Results 4,421-4,440 of 8,342 for speaker:Peter Burke

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I will now address amendments No. 21 and 23 to 25, inclusive, tabled by Senators Higgins, Ruane and Black. These amendments are concerned with how, over time, rents will be allowed to rise to a limited extent. The gradual increase in rent, over time, is a fundamental element of the cost-covering model, which is cost rental, as we all know. This model may seem counter-intuitive, but it is...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: To compare a sustainable housing tenancy in cost rental to an upward-only rent review, which is a contractual relationship on a commercial property, is to completely misunderstand what we are trying to do here. It concerns me that the Senator could make that comparison. A commercial property on Grafton Street where a tenant is commercially obliged to meet upward-only rent reviews over a...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank Senator Warfield for his amendment and Senator Higgins for her contribution. Amendment No. 26 would require cost rental landlords to give three months’ notice of any rent increase. It may well be that this amendment uses the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act for the private rental sector as a reference. However, this does not take account of the ways in which the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank all the Senators for their contributions. I will now address Senator Warfield’s opposition to section 39 and his amendment No. 28. Section 39 of the Bill provides for two ways in which the cost-rental designation of a dwelling may be ended. The first is when the owner of a property explicitly opts out of the cost-rental sector, which they will be entitled to do when the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: Amendments Nos. 29 and 30, tabled by Senators Higgins, Ruane and Black, propose to require that all cost-rental homes developed on public land automatically revert to State ownership at the end of their designation as cost-rental dwellings. The current policy is that the best way of ensuring that cost-rental dwellings developed on public land or with State financial support remain within the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank Members for their contributions. I know they have valid concerns about this initiative and I can see them. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has committed that this scheme will be reviewed after one year, including in his discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.If there are any unintended consequences, those will be watched closely. I will bring the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I hear the views expressed. There will be a review and the Government will take action if there are unintended consequences or if some of the developments articulated come to fruition. I was very lucky in life to have been elected to the local council in 2009. In the period 2009 to 2012, I remember sitting in the council chamber and so many of my colleagues being so frustrated with the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank Senators Mullen, Keogan and Boyhan for putting forward the amendments. The primary objective of the levy is to act as a mechanism to incentivise the development of vacant and unutilised sites in urban areas for both the provision of housing and the development and renewal of land, thereby facilitating the most efficient use of such land and sites, and enabling them to be brought into...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I assure the Senator that we appreciate the urgency of this matter. Unfortunately, I cannot accept the amendment at this point. If something is not working, we must respond quickly because we know we are in a crisis. We will attend to this matter in the Department and I will raise the Senator's concerns with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, as he makes his decisions, especially in the context...

Acquisition of Development Land (Assessment of Compensation) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (16 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank all the Deputies for their engagement. For my period in the Chamber, I have listened very carefully and with interest to many of the contributions made. It has been useful to have an opportunity to explain the Government position to the Members of the House and to hear their views on the long-standing question of how best we can ensure a share of increased land value arising from...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Commercial Rates (16 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: As part of the Government’s Economic Recovery Plan on 1 June, I announced an extension of the current commercial rates waiver for an additional 3 months, covering July to September. The waiver is intended to continue supporting eligible businesses as they adjust to the reopening of the economy and recover from the impact of the pandemic. The businesses eligible for the waiver in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (16 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I propose to take Questions Nos. 111 and 112 together. The funding system that applies to local authorities in Ireland is a complex one, as those authorities derive their income from a variety of sources including commercial rates, charges for goods and services and funding from Central Government including my Department but also other government departments and state agencies. Most of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Quarrying Sector (16 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: Under planning legislation, enforcement of unauthorised development is a matter for the relevant planning authority, which can take action if a development does not have the required permission, or where the terms of a permission have not been met. There are extensive enforcement provisions provided for in Part VIII of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the Act), with a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Quarrying Sector (16 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: Planning statistics are compiled by each planning authority on an annual basis for collation and publication on my Department’s website, at the following link: . The data collected relates to the total number of applications and decisions for all developments that require planning permission, broken down by year and planning authority. However, the data is not broken down by reason for...

Pyrite and Mica Redress Issues: Motion [Private Members] (15 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank Members for the valuable contributions. I have listened closely to the comments and statements and I appreciate and acknowledge the level of anger and frustration felt by communities in counties Donegal and Mayo and beyond, as has been alluded to by other speakers in the House. Earlier today, I had the privilege of going outside to meet with the residents who were affected by...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (15 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: 263. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath has been allocated with an appointment for the driver theory test in August 2021 given that they had a confirmed test date in June 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31369/21]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (15 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: 264. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath has been allocated an appointment for the driver theory test in August 2021 given that they had a confirmed test date in June 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31375/21]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (15 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: 265. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath has been allocated with an appointment for the driver theory test in September 2021 given that they had a confirmed test date in June 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31376/21]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Wind Energy Guidelines (15 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: I propose to take Questions Nos. 555, 556, 557 and 577 together. The current Wind Energy Development Guidelines 2006 do not provide for a mandatory minimum setback distance between wind turbines and residential dwellings or EU designated sites. However, in the context of, and in addition to, noise limits, they indicate - for the purpose of protecting residential dwellings in noise sensitive...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (15 Jun 2021)

Peter Burke: Aside from providing for the derelict sites levy - the proceeds of which are retained by local authorities - and associated provisions, the Derelict Sites Act 1990 does not address the issue of funding for local authorities to address dereliction. The proportion of the overall annual budget of each local authority which is spent on addressing dereliction is a matter for each local authority...