Results 5,721-5,740 of 6,937 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: Amendment No. 220 calls for a definition of affordability that is not based on a price just below the prevailing market price or rent but based on the income of the purchaser or tenant. I fear, in respect of rents and prices just below the market value, that affordability would be defined based on small discounts on the full market price. Deputy Boyd Barrett is entirely correct in stating...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: The issue I have with the Minister's response regards alignment with the Affordable Housing Bill. That Bill does not define "affordability" in terms of income and ability to pay. Instead, it re-envisages affordable housing as a percentage discount off a full market price for a home or rent. The fundamental issue is we have to have housing available that is affordable, not something that is...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I am speaking to my amendment No. 224. I agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett. I will be supporting his amendment and I hope it passes. These references should be taken out. If his amendment does not pass, the one I am proposing should be considered. It says that, in terms of setting a price, the Minister shall have regard to income, ability to pay and affordability. It is quite incredible...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Housing Issues (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: 136. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider prohibiting the use of funds allocated through the Irish Strategic Investment Fund and Home Building Finance Ireland for the construction of homes that are then sold onto investment funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29002/21]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: 163. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the plans to improve regulation of short-term lets that are under consideration; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28999/21]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Issues (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: 162. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if any independent analysis of the cost of home building in Ireland has been carried out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28998/21]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: 164. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans that are under consideration to tackle vacancies in the housing stock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29000/21]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Supports (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: 165. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the action that has been taken to urgently address the number of persons who have become homeless and who have died since the beginning of 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29001/21]

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I wish to raise one matter first, if that is okay.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: If a division is called, can sufficient time be given for all of us to get back to our offices to be able to participate in the discussion? I need about five minutes to get to Agriculture House. I have booked a room in the Leinster House 2000 building to avoid the problem but I do not have a working Internet connection from there. I hope it will be working from next week. I am requesting...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: This is the bit I do not understand. The case has not been made, and no rationale has been offered, as to the reason we would want to build homes at full market price on public land, or what the advantage is of doing that. We have a huge demand and crisis in terms of housing affordability. We need to be using public land to deliver affordable and social housing. That is abundantly clear,...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I have tabled amendments No. 240 and 258. I hope the Minister will accept amendment No. 240. Rather than putting the focus on housing alone, the amendment suggests that housing has to be developed in the context of sustainable development and creating sustainable communities. That is very important. I cannot see any reason the Minister would not accept this amendment. We should be...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: If parties were agreeable to this, we could have 1,200 affordable and social homes being delivered quickly in Donabate. If we are to get the kind of delivery we need, selling off that land to a private developer and not getting those badly needed 1,200 affordable and social homes is hugely regressive in terms of what needs to be done. The Minister stated the amendments in this group,...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I support that proposal from Deputy Ó Broin. We have a general housing crisis at the moment, but the housing crisis which is affecting Travellers is especially severe, not just in terms of conditions. We also see that Travellers are greatly over-represented in the number of people who have become homeless. Given that the LDA is, and will be, dealing with such a large amount of public...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I will support the amendment. It is very important and it has to be included in the legislation. If it is not, we run a high risk that it will just be something the LDA does not do because it will say it is not specifically in its remit and it is not listed in the legislation. We will then be reliant on individuals in the management of the LDA, on its board or whatever to ensure this is...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (26 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: 10. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that addresses matters relating to equality last met. [28337/21]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (26 May 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: In respect of the work on equality, I want to ask the Taoiseach about the report just published by the Ombudsman for Children entitled No End in Site – An investigation into the living conditions of children living on a local authority halting site. In that report, Traveller children describe their living conditions as hell and say that because of these living conditions, they feel...