Results 7,681-7,700 of 8,873 for speaker:Batt O'Keeffe
- Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (29 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: There is no provision at present in the voluntary housing schemes for the purchase of individual houses by tenants. However, the Government's housing policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities, indicated that consideration would be given, in consultation with the voluntary and co-operative sector, to piloting a tenant purchase scheme for some new voluntary homes based on the...
- Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (29 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: Following receipt of the Liberty House proposal, my Department wrote to the local authority on 4 December 2007 expressing concerns regarding the value for money represented by the proposal and whether the appropriate tenure mix would be achieved, and highlighting the need for a clear development strategy for the remaining blocks. These issues were further discussed with the local authority...
- Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (29 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: Under the terms of the Disabled Persons Grant Scheme, my Department recoups 66% of the expenditure on individual grants to local authorities. Information on local authority activity under this Scheme for the years 2000 to 2006 is published in my Department's Annual Housing Statistics Bulletins, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library and on my Department's website,...
- Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (29 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: The Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability Scheme, which is administered by local authorities, was introduced on 1 November 2007. The Scheme replaces the old Disabled Persons Grant Scheme with the aim of providing targeted and more equitable support to assist people with a disability with their accommodation needs. The types of work grant aided under the Scheme may include...
- Written Answers — Local Authority Funding: Local Authority Funding (29 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: Earlier this year my Department asked local authorities to indicate their capital requirements and proposals for the funding of their own 20% contribution for the operation, in 2008, of the Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability Scheme, the Mobility Aids Scheme and the Housing Aid for Older People Scheme. The combined capital allocation to local authorities represents not a...
- Written Answers — Social and Affordable Housing: Social and Affordable Housing (24 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: I refer to the reply to Question No. 414 of 22 April 2008. The income and loan limits applying in relation to local authority housing loans are currently under review.
- Written Answers — Social and Affordable Housing: Social and Affordable Housing (24 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: The Government's housing policy statement, Building Homes, Sustaining Communities, signalled the intention to introduce an incremental purchase scheme. The objective of the proposed scheme is to make it possible for households with incomes lower than those required for affordable housing to gain access to home ownership, through making new local authority housing available for purchase by...
- Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (24 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: I refer to the reply to Question No. 557 of 31 October 2007. My Department has not yet received a copy of the report in question.
- Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (23 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: Local Authorities have discretion under Section 11 of the Housing Act 1988 in the allocation of individual houses to meet the needs of particular cases. Regarding the approaches to downsizing, I have no plans at this time to issue a directive to local authorities; however, in the context of the Government's statement on housing policy, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities, I will...
- Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (23 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: My Department has given approval to a remedial works project at Vartry Heights in Roundwood. The local authority expect to tender for the works in the coming months. Approval has also been given to the local authority for firestopping works at Sycamore Drive and Mountainview Estates in Newtownmountkennedy. Funding is to be provided from the authority's internal capital receipts and works...
- Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (23 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: I refer to the reply to Question No. 537 of 11 March 2008. The working group comprises representatives of my Department and Dublin and Cork City Councils but has the option, depending on the issues to be discussed, of inviting representatives of other local authorities to attend group meetings.
- Written Answers — Private Rented Accommodation: Private Rented Accommodation (22 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 provides for a registration fee of â¬70 per tenancy where it is registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board within one month of the tenancy's commencement. â¬50 of each â¬70 fee is used to create a pool of funding from which allocations are made to local authorities to assist them in carrying out their functions in relation to private rented...
- Written Answers — Planning Issues: Planning Issues (22 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: A review of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, undertaken by my Department in 2002 in consultation with a wide range of interested bodies including local authorities and representatives of the house building industry, professional institutes and voluntary housing providers, concluded that greater flexibility in the operation of the Part V mechanism was required. The review was...
- Written Answers — Private Rented Accommodation: Private Rented Accommodation (22 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 84, 103 and 111 together. Standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 1993, made under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these regulations. Failure to do so is an offence, subject,...
- Written Answers — Strategy on Homelessness: Strategy on Homelessness (22 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 85 and 95 together. Reflecting the Government's commitment to tackling homelessness, a revised strategy on adult homelessness is currently being finalised. The new strategy will amalgamate and update the Integrated Strategy on Homelessness (2000) and the Homeless Preventative Strategy (2002), and will build on the recommendations of the independent "Review of...
- Written Answers — Private Rented Accommodation: Private Rented Accommodation (22 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 87 and 96 together. My Department provides significant resources from the proceeds of tenancy registrations collected by the Private Residential Tenancies Board, to assist local authorities in discharging their functions under the Housing Acts in relation to private rented accommodation. The provision of additional funding towards the costs involved is a...
- Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (22 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: Record levels of funding for social and affordable housing are being provided in 2008 with over â¬2.5 billion available for housing programmes generally. The total Exchequer provision for social housing in 2008 is some â¬1.57 billion â an increase of approximately 13% on the 2007 outturn. This funding will allow for the commencement of a significant number of new social housing units,...
- Written Answers — Social and Affordable Housing: Social and Affordable Housing (22 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: Local authorities may provide sites at low cost to assist persons in need of housing to provide for their own housing. Such housing may be provided either individually, with the help, if necessary, of the other social housing measures including shared ownership, local authority house purchase loans, mortgage allowance, etc. or collectively, through the voluntary housing schemes, special group...
- Written Answers — Private Rented Accommodation: Private Rented Accommodation (22 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: I propose to take Questions Nos. 99 and 100 together. A lease is defined in the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 as an instrument in writing, whether or not under seal, containing a contract of tenancy in respect of a dwelling and, therefore, comes within the jurisdiction of the Act. Tenancy registration is a matter for the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), which is an independent...
- Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (22 Apr 2008)
Batt O'Keeffe: The minimum standards for rented accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations, 1993. These regulations apply to local authority and voluntary housing units as well as private rented accommodation and local authorities have responsibility for the enforcement of the regulations in relation to all properties â local authority, voluntary and private....