Results 6,681-6,700 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Housing Provision (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank Senator Burke for raising this matter. Under Rebuilding Ireland, a total of 50,000 social housing homes will be delivered out to 2021 for those individuals and families who need them the most. Cork City Council's housing programme is a key component of the Rebuilding Ireland plan. Only recently, I spent a day in Cork with the city and county councils discussing and exploring how we...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Housing Provision (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Senator for continuing to raise this matter with me and my Department. I ask all representatives in both Houses to do so where they have particular issues like this one and where there might be the potential to expedite the process by engaging with me. It is welcome progress for Cork. The numbers might seem small but, for the 134 families and individuals who will move into...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Nitrates Action Programme Review (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2014, as amended, give legal effect in Ireland to the Nitrates Directive and to our Nitrates Action Programme (NAP). In accordance with the Nitrates Directive, Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme is due for review this year.  Negotiations with the European Commission with a view to having a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 532 to 534, inclusive, and 548 together. It is a matter for each local authority, including Sligo County Council, to determine its own spending priorities in the context of the annual budgetary process having regard to both locally identified needs and available resources. The elected members of a local authority have direct responsibility in law for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payment (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a form of social housing support provided by all local authorities. HAP addresses many long standing issues raised by landlord groups in relation to the operation of Rent Supplement. The HAP payment is made directly to landlords on the tenant's behalf and all payments are made electronically - the landlord does not have to collect the rent. There are...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The first call for proposals under the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) was issued to all local authorities in August 2016 and 34 projects received preliminary approval in March 2017. Wexford County Council submitted one project under the call in October 2016, for the construction of the Whitemill/Clonard to Coolcotts inner orbital road in Wexford town....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Public participation is a crucial element of all substantive decision-making processes under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended and a requirement under the UN Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters as well as the EU Environmental Impact Assessment Directives in relation to certain types...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Data (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: 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 housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Rebuilding Ireland, the Government's Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, committed to increasing the target for tenancies by the 'Housing First' teams in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The allocation of social housing support is a matter for the relevant local authority in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated regulations. Section 22 of the 2009 Act requires all housing authorities, as a reserved function, to make an allocation scheme determining the order of priority to be accorded in the allocation of dwellings to households...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Charges Refunds (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Water Services Act 2017 (No. 29 of 2017), which was enacted on 17 November 2017, reflects the recommendations of the report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services, which was published in April 2017 and approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Act provides for the discontinuance of domestic water charges for dwellings as set out in the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Valuation Office (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 549 to 551, inclusive, together. Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015. The levying and collection of rates are matters for each...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Repossessions (12 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Information in relation to local authority repossessions of properties that were financed using a local authority home loan and which are now either repossessed, voluntarily surrendered or abandoned is available on my Department’s website at the following link, under the heading “Local authority repossessions”; . This data is not broken down by loan type. ...

Questions on Promised Legislation (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Report Stage of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016 has been ordered to take place in the Dáil this week. The Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, proposes to introduce an amendment in the Seanad that will include provision for data centres as part of the strategic infrastructure element of the Bill. We are working with the Whips office to see if we can get the...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Government recognises the housing affordability pressures faced by households, particularly those on low to moderate incomes, in parts of the country where housing costs and demand are highest. A number of measures have already been introduced to maximise and expedite housing supply and improve affordability. The latest housing activity reports indicate that the range of measures being...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Obviously, when we talk about affordability and what is affordable to an individual, it depends on their means. The Central Bank has income limits in place when it comes to taking out a mortgage. When we talk about affordability, we look at two aspects. We look at what is affordable for the developer or builder to be able to be build a house that can then be sold at an affordable price,...

Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Homes are being built, including new social housing homes. We have just published the quarter three status report-----

Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Just under 2,000 homes are about to go on site across 92 schemes, we have 3,660 homes on site across 191 schemes, and just over 1,400 homes have been completed across 147 schemes. Social housing homes are being built. We are rapidly increasing the number of social housing homes being built by local authorities and housing bodies over what was built last year and the year before last. This...

Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: -----but also people who need affordable homes. We are putting in every care and support we can into families in hubs, looking after the children. These families' experiences were one of the very first things brought to my attention on my appointment as Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, perhaps on the first or second day in the job. I have met with care workers working...

Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: -----moving into more suitable accommodation as a result.

Other Questions: Housing Provision (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I agree with the Deputy that builders in many parts of the country are experiencing difficulties in obtaining finance at an affordable rate to allow them to undertake projects that are viable and can deliver houses at prices people can afford. We have introduced a number of measures to help with construction and development costs in site development. For example, the An Bord Pleanála...