Results 3,241-3,260 of 26,565 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Okay, perhaps she can wait to ask a question and let me answer Deputy Boyd Barrett. On affordable housing, when this Government came into office no affordable homes were offered at all. The Deputy knows that. Last year, 1,757 housing solutions were delivered on affordable housing. This year the figure will be more than 6,000. I am not claiming success or that we have dealt with every...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: That is why we need a planning system that supports the delivery of the homes and infrastructure we need. That is why I expect Deputies on both sides of the House to support the Planning and Development Bill when it comes back to the House for its final Stages, so we can ensure we have an efficient planning system under which someone from Ballina cannot object to a social housing development...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I was the first Minister since 2011 to increase the social housing income limits. We increased them all across the country and they remain under review. We need to increase our own stock of social housing. In the four years of this Government, we have been able to do that and to scale up the capacity to deliver. Certainly, there is much more to do. I only used Shanganagh as an example;...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: It is nothing of the sort, and the Deputy knows that. I do not know whether the issue of pensions is a matter he discussed when he went to London to meet potential investors in this country recently. This is about acting on an independent report that has come forward. In a very phased way from 2026, the standard funding threshold will be increased. While we are doing that, the Government...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: It is not crumbs.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: About 50% of people in this country have made pension provisions themselves. That is it. About 50% do not have any pension provision. That is our absolute focus. That is why we need to keep things such as the ability to claim tax relief at the marginal rate, not like the Sinn Féin proposal that any average worker out there who is earning will pay more in tax.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I will send Deputy Doherty the documentation from Sinn Féin that proposes to reduce the pension tax relief to the standard rate. That would be a real cost to workers and people.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy Bacik for her questions and comments. Those in emergency accommodation and homelessness remain the number one challenge for this Government. In a number of counties across the country, we are seeing continued decreases in the numbers accessing emergency accommodation and increasing exits from such accommodation. In quarter 2, 630 households were able to exit emergency...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: We will hit our social housing target this year. We have delivered over 6,000 affordable housing solutions this year. When we came into government, there were no affordable housing solutions. There was no cost-rental housing or secure tenancies for working people. Nearly 2,000 tenancies have been put in place through cost rental that we legislated for and funded. We will see a continued...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: We have to make sure that where people end up in a situation where they do not have a home, they are supported in the best possible accommodation that can be provided for them for as short a time as possible. That is the reason for the Government support this year to the tune of €242 million for homelessness and emergency services and we will add a supplementary to that this year....

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Just to bring a bit of reality to this conversation, the Deputy will know that the previous Minister for Finance appointed Dr. Donal de Buitléir to undertake an independent examination of the standard fund threshold, which was reduced in 2014. As a Government, our main focus in respect of pensions, particularly for middle-income workers, is to ensure that they have pension provisions...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Sinn Féin has proposed to reduce it to 20%,-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: -----which would reduce the pension tax relief that they receive. Regarding the Government's decision, the Minister for Finance considered the independent de Buitléir report carefully, taking into account its recommendations. If the Deputy has seen the report, then he will know that we have not accepted all of its recommendations. The Government has agreed to implement a staggered...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Our focus has always been on, in the first instance, average workers and those who assist them in making provision for their pensions and, in the second, ensuring a continued increase in the State pension, which the Government has always prioritised. We will make it a priority in this budget as well. There has been an increase of €29 in the standard weekly State pension since this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Which ones?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The principle of the purchase of homes of tenants in situ is one that everybody in the House supports.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Last year, we bought 1,830 homes. The original target had been 200. It was reset to 1,500 and we increased it further. Deputy Troy, the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, and I met the chief executive of Westmeath County Council yesterday. For clarification, so that everyone is clear on this, there is no ceiling on the number of homes a local authority can purchase under the scheme...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Yes.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The cost-rental tenant in situ scheme is working very well and has been set up on an administrative basis.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Schemes (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I did not interrupt the Deputy once. I ask him to let me answer. The cost-rental tenant in situ scheme does exist. It is administered by the Housing Agency and we have purchased more than 200 homes in that space already.