Results 7,021-7,040 of 25,732 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The people whom I have visited in the constituency and estate right beside Oscar Traynor Road want homes for their sons and daughters. Deputies in that area who have made a virtue of finding any reason to oppose that development have to answer for themselves. I want to see progress and delivery. I want to see sites such as that on Oscar Traynor Road being developed for residents and young...

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Every measure that has been brought forward to help in home ownership-----

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: That is happening. Some 400 first-time buyers a month are drawing down mortgages, 41,000 are people getting the help-to-buy grant and 2,500 households, with that number growing every day, are able to buy their home through the first home scheme. The Deputy opposes every single one of those measures.

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Certainly not.

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I move amendment No. 1: To delete all the words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that Housing for All: A New Housing Plan is firmly focussed on re-establishing a sustainable housing delivery system capable of delivering for current and emerging needs and the Government: — is actively working to improve Ireland's housing system and deliver more...

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The Affordable Housing Act 2021 established cost rental on a national footing and underpins the affordable housing fund that allows us to deliver affordable housing to local authorities and to make that subvention on behalf of the State to make the homes affordable. The Social Democrats voted against that legislation as well. It opposed the first home scheme, which so far has helped, in...

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I did not interrupt Deputy Shortall once. The Social Democrats also opposed that. Another real assistance that helps first-time buyers is the help to buy grant, which is a rebate of a tax people paid to them to help-----

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----with their deposit. Some 41,000 households have been helped with that so far. Again, the Social Democrats opposed it. Every single measure brought forward-----

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Every single measure has been opposed by the Social Democrats. I have a lot of regard for Deputy O'Callaghan. If the motion he tabled is the first effort at Social Democrat housing policy and this is apparently the alternative to the most comprehensive housing plan brought forward by any government - it is the single biggest intervention by any government in the history of the State - it is...

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: We will do that by increasing supply and exiting more people from emergency accommodation into permanent, secure housing. In the last quarter of last year and the first two quarters of this year, we have seen more people exiting from homelessness into permanent social housing than we have seen since those records were collected. It is a good trend. We have also seen that there are many...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy Verona Murphy. In that instance, if we can help in any way to get those details directly to the Minister for Health, I will do so-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----and let him assess it. So if the Deputy can get those details through I will get that on to the Minister for Health for her. Deputy Durkan's point is well made and we will ensure that anything we can do, at Government and interdepartmental level, to ensure access to Castletown House, we will do. Deputy O'Connor has expressed frustration at continuing delays for NCTs, which we...

Gnó na Dála - Business of Dáil (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: On behalf of the Government I want to thank An Ceann Comhairle for those remarks and I wholeheartedly agree with him. I thank him for the swift action he has taken. There is not a word he has said that I do not agree with but I want to thank the staff here, the ushers and An Garda Síochána for the work they did so professionally yesterday. They went above and beyond; let us be...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I am aware of and have been kept up to date by officials on this dispute and the action proposed to be taken by Fórsa members in local authorities. These are local authority staff whom we all value and there is no question about that. There is a mechanism to deal with disputes and issues such as this with the LGMA and the union representatives. We are on the cusp of national pay...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy. It is certainly a curious arrangement that has raised a number of eyebrows, including my own. I will raise the matter directly with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform because his is the Department with responsibility for contracts and conditions of employment. Following the Deputy's intervention, I will speak directly to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy. I discussed earlier with Deputy Duncan Smith the same issue in a different part of the country. There are issues. I know the review of the school transport scheme is nearing completion. That needs to be done urgently and I have engaged with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, on the issue. Even though we are investing more in school transport now, some students...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. Táim sásta go bhfuil dul chun cinn beag ann anois. Cuirfidh mé an cheist ar aghaidh go dtí an tAire Sláinte faoi Áras Mhic Dara agus beidh mé ar ais chuici go luath.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy. The enhanced defective concrete block scheme is up and running and we are seeing an increase in applications every week. We want to ensure that finance is not a barrier for people accessing the scheme. I have also discussed the matter with the BPFI and the Department of Finance is involved. I have not seen the detailed proposal yet. I believe it has come in very...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: As the Deputy knows, just last week I visited Clonmel for the third time in 12 months.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (21 Sep 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: It was fantastic, and I was delighted to bump into the Deputy when he was doing a bit of work as well that day.