Results 8,681-8,700 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The intention, which I share, of amendments Nos. 41 and 42 is very positive, but some of the proposals in these amendments are not under my remit. The specific reference in amendment No. 41 to the Domestic Violence Act 1996 comes under the stewardship of my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality. While I am happy to discuss what is proposed in this amendment with her, I...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I gave an undertaking in the Dáil that I would report back to the Cabinet committee after the end of the first wave of the HAP scheme. I will honour that and will report to the Cabinet sub-committee on the implementation of the HAP scheme. There are already significant structures in place to ensure the HAP scheme is properly managed with regard to development, implementation and...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I will reply to each amendment individually as they are quite detailed. The effect of section 53 is to meet a person's housing need on a continuous basis by providing a mandatory rental deduction facility whereby the person does not fall into arrears, which would also have the effect of reducing financial liability for local authorities for rent arrears. Where a mandatory direct deduction...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Again, I accept the principle of what the Senator is trying to achieve. Nevertheless, it replicates a provision in the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, namely section 134, which requires the landlord of a dwelling to apply to the PRTB to register the tenancy of any dwelling. It is the statutory function of the PRTB under section 144 of that Act to ensure that tenancies in the private rented...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I must oppose this amendment. Aside from the disproportionate administrative burden that this would place both on the Department and on housing authorities, it must be accepted that the main focus of any rental limit review process is to ensure that pricing of maximum rental limits does not distort the market, while at the same time providing opportunities for tenants to acquire...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I accept the point that both Senators Reilly and Hayden make on the difficulty people have in accessing affordable rent in the private sector, and particularly those in receipt of rent supplement. As Senator Hayden mentioned, we are examining what controls can be applied to rent. There is a limited amount of control now and a landlord with an agreement with a tenant cannot increase rent by...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The purpose of prescribing the appropriate period in regulation, as opposed to primary legislation, is to allow if needed for flexibility to change the period set if it becomes impractical. I am of the view that two refusals, the current general rule, is a reasonable number so as not to disadvantage other households on the waiting list from being offered available accommodation by the...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The purpose of prescribing the appropriate period in regulation, as opposed to primary legislation, is to allow, if needed, for flexibility to change the period set if it becomes impractical. While I accept the principle of the Senator's proposal to ensure there is minimum disruption or confusion for the household concerned, this must be balanced against practicality for the housing...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I will answer Senator Zappone's question about the transfer list first. It was indicated to me in the Dáil that County Kildare does not have a transfer list. It is the only such local authority I know of but there may be others. If one applies for a transfer in Kildare, one is on the housing list in some way. It seems to me to make more sense that there would be separate transfer and...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I appreciate that Senators expressed genuine concerns. Similar concerns were expressed in the Dáil regarding people on HAP not losing their position on local authority waiting lists. I want to be as clear as I can with regard to that issue. Senator Reilly's first amendment deals with particular situations, such as where somebody is evicted due to unaffordable rents, and her second...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Section 25 provides for the sale to a tenant by a housing authority of a house under Part 3, which includes the determination of the purchase price of that house. That sale is subject to certain terms and conditions, including conditions relating to occupation of the house as the normal place of residence of the purchaser or a household member, proposed changes to the status of the house in...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Is it in regard to the last two amendments?

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Which amendment is it?

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I replied to the two of them together at that time.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am sorry. This is to do with where a local authority agrees to the disposal. I think I did reply to that.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The first part of amendment No. 13 proposes to insert a new subsection (1A) into section 44 of the Act of 2009 in what would appear to be an attempt to extend the incremental purchase arrangements for newly-built local authority and approved body houses of Part 3 of the 2009 Act to existing local authority and approved housing bodies. The proposed amendment is unnecessary insofar as it...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Yes.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Senator is seeking to ensure that the local authority would source the houses for the HAP, and the consequential amendments are all related to that. That would be difficult for the local authorities to do insofar as at present those who are on rent supplement source their own accommodation. It would result in potential HAP recipients not being able to avail or take advantage of...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I would say I have been more proactive than any Minister before me on empty houses. This practice has been going on for years. For the first time, we have decided to tackle the issue and to allocate specific amounts of money for those requiring major works. Significant work has to be done on some of those houses, some of which have been lying there for years and are a blot on the landscape...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: These amendments duplicate an existing enactment in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Section 13 of the 2009 Act provides that capital moneys accruing to a housing authority from a number of sources, including the sale of a dwelling under the old tenant purchase scheme provided by the 1966 Act, or the two incremental purchase schemes provided for in the 2009 Act, will be...