Results 6,701-6,720 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Other Questions: Housing Provision (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: As the Deputy will be aware, traditionally large developers would have had access to finance; therefore, I would not expect them to approach HBFI for it. Home Building Finance Ireland is a new entity that will provide finance for small builders and developers throughout the country at competitive commercial rates of interest to enable them to build more homes at affordable prices. We have a...

Other Questions: Housing Provision (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: LIHAF 2 will bring about the provision of affordable houses. Some 10,000 units have gone through the pre-consultation and the An Bord Pleanála fast-track process. All of these measures have been put in place to try to remove some of the last impediments to building more homes more quickly and at more affordable prices. They will start to come on stream towards the end of this year and...

Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for this question. One of the key commitments made in Rebuilding Ireland is that we will support homeless families and children to exit homelessness into independent tenancies. For homeless families residing in emergency accommodation, the long-term solution is to increase and accelerate the supply of homes. Rebuilding Ireland seeks to achieve this and in the period to...

Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I should be held to account because it is my responsibility to get these families and children out of homelessness into permanent secure homes.

Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I have visited a number of the family hubs where I met a number of families who were previously in hotel accommodation. Yesterday Focus Ireland launched two very important reports on the experiences of homeless families and families that had exited homelessness into family hubs and the impact it had had on them. I accept that the target of mid-July in taking families out of hotels was not...

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Eligibility (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The social housing assessment regulations 2011 prescribe maximum net income limits for each housing authority in different bands according to area, with income defined and assessed according to a standard household means policy. The income bands and the authority area assigned to each band are based on an assessment of the income needed to provide for a household's basic needs plus a...

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Eligibility (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I share the Deputy's concern and his desire to get the report completed as quickly as possible. When I said it would be delivered in the first half of 2018, I did not mean that it would be done in seven months' time. We want it to be done as quickly as possible. We have been engaging with the Housing Agency, which is doing this work, to get the report done as quickly as possible. I...

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Eligibility (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I understand and respect the Deputy's commitment to the issue and to his constituents who are in this very difficult situation. It is difficult to know what assessments are being done in individual cases. I do not yet know what the review will conclude and it is not clear to me if it will recommend an increase in the bands or, if such increase is recommended, how much that might be. We...

Other Questions: Local Authority Housing Eligibility (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I am aware the Deputy raised that matter previously and I discussed it with my officials. It has been communicated to the Housing Agency, which is conducting the review.

Other Questions: Housing Provision (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: As announced in budget 2018, my colleague, the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, intends to establish Home Building Finance Ireland, HBFI, to provide funding on market terms to viable residential development projects whose owners are experiencing difficulty in obtaining debt funding. Officials from my Department have met with Department of...

Other Questions: Homeless Accommodation Provision (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Peter McVerry Trust is an excellent organisation and is one of our partner organisations, which we fund to provide services for people who are homeless. Among the new facilities we were to open before the middle of December is one in Cabra, which is run by the trust and is already open. It is a very fine facility that is going to help a number of people into sustainable long-term...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Building is happening at quite a dramatic scale. When I publish the figures for the work we have done on the social housing side for this year it will show us exceeding almost all of our targets. We also have ambitious plans for 2018. I ask the Deputy not to casually question the Department's numbers. This is important-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Of course it is important to ask questions when we publish the data, but it is also important not to casually think we may have a problem with numbers.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: We publish our numbers regularly.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: We publish our numbers regularly. We think it is important that we all work from the same data. With regard to flexibility around the HAP payments, of course there is flexibility to go to an additional 20% above what the HAP allows for in terms of market rent. In Kildare, this has happened in approximately 39% of cases, and payments have gone to 14% above what was the rent at the time....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: All of these indicators are positive in terms of increased activity.

Other Questions: Homeless Accommodation Provision (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I express my sympathy and condolences to the family of the lady who passed away in Cork yesterday. On the night of 7 November 2017, a total of 184 individuals were recorded as sleeping rough in Dublin. As I have said previously, no person should have to sleep rough on our streets or be without shelter at any time of the year. At last September's housing summit, I emphasised the need...

Other Questions: Homeless Accommodation Provision (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: We have a crisis when it comes to homelessness and the Taoiseach has spoken about this on a number of occasions. Every time a person dies while rough sleeping I am notified. I am one of the first people to be notified about the circumstances of the death. It is a very difficult phone call to take, I can assure the Deputy of that. This is why I have made a commitment, and we are following...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Policy (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: When we talk about what we are trying to do with the guidelines and standards for apartment development and new types of living we are not just talking about the immediate crisis. We are actually making sure that we can future-proof the growth of the country out to the 2040s. This ties in with the national planning framework which is being developed at the moment. It is my intention to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Policy (7 Dec 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I believe people would be happy to live in a bedsit as long as they had exclusive access to their own washing facilities.