Results 4,301-4,320 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: It has worked, which means we now have the resources we need to spend on social housing. I do not know where Senator Gavan is going to get his money from.

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: Exactly. Everyone said we could not do it.

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: I am allowed to fight back. The funding for housing is available because of the jobs recovery and that is the way it works. The funding is available for other areas as well but it can only continue to fund them if we have people in jobs. The best way out of poverty for anybody is to have a job if at all possible and that is what we are trying to do. We are helping people to get a job....

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: It is only beginning. The key is that has to be only temporary. We have to get them into permanent homes and that is what we want to do. The HAP scheme allows for that and the Housing First approach is working quite well also. All the services are coming together. The Housing First approach is a great initiative. It worked very well in Finland and we are copying that model.

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: I agree, it needs to go national and that is the plan. The commitment was to have 300 in Dublin in the first instance. We are well on target to go beyond that. Again, under the HAP scheme, specifically for homeless people, there have been over 800 housing solutions found and we are trying to work directly with homeless people to find them homes and then put the services around them. Some...

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: I would have not problem having a report on that but I am giving my commitment that this money will be spent and that local authorities will have to honour their responsibilities here across the board because some are not. That is not acceptable. It is an issue that has to be dealt with across the board. Increasing the funding was a key step to be able to say that there is increased...

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: I will go faster if I can. I am probably going too fast as it is. Senator Davitt welcomed the panel commission changes. Again, these changes are designed to try to speed up activation of sites. It goes back to the carrot-and-stick approach. The vacant site levy will kick in in 2019. The work on the register for that will be done in 2017 and 2018, but the charge only will come into...

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: That is fine. I believe a report is due the middle of this year and I will get that for the Senator. If he reads the report he will see that it refers to a number of houses and developments. We purposely did not set out anyone's specific conditions throughout this action plan for housing. It just deals with the overall numbers, but we are clear in our engagement with local authorities...

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: That is something on which I will work with the Senator before the report is due in the autumn. To be clear, it is not that we have not mentioned any category; it is about the overall housing plan. Each local authority will have to tell us what it needs in each category. While we want to make that happen, the local authorities are being told clearly to cater for everyone in that regard....

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: I will come back to the Senator with proper answers. I accept it is not happening fast enough but I am not sure where the fault lies. Generally, it comes back to money but I know it is not a financial issue. I will get an update on that and sit down with the Senator to discuss it because we are all committed to making sure that happens.

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: Senator Colm Burke raised a couple of issues as well.

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: That is the strangest thing I have ever seen but to be clear on the point of order, the issue was put to me that we are telling local authorities to sell off zoned land for social housing. I said that is not the case. The Senator has changed that to say zoned land in general.

Seanad: Rebuilding Ireland: Statements (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: I am entitled to explain. What was said to me was that our Department has told local authorities to sell off zoned social housing land that they own. That is not true. I want to be clear that we have not done that. The last set of questions were about State-owned lands and increased rental properties. Senator Colm Burke should know that this is exactly what we are trying to do. We are...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Building Control Management System (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: I propose to take Questions Nos. 404 and 405 together. The purpose of the Building Control Management System (BCMS) is to facilitate building control authorities, building owners, builders and construction professionals in discharging their separate responsibilities under the Building Control Act 1990. The system provides a common platform for clear and consistent administration of building...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Building Control Management System (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: The matters referred to are matters for local authorities, who are independent in the use of their statutory powers under the Building Control Acts 1990 - 2014. Regarding the number of inspections carried out, the Local Government Management Agency collected data on inspections carried out up to 2013 and published this information in the Service Indicators in Local...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Pyrite Remediation Programme (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: The Pyrite Resolution Board, with the support of the Housing Agency, is responsible for the implementation of the pyrite remediation scheme. The pyrite remediation scheme is a scheme of “last resort” and is limited in its application and scope. The full conditions for eligibility under the scheme are set out in the scheme which is available on the Board’s website,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Pyrite Remediation Programme (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: The Pyrite Resolution Board, with the support of the Housing Agency, is responsible for the implementation of the pyrite remediation scheme. The pyrite remediation scheme is a scheme of “last resort” and is limited in its application and scope. The full conditions for eligibility under the scheme are set out in the scheme which is available on the Board’s website,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Departmental Bodies (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: An expert panel on concrete blocks was established by my Department in April 2016 to investigate the problems that have emerged in the concrete blockwork of certain dwellings in Donegal and Mayo. The panel have the following terms of reference:- (i) To identify, insofar as it is possible, the numbers of private dwellings which appear to be affected by defects in the blockwork in the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Building Control Management System (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: The purpose of the Building Control Management System (BCMS) is to facilitate building control authorities, building owners, builders and construction professionals in discharging their separate responsibilities under the Building Control Act 1990. The system provides a common platform for clear and consistent administration of building control matters across the local authority sector. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Rental Accommodation Standards (21 Mar 2017)

Damien English: Minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, as amended by the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) (Amendment) Regulations 2009, made under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992. The Regulations specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary...