held...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: Agreed.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: Agreed.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: We should invite a representative of the Law Society of Ireland.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: That is the area I referred to earlier. It comes in under the homelessness issue.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: I am not so sure about the insolvency bodies. FLAC is one we should meet. We should meet representatives of people experiencing mortgage difficulties, which includes two categories of people. One group of people were busy during the recent election in my constituency putting stickers on posters and that kind of thing. They call themselves the New Land League. I want to emphasise that I...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Interim Report of Committee (26 Apr 2016)

Bernard Durkan: We do not need a commentary on what has gone wrong. We know that so what we need to do is engage with those who are making it wrong.