Results 561-580 of 6,997 for speaker:James Browne

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP) aims to retrofit a local authority home to a BER rating of B2. It is expected that 36,500 local authority owned homes will be retrofitted under this programme out to 2030. The programme has been devised in a way to give local authorities a level of flexibility when selecting properties to retrofit, ranging from those requiring minor levels of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The information sought is not readily available and its compilation would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work. In accordance with the Freedom of Information publication scheme, my department maintains a contracts register for contracts with a value in excess of €25,000 (excl. VAT). The register is published on an annual basis at . The 2024 contracts register is currently...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The information sought is not readily available and its compilation would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work. In accordance with the Freedom of Information publication scheme, my Department maintains a contracts register for contracts with a value in excess of €25,000 (excl. VAT). The register is published on an annual basis at . The 2024 contracts register is currently...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 517, 518, 567 and 568 together. The Tenant in Situ Acquisitions Programme was introduced by way of Government decision in 2023. It was originally intended as a short term response to the reported uplift in sales by landlords of homes which were within the HAP and RAS schemes in order to prevent potential homelessness where other solutions could not be found...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: All development proposals require planning permission unless they are specifically exempted under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended (the 2000 Act) or the supplementary Planning and Development Regulations, 2001, as amended (the 2001 Regulations). When a person submits a planning application for a house (including modular housing or log cabins) under section 34 of the 2000...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The Government has set ambitious housing targets for the period from 2025 to 2030. The measures introduced under Housing for All provide an excellent platform for delivery. The focus now is to achieve a further step-change and that will provide an uplift to 300,000 new homes by 2030. The measures under Housing for All are supporting innovation in construction to improve the pace and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: Pathway 4 of Housing for All sets out a blueprint to address vacancy and make efficient use of our existing housing stock. The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant introduced in July 2022, provides a grant of up to €50,000 for the refurbishment of vacant properties for occupation as a principal private residence and for properties which will be made available for rent. A top-up grant of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: State Bodies (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: Last year, my Department established a Building Standards Regulator Steering Group. The report of this group is available in full on the Department's website at the following link: . The Steering Group recommended that the Building Standards Regulatory Authority should: a. be an independent central competent authority, with the powers of a national Building Control Authority,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) is not available to individuals. It funds the Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector to provide cost rental homes through low-interest loans over 40 years up to a maximum of 55% of capital costs. Since its inception, CREL has funded 65 projects through five AHBs, delivering 1,175 cost rental designated homes up to the end of Q3 2024. All designated...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Supports (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The 2024 budget allocation was €242m and a supplementary budget of €143m was provided and fully expended by my Department to support housing authorities to provide homeless services. The suggestion by the Deputy that there was an underspend in the homelessness budget is not correct. My Department's role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Functions (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The Government has committed to establishing a Central Housing Construction Supply Unit in my Department to co-ordinate, monitor and track all major public sector construction projects to ensure accelerated delivery. Work is now under way to set out the structure and functions of the unit.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Local authorities also have a legal obligation to ensure that all of their tenanted...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 527 and 528 together. The objective of the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is to provide public off-site infrastructure to relieve critical infrastructure blockages. The scheme opened for applications in 2016 and 30 projects received final approval in late 2017 and early 2018. It is important to note the LIHAF scheme closed to new...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The Government is acutely aware of the housing challenges faced by many sectors of society. Housing for All, Ireland's housing plan to 2030, is the most ambitious and comprehensive housing plan in the history of the State. The Plan contains a suite of actions that have and continue to increase the provision of housing through accelerating supply and increasing the affordability of homes for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 531, 532 and 533 together. Government is fully committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver social, affordable and cost rental homes at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. This is underpinned by the decision by Government to provide additional capital funding of €450 million in 2025 to support housing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The recent enactment of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024, inserted a new Section 31A into Part 3 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021. This new section provides for Allocation Plans as an option for Cost Rental homes, as proposed by providers and approved at the discretion of the Minister. The implementation of Allocation Plans under the new Section 31A will be governed by new...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Reviews (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: Following the completion of a comprehensive review of Part B of the Building Regulations, the Building Regulations (Part B Amendment) Regulations 2024 were signed on 26 March 2024. The operative date of these Regulations is 1 May, 2025, subject to the transitional periods cited. As part of the review process, my Department undertook a public consultation between January and April 2023...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: 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 limits provided to them by the local authority. Each...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Immigration Policy (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: As outlined in my response to Parliamentary Question No. 450 of 18 February 2025, Government's revised housing targets are principally informed by research and modelling by the ESRI on projected population growth and forecast structural housing demand to 2040. The ESRI's work, which provides several scenarios for inward migration over the period, can be accessed at...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Ministerial Responsibilities (25 Feb 2025)

James Browne: The briefing material I received on commencing my role is published on my Department's website. The documents and links are set out below: 1. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage - Overview of Activities and Structure is available at: www.gov.ie/en/publication/2d816-department-of-housing-local- government-and-heritage-overview-of-activities-and-structure /. 2. Department...