Results 281-300 of 10,861 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien in 'Written Answers'

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

Darragh O'Brien: The policy of providing grant funding to households for work on Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems (DWWTS), including septic tanks, arises from the need to address damage being done to water quality in sensitive areas in particular. The grants are focused on the areas of greatest environmental priority and are available only in circumstances relating to risks to water quality and/or...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (30 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016, taking account of the constitutionally protected property rights of landlords, introduced a targeted Rent Predictability Measure to moderate rent increases in those parts of the country where rents are highest and rising fastest. Section 24A of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2022 provides that the Housing Agency,...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 87, 94 and 132 together. Housing for All, first published in Q3 2021, set out a commitment to review income eligibility for social housing. From this review, it was recommended moving five local authorities from Band 3 to Band 2, ensuring the income eligibility thresholds better reflect housing costs in those counties. Government also agreed to...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 88 and 189 together. 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 and is the first multi-annual fully funded housing plan in the history of the State. The annual targets include the delivery of 90,000 new social homes and 36,000 new affordable purchase homes and...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Legislation enacted in December 2022 amended the Planning and Development Act. The provisions under sections 3, 13 and 14 of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment) Act 2022 which insert section 179A into the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, have commenced. These provisions provide that housing developments by, on behalf of, or in partnership with a local...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Affordability and the chance to own a home is at the heart of the Government’s housing policy. As detailed in the Housing for All strategy, the Government has introduced a number of measures to support households and individuals wishing to purchase a home, as well as increasing the overall supply of new homes, with an ambitious target of 300,000 new homes up to 2030. This includes,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (30 May 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 in this decade. Over 300,000 new homes will be built by the end of 2030, including a projected 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. It is a whole-of-Government Plan, encompassing numerous policy areas across four pathways to a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Supports (30 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Addressing homelessness is a priority for Government. Critical to supporting households to exit homelessness is increasing the supply of housing. Almost 12,000 new social homes were delivered in 2023, through Build, Acquisition and Leasing, including 8,110 new build homes, the highest level of new build social homes in nearly 50 years. Including HAP and RAS, 21,733 social housing solutions...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Following the enactment of the Electoral Reform Act 2022, my Department, over the course of 2023, engaged extensively on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transparency and targeting of political advertising as that proposal progressed through the inter-institutional negotiations. In this context, Regulation (EU) 2024/900 of the European...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (30 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Land Development Agency's (LDA) Business Plan 2024-2028 plans to deliver approximately 14,000 homes over its lifetime, including through the adaptive reuse of existing buildings where appropriate such as at the former St. Kevin’s Hospital in Cork and Devoy Barracks in Naas. To deliver housing on this scale, the Government have provided for the investment of up to €2.5...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Over 4,000 affordable housing supports were delivered in 2023 representing an increase of 128% on 2022 activity. To build on the momentum now in place, my Department has been working with the Housing Delivery Coordination Office and the County and City Management Association to identify additional staffing resources required by local authorities to ensure more affordable purchase and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (30 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I commenced the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) on 22 June 2023 which contains the enhanced grant scheme and adopted the related Regulations on 29 June 2023. The approach taken under the Pyrite Remediation Scheme was considered in the development of the Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB) Grant Scheme. However, due to the different...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Energy Conservation (30 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP) aims to retrofit a local authority home to a BER of B2/Cost Optimal Equivalent. It is expected that 36,500 local authority owned homes will be retrofitted under this Programme out to 2030. Works eligible under my Department's revised EERP include attic/cavity wall insulation or external wall insulation where required, windows and doors...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Pathway 4 of Housing for All sets out a blueprint to address vacancy and make efficient use of our existing housing stock. A key action under Pathway 4 was the introduction of the Croí Cónaithe Towns Fund in July 2022. The Fund provides for the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant and the Ready to Build Scheme. At the outset, the Croí Cónaithe Towns fund aimed to deliver...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (30 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I commenced the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) on 22 June 2023 which contains the enhanced grant scheme and adopted the related Regulations on 29 June 2023. The enhanced grant scheme was legislated for following extensive consultation with all relevant stakeholders. At the time of the Scheme launch, I established an...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (30 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Local authorities also have a legal obligation to ensure that all of their tenanted...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Energy Conservation (30 May 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department supports local authorities with annual funding towards the management and maintenance of their social housing stock under a number of funding programmes including the Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Programme (EERP). My Department also provides funding under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability, to assist people in private houses to...

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

Darragh O'Brien: On 25 April 2023, the Government approved additional measures under the Housing for All Action Plan to incentivise the activation of increased housing supply and help reduce housing construction costs, including the introduction of temporary time-limited arrangements for the waiving of local authority “section 48” development contributions and the refunding of Uisce Éireann...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Supporting individuals and families facing homelessness is a priority for Government. Critical to supporting households to exit homelessness and prevent homelessness in the first instance, is increasing the supply of housing. Almost 12,000 new social homes were delivered in 2023, through Build, Acquisition and Leasing, including 8,110 new build homes, the highest level of new build social...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) has been identified as a key measure to address the different housing needs in Ireland and methods to support the development of MMC in Ireland are set out in Housing for All. MMC is the term used to describe a range of manufacturing and innovative construction alternatives to traditional construction, including modular construction. MMC has the...