Results 5,741-5,760 of 25,732 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Referendum Campaigns (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I refer to my reply to Question No. 81 of 31 January 2024, which sets out the position on the matter.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department supports local authority fire and rescue services through setting general policy, providing a central training programme for fire service officers, issuing guidance on operational and other related matters and providing capital funding for vehicles, equipment and priority infrastructural projects. In Ireland, approximately three thousand two hundred highly trained...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government has developed the Cost Rental Tenant In-Situ (CRTiS) scheme for tenants in private rental homes who are at risk of homelessness because a landlord intends to sell the property, but who are not in receipt of social housing supports. The scheme was established on a temporary administrative basis from 1 April 2023 and is managed by the Housing Agency, pending further policy...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing Agency administers the Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund (HAAF), which has moved to a dual role to support both the ‘Housing First’ Programme and the new, pilot ‘Cost Rental Tenant in-Situ’ Scheme (CRTiS). The 'Housing First' Programme offers permanent housing to homeless people and then provides other supportive services to improve their quality of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing Agency is a non-commercial State agency under the aegis of my Department. The Housing Agency’s Projects, Procurement and Programmes (PPP) Team supports local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in housing delivery through the provision of specialist advice in a range of areas, including design, regulatory compliance, project development and procurement. My...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority administrative area is provided in the annual statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The most recently published summary for all local authority areas was conducted in November 2022 and is available on my Department’s website at the following link:...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme is a flexible and immediate housing support that is available to all eligible households with a long term housing need. Any household assessed as eligible for social housing is immediately eligible for HAP. At end Q3 2023, just under 115,000 HAP tenancies had been set-up since the scheme commenced, with 57,617 active tenancies being supported under...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Government Reform (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities 2023 Report on the Application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in Ireland made a number of recommendations, including to encourage Ireland's signature of the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority (CETS No. 207). The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible. My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector, including the monitoring of local government sector employment levels. To this...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Development Contributions (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Development contribution charges to be applied on developers are set at the planning permission stage but are not collectable by the relevant local authority until after the development work commences. Commencement notices are issued by the developer to the local authority and these generally trigger the raising of the charge. The normal practice is for the developer to issue a commencement...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Reviews (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I have committed to undertake a review of the baseline allocation. The LPT revaluation process was completed with updated data available in terms of the revised yield and, in addition, Census 2022 data was available for consideration. These circumstances facilitated my Department to set up a Working Group in 2023, to complete the promised review of the allocation of baseline funding. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Projects (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: The Narrow Water Bridge is a cross-border project led by Louth County Council and supported by the Shared Island Fund. The Bridge will link the Mourne Mountains in Co. Down with the Cooley Peninsula in Co. Louth, bringing tourism and economic benefits, and creating new opportunities and deepening connections between communities on both sides of the border. When complete, the bridge will...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All sets out the range of actions necessary to increase the supply of housing to the required 33,000 homes, on average, per year over the next decade. 54,000 affordable homes will be delivered between now and 2030 to be facilitated by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), the Land Development Agency and through First Home, which is a strategic partnership between the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Legislative Measures (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: A General Scheme of a Bill to update the Fire Services Act, 1981 & 2003 is being prepared within my Department. The primary purpose of this legislation will be to update the Fire Services Act, 1981 & 2003. The shape of the Bill has been considered on a number of occasions by the Board of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM). The Board is...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: On the 7 December 2023 I announced the successful applications that are approved funding under the Waste Water Collection and Treatment needs for villages without access to Public Waste Water Services. I can confirm that my Department recently wrote to Clare County Council, setting out the decision as regards funding and the next steps required for the projects referred to in the details...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: State Bodies (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Lands at the Department of Defence owned site at Columb Barracks, Mullingar was agreed by Government for transfer to the Land Development Agency (LDA) under Housing for All, with the potential to deliver approximately 100 new homes. I understand that an advisory group was set up in January 2021 to provide an opportunity for key partners to collaborate and advise the LDA in developing a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (13 Feb 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: At its core, Housing for All is about significantly increasing the supply of housing of the right type, in the right place, and at an affordable price. Since Housing for All was launched in 2021, there has been a substantial uplift in the amount of new homes being delivered, with some 29,750 new homes delivered in 2022. And, despite the significant economic headwinds over the past 12 to...