Results 761-780 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Some €2.4 billion was spent on housing this year. It is the largest amount a Government has ever spent in a single year on housing. That is our commitment to public housing. The Deputy does not understand how the build programme works because, in 2018, the exact same claims were made in quarter 1, quarter 2 and quarter 3 that we would not meet our build targets. By the end of 2018,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: We were 3% shy in the context of more than 4,000 homes. The Deputy is claiming today we are nowhere near our targets. I am telling him we are close to them and we will know by the end of the year whether we achieved them. It was the exact same narrative last year and it proved to be untrue. The Deputy can stop telling his untruths, stop spinning and get his ideology out of the way because...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. The Galway social housing task force, which I established earlier this year, has held four meetings to date. It is working to improve and accelerate social housing delivery in both of the Galway local authority areas. Galway County Council and Galway City Council have a combined target of just over 2,000 social housing homes to be delivered through...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the follow-up questions. She is correct that Galway needs help and that is why we put the task force in place. Those minutes will be published but the priority has been to get the task force to work on different sites and schemes so we can see delivery. We know the task force model works because we developed it and deployed it in Cork. Let me give an example of what...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Data (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 85 together. Earlier this year, I published the 2019 targets for social housing delivery on a local authority basis and by delivery mechanism, including build, acquisition, leasing, housing assistance payment, HAP, and rental accommodation scheme, RAS. Each quarter, I publish details of progress against those targets and the outputs for the third...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I welcome that the Deputy has recognised that the delivery of affordable housing is coming and is welcome under Rebuilding Ireland. It is happening now and we are on sites. Obviously we want it to happen more quickly but with cost rental in particular we must make sure the finances add up. We would not want a person securing a rent for ten or 15 years or for longer, only to then find that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for his follow-up and clarification. The Enniskerry Road project is a very interesting example of how complicated the delivery of cost rental can be. It does not have to be. This is why we are working on a national policy framework, and we have a working group set up to do that. This is also why the EIB is involved and it means we can something that is a bit more...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: -----but I take the Deputy's point that people can get less than what they applied for and there is a bigger gap to fill when making up the difference. Even the 10% requirement can be structured so that only 3% of it has to come from the person's savings. There are further mechanisms to assist there. Ultimately, when we consider the approval of a Rebuilding Ireland home loan it is linked...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Local Authority Rates (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Right.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Spending Code (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: My Department provides advice to local authorities on an ongoing basis to support them in delivering social housing projects, including undertaking cost-effectiveness analyses in respect of high-value projects. Local authorities have primary responsibility for evaluating, planning and managing their public investment projects under the public spending code. Against this background, my...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Spending Code (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Any confusion around the matter was cleared up earlier in the year. The draft documentation can be used to carry out the cost-effectiveness analyses. The reason we do such analyses rather than cost-benefit analyses is that we consider social housing projects. We determine them in different ways and it is a question as to whether it is a better way of delivering the project, not whether the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Spending Code (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I have examined the projects the Deputy outlined but the delay is not with us. It is up to the local authorities to do the work-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Spending Code (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Local authorities are great at pointing the finger-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Spending Code (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: -----at the Custom House, but whenever I investigate individual cases, I find that the truth lies somewhere else. They have the draft guidance to work to and know how to do the work. We have helped them in every way we can and will continue to help them through the process. The change that is coming, which will be announced later, is welcome. They will still have to do the analysis - that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Delivery of more affordable homes to rent or buy is a priority for the Government and my Department has developed a range of measures to assist local authorities to provide homes of this nature, which are being utilised at the three sites referred to by the Deputy. In relation to Clonburris, which will provide 8,000 homes, the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, and the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for his follow-up question. To be clear, in the meetings the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and I attended, our understanding was that there was an agreement to look at reviewing the public spending code to see if we could. The review has been completed and it was discussed by the Government yesterday.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: That is a coincidence, but it is helpful that it was concluded yesterday so I can answer him today in this way. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will make an address on this matter later this morning. It is pertinent to the next question tabled by Deputy O'Brien as well in terms of the cost-evaluation programmes. Local authorities do not want this and the proof is in the fact that 280...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: We are getting back to building social housing. Next year we will build more homes for social housing than were built in any of the past 20 years, including any of the boom years. That is very important. We can do that because of the work that we did in the initial stages of Rebuilding Ireland and it is because of the reforms that we continue to make to the approval process that we can do...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Yes, perhaps the following one. That would be helpful. I thank Deputy O'Brien.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing (11 Dec 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. The review of the public spending code, carried out by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, was considered by the Government yesterday. The code is the central framework for the control and governance of all public expenditure activities, including social housing construction projects, where our responsibility is to ensure value for money in...