Results 9,001-9,020 of 25,732 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department provides funding for the Housing Adaptation Grant for Older People and People with a Disability scheme, which is a range of grants for necessary improvement works or adaptations to houses, in order to facilitate the continued independent occupancy of their own homes by older people and people with a disability. These schemes cover works reasonably necessary for the purposes of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Legislative Process (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Details of sections of Acts, falling under the remit of my Department in the past ten years, for which a commencement order has yet to be signed, are set out in the attached table. Details of Acts, falling under the remit of my Department in the past ten years, which have review periods, are also set out at the link. /ie/oireachtas/debates/questions/supportingDocumentation/202...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. This includes an average of 10,000 new build social homes each year in the period to 2030. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 474 and 475 together. The Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Act 2022 was signed into law on 29 October 2022. The Act makes emergency provision to defer the termination dates of certain residential tenancies that fall, or would fall, during the 'winter emergency period', beginning on 30 October 2022 and ending on 31...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: It was agreed previously by Government that with effect from 1 January 2011, starting pay on recruitment from open competition for all posts within the public service should be at the minimum of the relevant salary scale. My Department issued Circular EL 02/2011 to all Chief Executives in the Local Government sector, following receipt of the Department of Finance instruction. Circular EL...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Monuments (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 477 and 478 together. I would like to make the Deputy aware that no such meeting took place.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: As with all locally delivered social housing, the management of the project at Colmcille Terrace, Granard is being overseen by Longford County Council, in this case working with Tuath Housing Association. My Department has met with both Longford County Council and Tuath on this project and we issued pre-tender funding approval in July 2022. I understand that the tender process has been...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Accommodation (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at a local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless accommodation and related services rests with individual local authorities. While responsibility for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The purpose of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the DCB Act) is to implement and give legislative underpinning to a series of measures to improve and enhance the current grant scheme, as agreed by Government on 30 November 2021. Pending commencement of the Act and the enhanced DCB grant scheme, applications can continue to be made to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 482 to 485, inclusive, together. Pathway 4 of Housing for All sets out a blueprint to address vacancy and make efficient use of our existing housing stock. Many areas of cities, towns and villages of all sizes face the blight of vacant properties, which, if brought back into use, could add real vibrancy and provide new accommodation in those areas....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 486 and 491 together. The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Since 2014, Exchequer funding has also...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 487 to 490, inclusive, together. Pathway 4 of Housing for All sets out a blueprint to address vacancy and make efficient use of our existing housing stock. Many areas of cities, towns and villages of all sizes face the blight of vacant properties, which, if brought back into use, could add real vibrancy and provide new accommodation in those areas....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Seaweed Harvesting (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department operates a consenting regime under the Foreshore Act 1933 (as amended), managing a range of different marine activities and infrastructural developments. Section 3 of the Act provides for the granting of a licence for the removal of or the disturbance of beach material on the Foreshore. Beach material is defined in the Act and includes in its definition “seaweed whether...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The First Home Scheme is managed and operated by the First Home Scheme DAC, and responses to specific queries in relation to activity and spend are a matter for the Scheme. Whilst data on activity by individual area has not to date been published by First Home, the scheme has confirmed 750 approvals nationally from launch in July 2022 to the end of December 2022. At its launch, the First...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Legislative Process (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The Wildlife (Amendment) Bill 2016 gives legal effect to the proposed reconfiguration of the raised bog Natural Heritage Area network arising from the 2014 review of the raised bog Natural Heritage Area network. The Bill had completed all stages in the Dáil and the Seanad, and had been returned to the Dáil for consideration of the various amendments made by the Seanad when the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 495 and 496 together. The First Home Scheme, launched on 7 July 2022, supports first-time buyers in purchasing new houses and apartments in the private market through the use of an equity share model. Further information is available at: www.firsthomescheme.ie. At its launch, it was announced by the First Home Scheme DAC that a review of price...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Services (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I understand that the Question refers to housing estates that are dependent on developer-provided water services infrastructure for the provision of their water services. My Department operates a multi-annual programme, the Developer Provided Water Services Infrastructure Resolution Programme (DPI), to provide funding for the progressive resolution of housing estates with legacy developer...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: A survey conducted by my Department in September 2022 identified that more than half of local authorities operate a Choice Based Letting (CBL) system, with 14 of these using an online system. I understand Laois County Council plans to introduce an online CBL system in the near future. While Offaly County Council has no immediate plans to introduce CBL, my Department continues to liaise...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Wildlife Regulations (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The pine marten has lived in Ireland for thousands of years. However, following decades of persecution and habitat loss, the pine marten was almost extinct by the 1960s. The protection of the pine marten under the Wildlife Acts and then the EU’s Habitats Directive, together with the banning of strychnine and the expansion of forest habitat, has allowed the species to recover. The pine...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (18 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All sets out the range of actions necessary to increase the supply of housing to the required 33,000 homes, on average, per year over the next decade. 54,000 affordable home interventions will be delivered between now and 2030 to be facilitated by local authorities, Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), the Land Development Agency (LDA) and through a strategic partnership between the...