Results 3,421-3,440 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Provision of Cost-Rental Public Housing: Motion [Private Members] (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: I move amendment No. 2:To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:“notes that: — the Government reaffirms its commitment, in the Programme for a Partnership Government, to develop an affordable cost rental option for low-income families, to help keep rental costs manageable for tenants and allow them to avoid future rental...

Provision of Cost-Rental Public Housing: Motion [Private Members] (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: I will slow down, but it is not our motion and we do not provide a copy in those circumstances. I understand that those are the rules of the House, but I can supply the Deputy with a copy. During debates on housing over the two years, it is always said that it is an ideology issue with Fine Gael, or that we are against something. That is not the case. Every week the Minister and I have...

Topical Issue Debate: Emergency Accommodation Provision (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: I thank Deputy Coppinger for raising this issue again today. We have had many discussions on this over the past year or two. The Department publishes data on a monthly basis for the number of homeless persons accommodated in all forms of emergency accommodation funded and overseen by housing authorities. We record and publish those figures in order to make policy. We base our policy...

Topical Issue Debate: Emergency Accommodation Provision (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: The Deputy should not try to give any other impression. It is done properly. The laws are there. People are well protected. It is done in extreme circumstances and a medical professional makes that call, not anybody else. Returning to the January homeless figures, the increase in family homelessness in Dublin, where family homelessness is most problematic, was not anticipated to this...

Topical Issue Debate: Emergency Accommodation Provision (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: I cannot cover all the issues relating to housing in two or three minutes. The Deputy's Topical Issue matter specifically mentions emergency housing and the over 9,000 people who are homeless. It does not go into the supply of housing. I am happy to do that too in my answer.

Topical Issue Debate: Emergency Accommodation Provision (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: They are very well related but I could not give detail of both because there was not time.

Topical Issue Debate: Emergency Accommodation Provision (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: Of course there is a connection. We have been saying that for the past two years. That is why many of our plans in Rebuilding Ireland are aimed at bringing the supply of housing back up. Last year, and the Deputy might not like to admit this, there were an additional 7,000 social houses in use through all the schemes. They were not there the year before that. This year again, because the...

Topical Issue Debate: National Planning Framework (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: The Deputy said we are missing the point but I think she is the one who is missing the point.

Topical Issue Debate: National Planning Framework (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: The rural decline which has happened in many counties, and which we have seen in so many villages, happened over 20 or 30 years because there was no plan or ambition.

Topical Issue Debate: National Planning Framework (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: There was no vision. We are asking that, through the national planning framework, such a vision would be set out for urban and rural Ireland and all the various cities and towns. There would be the three regional plans and the county plans and we can then make it happen and put funding in place to achieve that. There was no plan or vision and that is why there was decline. We are trying...

Topical Issue Debate: National Planning Framework (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: I thank Deputy Carol Nolan for raising this issue and giving me the opportunity to clarify any misconceptions about the relevance of the national planning framework to rural communities. I have been involved in the strategy throughout its development. It is a document which will help stop decline in many rural areas, and can actually save rural Ireland. I addressed that at the Committee on...

Topical Issue Debate: National Planning Framework (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: That is correct and we had a very good discussion there. A lot of changes were made following the committee meetings. Those meetings fed into the plan, and rightly so. I want to start by saying that the national planning framework is a national plan. It has a high-level ambition of creating a single vision, a shared set of goals for every community across the country and of delivering...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Foreshore Issues (6 Mar 2018)

Damien English: Under the Foreshore Act 1933, as amended, the removal of “beach material” is prohibited from any area within the foreshore. The Act includes a clear definition for “beach material” and it is defined as sand and gravel and other materials, which the definition indicates includes "seaweed whether growing or rooted on the seashore...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Unfinished Housing Developments (28 Feb 2018)

Damien English: The 2016 Annual Progress Report on Unfinished Housing Developments was published in March 2017 and is available at the following link: As outlined in the Report, the numbers of unfinished housing developments has reduced by over 85% from just under 3,000 developments in 2010 to 420 developments in 2016, with 248 developments resolved in 2016 alone. Funding...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Guidelines (28 Feb 2018)

Damien English: My Department’s publication Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities (2007), for local authorities, sets out best practice for the use of all involved in the provision of housing, including architects, urban designers, engineers, planners, quantity surveyors, developers, practitioners and housing authorities.  The guidelines identify the principles and criteria that are...

Other Questions: Housing Provision (27 Feb 2018)

Damien English: The big issue is not necessarily construction as these are, without a doubt, constructed much more quickly after being produced in factories. Getting on sites has been the cause of the delay. We made many changes in the processes, and the Deputy is familiar with those from her time in the Department. There were long delays on many sites across the country for many years going on for three...

Other Questions: Housing Provision (27 Feb 2018)

Damien English: I am quite confident about it. I have even named the sites in Limerick so I am quite confident the Deputy will see the results of the rapid delivery scheme, which we should have been able to see well before now. We will certainly be able to see it in future. The issue has been getting to site and getting planning, along with other requirements. We have fast-tracked that as much as possible.

Other Questions: Housing Provision (27 Feb 2018)

Damien English: The Deputy is not being unkind and he is quite entitled to question the figures. I have already explained that we expect many of our schemes to deliver much more this year, next year and in the years ahead. It has become the default position that rapid build is the best technology to use for speed purposes in some of these sites. We are providing workshops and skills bases for local...

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Waiting Lists (27 Feb 2018)

Damien English: We all share Deputy Durkan's concerns and we all want to try to solve the housing problem as quickly as possible. Most Deputies daily meet people with a housing need, whether in our clinics and offices or, as I do, on visits to projects. Members from all parties are committed to delivering a minimum of 50,000 houses over the next three or four years through Rebuilding Ireland. We want to...

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Waiting Lists (27 Feb 2018)

Damien English: Deputy Durkan and I are on the same page. We want progress to be made as quickly as possible. The Minister and I visited County Kildare recently where we met the Deputy at the opening of two new housing projects. Kildare County Council is committed to delivering more than 2,600 houses in the next couple of years, which will make a significant contribution towards solving the county's...