Results 7,801-7,820 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Other Questions: Voluntary Housing Sector (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I take Deputy Ó Broin's point. We need to be sensitive as we approach this because we are talking about voluntary bodies in many cases. We need to make sure they are working together in a consistent and co-ordinated fashion as much as possible. I hope the regulations will help to provide a framework to do that, in the interests of ensuring the type of consistency mentioned by the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Issues (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Pillar 5 of the Government's Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness is specifically focused on utilising existing housing stock, with a key objective of ensuring that the existing vacant housing stock throughout the country and across all forms of tenure, in both the public and private sectors, is used to the optimum degree. In this regard, action 5.1 of Rebuilding...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Issues (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Deputy is absolutely right to focus on vacant homes and the vacant homes strategy. As we discussed earlier, if we are to solve the problem we are currently facing, it is not just about bringing online new builds but also managing the existing stock that we have. That figure of 180,000 or 190,000 vacant homes in the country does not include holiday homes. People sometimes wonder. Some...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Issues (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Deputy must bear in mind that we are talking about private property. If we are going to approach this we must do so in a way that is going to work. I have already begun consultations with the Attorney General and the Minister for Finance as to different measures that we can undertake. The publication of the strategy may be delayed for certain reasons of which the Deputy is aware....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Issues (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I do not have a figure for the allocated funding that has been spent so far on the repair and lease scheme. I have asked for that figure and am awaiting it. I have spoken to the housing bodies and to the Housing Finance Agency and the Housing Agency. The Deputy will be aware that there is legislation coming in the autumn in respect of the regulation of housing bodies. Once we have that in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: House Prices (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I said ESB connections; I did not say completions. I said when I took over this brief we would stop calling ESB connections completions because they are not completions. However, any ESB connection is a good sign because it shows a new family or an individual will move into that property, whether it is new or has not been occupied for two years. It is a positive indictor. I accept it is...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Emergency Accommodation Provision (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness provides for early solutions to address the high number of households in emergency accommodation. These include the delivery of increased social housing supply through new-build, acquisition and refurbishment schemes and independent tenancies for homeless households in the private rented sector through housing supports, such as...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Emergency Accommodation Provision (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I have complete confidence in the family hubs and in the way they have been set up, designed, built or retrofitted, and in the people who are working there and bringing community care into those facilities. I have also complete confidence in the Dublin Region Homeless Executive and its ability to carry out inspections in those facilities to make sure they are up to scratch. I would say to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Emergency Accommodation Provision (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I had the opportunity to speak to a number of families in the hubs. They confirmed to me they were much happier in the hub than they were in the hotel because of the shared play facilities and the cooking facilities. They could cook a meal and have it on their own without having to have their children in their arms, which they had not been able to do previously but they do so now because of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The aim of the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, is to relieve critical infrastructural blockages to enable the accelerated delivery of housing to address the shortage of supply in urban areas. The Exchequer funding under LIHAF goes directly to the local authority which will procure the infrastructure through normal public procurement. The State receives a dividend in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: It remains to be seen what will be agreed by different local authorities in respect of the sites that are being developed or opened up thank to the LIHAF funding. It is important that the local authorities use that funding to leverage as much affordability as they can. Obviously, there is optionality open to them. Whether we are considering Cherrywood or any other site, we have to bear...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: We need to be clear when we talk about the purpose of the fund. LIHAF exists to facilitate investment by the local authorities of taxpayers' money to ensure pieces of land can be opened up for the development of housing. We need to bring that supply of housing online. We also have to cater for different price points. It goes back to a point that Deputy Boyd Barrett alluded to earlier in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: House Prices (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The residential construction sector in Ireland was severely impacted by the economic downturn, with housing output falling by almost 90% between 2006 and 2013. It is unsurprising, therefore, that the lack of housing supply and the lack of a competitive market are widely accepted as being primarily responsible for driving the high levels of house price and rental inflation that we have seen...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: House Prices (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Given the fall-off in construction which happened during the crisis from 2006 and 2013 that I alluded to, obviously supply is the crucial factor in terms of stemming inflation. As we have huge demand and do not have enough stock to meet that demand, we therefore have to increase supply across a number of fronts. Increasing supply means different things. Of course, it means building new...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Action 4.6 of the Rebuilding Ireland action plan provided for the introduction of an affordable rental scheme to enhance the capacity of the private rented sector to provide quality and affordable accommodation for households currently paying a disproportionate amount of disposable income on rent. Provision was made for €10 million per annum to be allocated through my...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: It is not a source of regret. It is a better use of resources to use our State-owned lands in this way to try to leverage affordable rent and affordable buy models and to have that €10 million to allocate to other areas where need arises. A recent example is when we had to allocate an additional €10 million to try to accommodate 200 more families who presented as homeless in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: With regard to the active management of local authority lands, the Rebuilding Ireland map was published in April this year. There is potential, if one looks at those lands and where they are located, for 50,000 new homes, which is significant. It is a very important part of what we want to deliver. We facilitated a workshop in the Department on last Monday, 10 July, to get the ball rolling...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: To be clear about amendment No. 11, permissions which would have lapsed after July 2016, when the plan was published, can be reactivated under the provisions of this Bill, but they must apply within six months of the commencement, which is when the President signs the Bill. We have addressed the substance of amendment No. 15 when speaking about other amendments. The purpose of this Bill...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Absolutely. In 2021, the ability to have a second extension falls out of law completely. The onus is on the local authorities and the discretion is with them as to the length of extension they grant. That is how it should work, because they are closer to the development and they will have better knowledge as to what is needed.

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2017: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Jul 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: To answer Deputy Ó Broin's point about the article he cited and the potential impact in that regard, no, that is not the case. We do not believe there is a legal risk regarding the points Deputy Ryan made about the Aarhus Convention. In some ways this is related to amendment No. 12, which we will discuss in a moment. There is the idea that one could potentially open up a situation...