Results 8,321-8,340 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Emergency Accommodation Provision (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Section 2 of the Housing Act 1988 sets out the requirements for a person to be regarded as homeless by a housing authority for the purposes of the Act.  Section 10 of the Act provides that a housing authority may provide assistance to a homeless person, including emergency accommodation or lodgings, which the housing authority may arrange itself or which may be operated by a State-funded...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Motor Tax (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Motor tax for pre-2008 cars is based on engine size.  The basis of charging from 2008 onwards is on carbon dioxide emissions. With the exception of some categories of vehicle that have a low annual rate, motor tax can be paid on an annual, half-yearly or quarterly basis.  The rates applicable for the half-yearly and quarterly options are 55.5% and 28.25% of the annual...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Government Reform (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Expert Advisory Group review on Local Government Arrangements in Galway is carrying out detailed examination and planning in relation to local government arrangements in Galway arising from the 2015 report of the Galway Local Government Committee (published in October 2016), which unanimously recommended the establishment of a new unified “Greater Galway Authority”.  An...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: State Bodies Code of Conduct (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: All State Bodies under the aegis of my Department have submitted confirmation of their compliance with obligations under tax law for 2015. In respect of the 2016 year the timeline for the submission of such confirmation does not expire until the end of June 2017.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Rent Controls (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: My Department has initiated a review of the Rent Predictability Measure. At this stage, the measure has been in place for 6 months and data from the Residential Tenancies Board’s Rent Index Report for Quarter 1 2017 is also available.  Using this latest data, it will be possible to ascertain the effectiveness of the Rent Predictability Measure and whether any changes need to be...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant Funding (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Allocations in respect of the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability have been made to local authorities, for many years, based on their levels of contractual commitments. Local authorities were encouraged to maintain continuity in approving and paying grants and therefore, commitments carried forward into the new financial year had first...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016.  The Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme.  In line with the commitment given in the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, a review of the first 12 months of the Tenant...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation Standards (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Strategy for the Rental Sector, published in December 2016, recognises that the quality of rental accommodation is critical to the success and sustainability of the residential rental sector and its attractiveness as a long-term accommodation option for households.  A key commitment in the Strategy was to review the regulations governing minimum standards in rented...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: My predecessor as Minister, in conjunction with Mr. Denis Naughten T.D., the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, recently announced a "preferred draft approach" to the review of the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines, focusing on noise, setback distance, shadow flicker, engagement with local communities, community dividend and grid connections. A...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Water Pollution (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The primary responsibility for ensuring the prevention of pollution rests with the local authorities, which are in turn supervised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for this purpose. The Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts 1977 and 1990 carry a general prohibition on the entry of any polluting matter to waters. Any persons causing or permitting polluting matter to enter waters...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Provision (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: As part of the response to the commitment contained in Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness that, by mid-2017, hotels will only be used as emergency accommodation in limited circumstances, housing authorities are delivering a number of family-focused, supported temporary accommodation facilities (Family Hubs).  Family hubs are an important first response for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Proposed Legislation (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Future Funding of Domestic Water Services was published on 12 April 2017 and approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Government approved the priority drafting of a Bill to give effect to relevant recommendations set out in the Committee's report on 30 May 2017. My Department is working with the Attorney General's...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: I propose to take Questions Nos. 2257 and 2264 together. Action 18 of the Strategy for the Rental Sector requires the establishment of a Working Group to provide clarity in relation to the appropriate regulatory approach, from a planning perspective, for short-term tourism-related lettings to address unintended consequences of short-term lettings, including withdrawal of supply from the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Data (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Housing Data Analytics Group, convened by my Department, met for the first time on 3 May 2017 and is due to meet again on 5 July. The Group is made up of key stakeholders with a significant role and interest in housing matters. At its initial meeting, the Department presented the current position with regard to the housing statistics it publishes and the Central...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Data (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The Housing Agency did not have any funding requests for the purchase of vacant homes refused in 2016 or 2017. Under Actions 1.1, 2.5 and 5.6 of Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, the Housing Agency is actively and positively engaged with banks and investment companies in relation to its acquisitions programme. €70m is being provided in 2017 to the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Funding (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: Social housing construction projects undertaken by local authorities are ordinarily funded in full by my Department.  There could be rare situations where a local authority may wish to undertake additional works to a housing development from within its own resources, but this would be very much the exception.   If there is a specific project of interest, I will have the matter...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Constituency Boundaries (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The most recent review of local electoral areas was carried out from November 2012 to May 2013 by a Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee established under the Local Government Act 1991.  Unlike the position for Dáil and European Parliament constituencies, there is no constitutional or legislative requirement for the revision of local electoral areas. The Programme for a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: With the commencement of the provisions in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014, the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is considered to be a social housing support and consequently, households in receipt of HAP are not eligible to remain on the main housing waiting list. Acknowledging that households on the waiting list who avail of HAP might have expectations that they would...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Data (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The following are the average costs for the range of differently sized social housing units as sought by the Deputy, in terms of both construction costs and ‘all-in’ costs. These are based on the analysis of returned data from tendered social housing schemes over an extended period. Construction cost is reflective of building costs (including VAT) and also includes normal site...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Departmental Staff Relocation (20 Jun 2017)

Eoghan Murphy: The information requested in respect of requests for transfers to offices outside the Dublin region is set out in the table below.  No costs were incurred in any such moves. Year Number of applications for transfers outside Dublin region. 2014 3 2015 1 2016  3 2017 0 Total 7