Results 6,021-6,040 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Priority Questions: Rental Sector (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Following the issuing of a circular by my Department to local authorities last year, we are very close to a set of recommendations coming to me in approximately six weeks or by mid-April. At the same time, Dublin City Council is carrying out a study on short-term letting and we are reviewing the proposals from the joint committee's report. I have read those proposals and support many of...

Priority Questions: Rental Sector (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: It is probably worth noting that legislation will more than likely be required. When that legislation is ready, we can move with it as quickly as possible in this House because both the Deputy and I support the objective of home sharing and the shared economy with the great benefit it brings our tourism industry, cultural exchange and people who let their home while on holidays themselves to...

Priority Questions: Housing Issues (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. Project Ireland 2040 signals a significant policy shift towards securing more compact and sustainable urban and rural development, which requires significantly more effective land management in key development areas. Against that background, it is proposed to establish a national regeneration and development agency to assist in ensuring a more effective...

Priority Questions: Housing Issues (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: A lot of consideration has gone into this initiative by the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform and me. One of the key principles in Project Ireland 2040 is compact growth, which means that 40% of the 1 million extra population will be in the cores of our villages, towns and city centres. With regard to strategic land banks in our main cities such as the north quays in...

Priority Questions: Housing Issues (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Rebuilding Ireland has yielded results. The figures for 2017 show that the number of homes that came into the social housing stock was far greater than anticipated over the course of 2017. The figures also show a significant ramp up in the commencements of building homes and the applications for planning permissions. Each of those headline figures tells us that Rebuilding Ireland is...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payment (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The increased rent limits introduced by the Government in 2016, together with the additional discretion available to local authorities to exceed the maximum rent limit by up to 20%, are allowing HAP households to find suitable accommodation. On average in 2017, 350 additional tenancies were supported by HAP each week, with over 33,000 households currently having their housing needs met under...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 44 and 79 together. The compulsory acquisition of land at Three Trouts, Charlesland, Greystones, by Wicklow County Council was the subject of an independent review by a Senior Counsel that was commissioned in June 2012 by the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. This review was undertaken following representations made by three...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Emergency Accommodation Provision (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 50, 51 and 57 together. One of the key commitments contained in Rebuilding Ireland is to cease the use of hotels for accommodating homeless families except in limited circumstances. I am absolutely committed to this objective. Hotels are not a suitable or secure form of accommodation for families and especially for young children for anything other than a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Government acknowledges the affordability pressures faced by some households with low to moderate incomes in particular parts of the country. It is precisely for that reason that the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessnesshas prioritised the supply of new and more affordable homes. Importantly, all housing construction activity indicators are moving in the right...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Against the background of the affordability pressures which exist in the rental market, particularly in certain areas, the Government is determined to make affordable or cost rental a major part of the Irish housing system. Under this approach, rents are set at levels to recover the construction costs and to facilitate the management and administration of developments, but with...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Planning Framework (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 54, 71, 712, 715 and 734 together. The National Planning Framework(NPF), published together with the National Development Plan(NDP) as part of Project Ireland 2040on 16 February 2018, sets out an ambitious high-level national vision for Ireland for 2040 and provides the framework and principles to manage future population and economic growth over the next 20...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 55 and 56 together. Social housing need, is in the first instance, a local issue and local authorities must respond to the nature and extent of that local need by devising and implementing appropriate targeted proposals that best fit the specific needs in their areas. For that purpose, my Department has put in place the structures and funding required for the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Services (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has been responsible for delivering public water services, which includes responsibility for infrastructure such as water supply or drainage pipes extending from a waterworks or wastewater works to the curtilage of a private property. Under sections 43 and 54 of the Water Services Act 2007, responsibility for maintenance and replacement of any pipes,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 61 and 64 together. The 2016 Annual Progress Report on Unfinished Housing Developments, published in March 2017, highlighted that the number of ‘unfinished’ developments had reduced by over 85%, from just under 3,000 developments in 2010 to 420 developments in 2016, with 248 developments resolved in 2016 alone. Funding of the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Social Housing Public Private Partnership (PPP) Programme involves an investment with a capital value of €300 million. It is to deliver 1,500 social housing units in total, via three bundles. The first bundle, as referred to by the Deputy, comprises a total of six PPP sites, and will provide over 500 units in the Greater Dublin Area. The tender documents were issued to the three...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 prescribe maximum net income limits for eligibility for social housing support for each local authority, in different bands according to the area, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard Household Means Policy, published by my Department. The income bands and the authority area assigned to each band are based on an...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rural Resettlement Scheme (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Government's Action Plan for Rural Development: Realising our Potential, has a clear objective of working across Government Departments to deliver a co-ordinated group of strategies and actions to ensure the success of vibrant rural communities across Ireland. My Department works closely with the Department of Rural and Community Development on rural housing issues. In relation to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Repair and Leasing Scheme (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: The Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) was initially piloted in Carlow and Waterford and the pilot has been rolled out nationally since 23 February 2017. The scheme is one of a suite of measures available to local authorities to bring vacant properties back into use. Since the national roll out, my Department has been working intensively with local authorities and Approved Housing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 68, 70 and 77 together. Under Action 18 of the Strategy for the Rental Sector, my Department established a Working Group in June 2017, with representatives of all major public stakeholders with a policy interest in short-term lettings, including from the Department of Finance, to develop guidance in relation to planning applications,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (27 Feb 2018)

Eoghan Murphy: Social housing projects funded by my Department, like all publicly-funded construction projects, must comply with the Government’s Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF), the objectives of which are to ensure greater cost certainty, better value for money and financial accountability. While there are nine points of review within the CWMF, my Department has combined these to just...