Results 8,701-8,720 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

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

Jan O'Sullivan: I will respond to the general issue first. Senator Reilly is right to be concerned that local authority houses are allocated as quickly as possible after they become vacant. With regard to Senator Mooney's request, I will get the figures for him. There is a significant number and there are big variations among local authorities. Some local authorities leave houses idle for more than a year...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: I must respond to the comments made by Senator Reilly, specifically on her amendment.

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

Jan O'Sullivan: There has been progress with the NAMA properties. Local authorities have said that some of the NAMA properties were unsuitable but we have asked them to look at them again because times have changed and there is a different type of person who needs housing. In the past that person might have thought certain properties were unsuitable but he or she may think otherwise now. We have asked the...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: These amendments would require the Child and Family Agency to be notified of every excluding order application in respect of a person less than 18 years old and multi-agency involvement as a prerequisite for the making of such an order. The granting of every excluding order involves striking a balance between the rights of the respondent and the rights of the local community. The...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: I have had a general discussion with the previous Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the current Minister on issues to do with young people and housing, for example, young people leaving care when they turn 18 and the specific issues that arise. We have discussed a wide range of issues, but regarding this one, as the Minister is relatively new in the job, the discussions are at a...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: This amendment relates to a new section 29A proposed to be inserted into the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 that empowers the Minister to prescribe amendments to the terms of existing local authority tenancy agreements that are consequential to new or existing legislative provisions. It would not be appropriate to limit the application of this new section to procedures for...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: I am willing to do so if people feel it is necessary. I will certainly look at it. I know from my experience, and discussions we have had in the Dáil, that public representatives frequently accompany somebody to a housing department, as do people from voluntary housing associations and other people whom a tenant trusts. If there are suggestions this might not be facilitated I am...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: The tenancy warning is a formal legislative measure with a particular purpose. In this regard a statement of the supports available to tenants is not appropriate in the statutory warning. I will add to the existing procedures of housing authorities to deal with instances of anti-social behaviour in their housing stock. The purpose of a tenancy warning is to inform a tenant that a condition...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: Housing authorities already manage their rent systems in accordance with existing good practice, the development of which involved the Department and the County and City Managers Association. These guidelines deal comprehensively with the various aspects of rent management through rent assessment, collection and accounting and have a particular emphasis on rent arrears prevention and...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: The provision proposed by Senator Reilly is similar to the provisions in section 7(3)(c) which states a tenancy warning relating to anti-social behaviour must indicate that if the breach is repeated within 12 months the authority may apply for either a possession order in respect of the dwelling or an excluding order against the person engaged in such behaviour. The reference to an excluding...

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

Jan O'Sullivan: I believe a blanket provision to permit local authority tenants to have an authorised delegate in all their dealings with the local authority would hinder and delay the normal process of landlord and tenant communications that tenants are generally well able to handle themselves. Housing authorities engage with third parties speaking on behalf of tenants who clearly need assistance in this...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: There are two types of house purchase loan available from local authorities: standard annuity loans targeted at lower income first time buyers and loans under the Home Choice Loan scheme which are available to qualifying middle income first time buyers. The terms and conditions governing the operation, including eligibility terms, of annuity mortgages and the Home Choice Loan are set out...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Regeneration Projects Expenditure (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Over the period 1999 to date, over €755 million has been recouped by my Department to Ballymun Regeneration Limited (BRL) in respect of the physical, social and economic regeneration of Ballymun. This has facilitated the construction of over 1,800 replacement homes in Ballymun. Of the original 36 high rise blocks, 33 of these have been demolished to date with the remaining three tower...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Derelict Sites (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: In line with the recommendations of the Government's Construction 2020Strategy, I am currently exploring measures to incentivise the use and development of vacant sites in urban areas. However, with regard to the provisions of the Derelict Sites Act, I am satisfied that this legislation is sufficiently robust and have no plans for its amendment at present. The administration of the Derelict...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Under article 29 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, any person or body, on payment of the prescribed fee, currently €20, may make a submission or observation in writing to a planning authority in relation to a planning application within 5 weeks beginning of the date or receipt by the authority of the application. It is a matter for the person or body making the...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments Administration (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Limerick City and County Council was identified as the lead local authority to drive implementation of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) in the local government sector, including the delivery of an administrative pilot which is currently underway to test certain elements of the scheme in advance of the necessary legislation being enacted before the end of the Oireachtas summer session....

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Capital Programme Expenditure (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: In response to my Department's request earlier this year for submissions under the new capital funding programme for returning vacant local authority houses to productive use I allocated €15 million across all local authority areas for the refurbishment of some 952 properties. Funding was allocated on an equitable and evidence based system, adjudicated and weighted under select...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Mortgages (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: There are two types of house purchase loan available from local authorities: standard annuity loans targeted at lower income first time buyers and loans under the Home Choice Loan scheme which are available to qualifying middle income first time buyers. All applicants must complete a housing loan application form which can be downloaded from the relevant local authority 's website. The...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments Administration (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: The approval by Government in July 2013 of the introduction of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) also included approval for the provision of funding to local authorities to cover the cost of accommodating HAP households and meeting the administration costs of the scheme by way of a funding transfer from the Department of Social Protection (DSP). The timing and scale of this transfer is to...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Issues (8 Jul 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 524 and 525 together. My Department does not hold information on the allocation of social housing supports to households on the waiting list, whether by local authority housing or other accommodation provided by an authority. The allocation of such support is a matter for each authority in accordance with its allocation scheme made under the Housing...