Results 5,461-5,480 of 25,732 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: No. There have been hundreds of submissions to the planning forum. As I have not read them all, I cannot tell members there is no such document. Has anyone specifically asked me to change it? That is not the way we operate - absolutely not. This is about future-proofing our planning legislation and bringing it up to date. The issue could potentially arise and we are trying cover certain...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I am available until 8.20 p.m.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: There is population growth that is real and is there, whether there are infrastructural deficits in an area or not. If we take wastewater, for example, we know there are areas of the country where there are deficiencies in wastewater provision. Permissions are refused on those grounds and will still be. This is about the housing supply targets, and when we are reviewing them in the new...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I think we can all agree that no local authority will accidentally or suddenly max out its targets. What I am saying is that, in real terms on deliverables, what this would do is provide the ability to a local authority to manage its deliverable pipeline. I am sure the Deputy will know of permissions or areas of land in his local area in Fingal that have been granted permission or have been...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The housing growth target is a housing supply target.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: It is basically the realisable number of homes on a permission granted. If all of those permissions had been built out, we would not be talking about issues with housing supply. I would imagine the number of occasions convertible planning permissions turn into homes that actually meet overall demand in real terms is going to be exceptionally rare. It will not happen in the next number of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Good.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Give me an area.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: You have a housing supply target and a development plan which is countywide. Obviously, local authority members will identify the lands that are there and the lands that are zoned, and the Deputy will know this because he has been through development plans. We are not talking about zoning additional lands and arbitrarily putting permissions on them. It might be useful for members to know...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: No, that is not what I am saying. Look at the interaction between existing zoned land and counties' own targets and the frustration, which I am sure is shared by some of the Deputy's own councillors and local authority members, that good developments cannot be brought forward because other developments have not happened and have not been activated. It is to allow for that flexibility and...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: We are looking and I have said that to members. It is important and it is something we can certainly look at as we are reviewing it. I would be very firm, however, that this is an area that needs to be looked at. It is a problem we could have in the future.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social Welfare Payments (20 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 334 and 335 together. The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a form of social housing support available for people who have a long-term housing need. Any household assessed as eligible for social housing is immediately eligible for HAP. Eligible households can source their own accommodation in the private rental sector which should be within the HAP rent...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Accommodation (20 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 336 and 337 together. My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Building Energy Rating (20 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 338 and 339 together. Since 2013, Exchequer funding has been provided through my Department's Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP) to support local authorities with the retrofit of local authority owned homes requiring insulation and energy upgrade works. Over the period 2013 to the end of 2023, local authorities received over €308 million in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Land Issues (20 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Tailte Éireann is an independent Government agency under the aegis of my Department. Tailte Éireann provides a property registration system, property valuation service, and national mapping and surveying infrastructure for the State. Under Section 8(6) of the Tailte Éireann Act 2022, Tailte Éireann is independent in the performance of its functions. I understand from...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (20 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Local Authority Home Loan is a Government-backed mortgage for creditworthy applicants who cannot get sufficient funding from commercial banks to purchase or build a home. It has been available nationwide from local authorities since 4 January 2022 for first-time buyers and fresh start applicants. The loan can be used both for new and second-hand properties, or to self-build. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (20 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Under Housing for All, the Government will deliver 47,600 new build social homes and 3,500 social homes through long-term leasing in the period 2022-2026. Our clear focus is to increase the stock of social housing through new build projects delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs). Social Housing is delivered through a range of local authority and Approved Housing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (20 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: In considering this matter it is in the first instance necessary to have regard to the relevant legislation to determine if the legislation makes adequate provisions for the issue at hand. In that regard, the Local Government Act 2001 (as amended) provides the elected members of a local authority with the statutory responsibility, power and functions to determine matters such as this. Under...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: State Bodies (20 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Tailte Éireann is an independent Government agency under the aegis of my Department. Tailte Éireann provides a property registration system, property valuation service, and national mapping and surveying infrastructure for the State. Under Section 8(6) of the Tailte Éireann Act 2022, Tailte Éireann is independent in the performance of its functions. I understand from...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (20 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Cost Rental is a form of rental tenure designed to assist a cohort of renters who face significant affordability challenges meeting high rents in the private sector and who are not eligible for social housing support. The core principle of Cost Rental is that the rents cover the development, management, and maintenance costs of the homes, so that the long-term future of the homes is...