Results 8,141-8,160 of 8,873 for speaker:Batt O'Keeffe

Fire Services: Motion (Resumed) (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: ——to the provisions of the 1981 Act which, after all, was passed into law by the Dáil.

Fire Services: Motion (Resumed) (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: I remind the Members of the House who have referred to risk assessment that a risk-based approach to fire cover standards is one of the projects being advanced under the fire services change programme. When that project has been completed, it will help the fire authorities to carry out a risk analysis in their functional areas when determining the cover and resources which are needed. I can...

Fire Services: Motion (Resumed) (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: Such suggestions are not accurate. All of the recommendations made in the Stardust report received full and careful consideration and were either implemented or taken into account as fire safety policy was formulated and local authority fire services were developed in the intervening period. Very significant improvements have been made in all areas of the fire service. Investment has been...

Local Authority Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: The local authority tenant purchase scheme was first introduced on a national basis in 1973 and the scheme in its current form has been in operation since 1995. The current scheme allows tenants who have been resident in a local authority house for a minimum period of one year to apply to their local authority to either purchase the dwelling outright or acquire it by way of shared ownership....

Local Authority Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: We hope the Bill will be put in place in early 2008. There are very complex issues relating to it. The Government is committed to introducing changes in the tenant purchase system. We must also take account of the advice from the Office of the Attorney General. There are certain issues with which the officials from the Attorney General's office are not satisfied. Officials from my...

Local Authority Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: I want to ensure that I am not misquoted. The Office of the Attorney General is not causing a blockage. There are complex legal issues that must be overcome. It is incumbent on the Attorney General and on my Department to ensure that, when the legislation is introduced, it will stand up to scrutiny. We want to be absolutely certain that, when the legislation is introduced in 2008, it will...

Local Authority Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: That information is never published.

Social and Affordable Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: The Minister does not intend to pursue that matter at present. The matter has not been examined by me to date. I have been, since taking up office, familiarising myself with the brief. I will undertake to examine the matter and to report directly on it to the Deputy. In terms of the Government's overall strategy in this area, it is important to point out that the needs of some 140,000...

Social and Affordable Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: Two questions were asked. The Government has been innovative in terms of the provision of social and affordable housing. A whole range of new mechanisms have been introduced to address the problem. The introduction in early 2008 of the miscellaneous housing Bill will provide further initiatives including, incremental purchase by tenants of local authority houses. Measures to address the...

Social and Affordable Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: The provision of affordable housing is a key priority for the Government and is a key element of the "Paths to home ownership" component of the Government's housing policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities. Significant progress has been made in increasing delivery under the range of affordable housing mechanisms currently in place, including the shared ownership scheme, the...

Social and Affordable Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: That surprises me. It has not come to my attention.

Social and Affordable Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: Already, through Part V, site subsidy is achieved by virtue of the fact that land components of the cost of homes reflect only the existing use value, that is, the agricultural value of sites. Under the affordable housing initiative, the site subsidy is achieved. The process is in place. Under the 1999 affordable housing scheme, a site subsidy can be provided by the Department where...

Social and Affordable Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: ——including the city of Dublin and for Dún Laoghaire Rathdown, Fingal, south Dublin and certain parts of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. In the cities of Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway there is a subsidy in place and sites are being taken up. However, I will take up the issue with my officials and report back directly to the Deputy.

Social and Affordable Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: Obviously, what happened in 2005 and 2006 was unsustainable. There was a frenzy, with people afraid they would not get on the property ladder. They bought property and the amount of finance made available led to price inflation. That could not be sustained. From the point of view of people in the market at present, it is time the Construction Industry Federation learned again how to sell....

Social and Affordable Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: I will investigate this and will report back directly.

Social and Affordable Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: I will give a commitment to Deputy Naughten to investigate and report back to him. With regard to the point made by Deputy Barrett, I did not have the housing brief in the last Government when Deputy Gilmore was a spokesperson on housing and the environment. One place mentioned because no effort was made to provide housing there was Dún Laoghaire. The funny thing is that when the...

Social and Affordable Housing. (10 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: I asked the affordable housing partnership to report back to me on how we can have better delivery mechanisms and how we can better equip ourselves to obtain houses in the areas Deputy Barrett mentioned. The report is due to be given to me this week and we can discuss this matter in further detail at a later time.

Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (9 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: Expenditure under the social housing and traveller accommodation programmes by Kildare County Council and Athy Town Council is set out in the table below: Kildare County Council 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 to date1 â'¬ â'¬ â'¬ â'¬ â'¬ â'¬ Social Housing2 23,998,000 10,761,200 14,048,792 29,755,708 32,532,432 33,745,741 Traveller Accommodation 730,904 101,408 176,249...

Written Answers — Local Authority Housing: Local Authority Housing (9 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: The information requested is not available in my Department. However, the Local Authority Housing Needs Assessment 2005 shows that there were a total of 6,624 Non Irish Households on the waiting list. A breakdown of these by local authority was published in my Department's Annual Housing Bulletin for 2005, which is available in the Oireachtas Library and on my Department's website at...

Written Answers — Private Rented Accommodation: Private Rented Accommodation (9 Oct 2007)

Batt O'Keeffe: Following on a commitment in the partnership agreement Towards 2016, a comprehensive Action Programme to promote improvement in standards of private rented accommodation is being undertaken. An important element of this Programme is the updating of the existing standards regulations, in consultation with local authorities and other relevant interests. This work is progressing and I envisage...