Results 3,841-3,860 of 26,565 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Last year, there were in excess of 1,800 homes purchased through the tenant in situ scheme. Approximately 97 homes were purchased through the cost-rental tenants in situ scheme. We launched that on 1 April, which is just more than a year ago. Other bids have been accepted or acquired under that. We have just below 100 tenants who have been able to purchase their home through the first...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: That is the residential tenancies. Recently, we wrote to the committee on the pre-legislative scrutiny side of this, which has been concluded.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Bill is nearly completed itself. We will be coming back before the committee.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I will let Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, come in. The part B fire regulations have been important. That review started in 2011. It has just concluded, if you can believe that. I do not know whether the committee has looked at the final version of the review but there are significant changes which will make a big difference particularly to over-the-shop housing to ensure...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: To be honest, we have not come across too many, be it cost-rental tenant in situ or tenant in situ, once the landlord and tenant are in the process. The structural report is required because we are purchasing a-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I did not expect cost-rental tenant in situ to be expansive enough to do thousands of them. We have had about 281 homes referred. The bidding process is relatively early in it. We had issues with some of it. These are properties in the main that are occupied by people above the social housing limits. The cost-rental net income limits apply as well. There have not been that many of them...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I have not come across loads of them but if that one has gone back to the Housing Agency it is one we can certainly look at. Obviously, an offer may not have been made yet because of surveys being done but we can have a look at it certainly. I have not across that as a major issue, to be honest.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Senator Cummins is right. I am actually quite content so far that we have schemes off the ground. If you take Blackrock Villas in Cork city, there are 274 units in that one development alone. That is the largest private sector apartment development in Cork city in over a decade. Over the five schemes, we have 582 units. A further seven proposals are with the Housing Agency for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: That is the reason we did this. Some people call this a bailout for developers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: It is total nonsense. I am assuming in Cork city those 274 apartments are ones that will be welcomed by most people. First-time buyers are going to be able to-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Exactly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: It will be brilliant.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I am sorry - I should have said we are going to put out the next call on Croí Cónaithe cities in the summer, so it is literally weeks away. We have reviewed and we are revising it. We have reviewed that with stakeholders as well, because I want people to be able to buy apartments in their cities, as the Senator does.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: We are planning to do about four a year, so this will not be just a one-and-done. The first one was very much for that, to see what the interest is. There is interest. We have five approved with seven under consideration with the Housing Agency. The next one will be open in the summer. We expect to put a call out every quarter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I do not want to talk about a specific development.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: There will be a lot of interest in the next call. We will want to assess the interest that is there. It will be well publicised and people will be able to apply to it. We will be looking at having a number of calls each year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Generally speaking, they would have to have planning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Yes, but what I am saying to the Senator is I do not want to talk about a specific one because it is in planning at the moment. The Croí Cónaithe cities fund and offering there has been reviewed, is being revised and we will put it out in another call over the summer, in the next few weeks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy. First of all, we have the Housing Commission report and I thank its members for that. They have given a view and have obviously put significant work into the report. We will take their projections as well, because there was unmet demand, unquestionably. I said that from the day I took over as Minister we were dealing with ten very significant years of undersupply, so...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Discussion (13 Jun 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: No, we are going to do that. It does not really matter what the ESRI has been asked in that regard because we are going to include it.