Results 8,921-8,940 of 26,783 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: With regard to affordable purchase and specifically the issues relating to Cork, Cork City Council has done a good job in leading there, as has Cork County Council quite significantly. There were issues with conveyancing on some of the initial cost-rental homes. There was the same issue in Lusk in north County Dublin. It had to be worked through. I have just seen a note that states 183...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The Affordable Housing Act was passed in 2021 and these were in the first batch of affordable properties. Any delay is not to be welcomed. To give more detail, I cannot give a guarantee to anyone about a mortgage lender or a private bank that is lending. Any lending institution or mortgage institution that is lending for a State-backed affordable home, where the State is in many instances...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: No, I am not going there. It is going to the city council.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The time has elapsed but I ask the Chair to allow me 30 seconds to respond. The decision that we took to bring in the eviction moratorium was to provide additional space to provide more accommodation. We did this with more than 6,000 new social homes in the last quarter of last year. The tenantin situ scheme was expanded to at least 1,500 and there is also the cost-rental backstop. There...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I meet the chief executives of the local authorities on a regular basis, including the chief executive of Cork City Council and others throughout the country. All of our local authorities are fully tooled up to provide support for tenants. I will conclude on discussing the reason we did not extend the ban. Deputy Gould's party called for three different extension dates. Extending the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government's job is to take the correct and responsible decisions even if in the short term they are not the most popular decisions. A further extension of the moratorium would make the medium to long-term situation even worse.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: It has to be ramped up for the supply.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Every effort and every measure will be put in place to assist people who need it. We are increasing supply across the board even though there are regular objectors to the schemes that are there. We have people who say they are for home ownership and they do not want the help to buy grant or the first home scheme. There are all of these issues and people should look at it in the round. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I will let the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell, come in on both. It is welcome to see Longford advancing with the affordable housing scheme. There were those who said that affordable housing, through the affordable housing fund, was restricted to certain counties; it is not. We have seen scheme come through in Mayo, Wexford and right the way across. I am delighted to hear the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy. He has outlined the deficiencies and without question, we have €6 billion in capital being invested through Uisce Éireann throughout the country. In Athlone, €114 million is planned. I will go straight to Limerick now. I brought forward the €50 million unserved villages fund. We asked each local authority to submit to us schemes where they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: That is a fair point. There are two things to say about cost rental. We want to scale it up. I welcome the discussion today. One of the measures on the cost-rental viability measure will help to do that and could be transformational. When visiting Delgany with the Cathaoirleach, and many other developments, we meet people who are getting into those homes. It makes a big difference for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: No question. The planning exemptions are pretty clear. The process is relatively simple. We have published the Part B draft fire regulations. That took a significant amount of work with stakeholders. A lot of this will allow us to unlock the space above shops in particular and older homes. That is out for public consultation now. I do not know whether the committee has looked at it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: It is a 12-week consultation and we are coming towards the end of it. We had considerable engagement with stakeholders. I do not expect any surprises to come back in from the public consultation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The Deputy mentioned that last point to me earlier in the week. We will look at that. We have had models of funding, for example, with the refuges that we have worked on. We have changed our funding model to make sure we are funding the whole scheme, including ancillary rooms etc., which would not have been funded previously through the capital assistance scheme, CAS, but the HSE then...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Ms Stapleton dealt with this last week, but I want to seek the single-stage process used more. I was saying it when I was sitting in committee. It is being used more than it was, but not enough.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: We have given an assurance we will pay the tender price and the message needs to be strengthened.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: We will. I have no issue with doing that and we will do it. The other thing is if one uses the design manual the four-stage process is basically a three-stage one. Within the Department and with our partners we work to get people in the room together and picking up the phone instead of writing to each other. Some of the issues that arise between a local authority and the Department, or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: We have 1,000 units identified between this year and next. As the Senator knows, we still have leasing targets with Housing for All. We want to build more that we own. The 1,000 units we got approval for are targeted at our homeless cohort and preventing people from becoming homeless in ones and twos. About 500 to 600 of those have been delivered and the remainder will be delivered next...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: We have had many discussions in the Dáil on leasing and value for money. I agree with the Senator that what we want is people in a safe and secure home rather than a hotel. Fortunately, the build numbers are coming up substantially. Leasing plays a role.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Resumed) (25 Apr 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Yes, and we gave one.