Results 9,101-9,120 of 14,981 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 (5 Oct 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I would like to make an information request as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 (5 Oct 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: My request is concerned with allowing us to fully understand this proposed legislation. Regarding head 4, it was mentioned several times that it has withstood the scrutiny of a series of court decisions. I am interested in that aspect and I ask Mr. Kelly to send the committee a note with more explicit information in that regard. I refer in particular to situations where any of those court...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 (5 Oct 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am sorry, but I have a question. I presumed that we would have had the opportunity to have a second pre-legislative scrutiny hearing with external bodies. I just automatically assumed that we would have had at least one other session.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 (5 Oct 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Given the significance of this matter and the issues arising, and the fair degree of consensus in this regard, I think it would be helpful if we could at least discuss this issue at our meeting on Tuesday. I believe that one more session will be required given the scale of the issues involved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 (5 Oct 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Could I make a compromise suggestion?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 (5 Oct 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I do not wish to delay this proposed legislation in any way, but only a small number of us have been here for this meeting. In that context, we discussed previously the possibility of having a meeting of the committee on a Friday in exceptional circumstances. I do not think it would be right for us to do this pre-legislative scrutiny report without at least having had one session with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 (5 Oct 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Sure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 (5 Oct 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: We can discuss this as a committee, but my understanding is that while we have agreed a general programme, we only have meetings definitively tied down for Tuesday and Thursday of next week. We are hoping to start Committee Stage of the Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021 on the following Tuesday, but that has not yet been confirmed. My understanding is that we have no committee meeting this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 (5 Oct 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: That was a relatively uncontentious Bill and we have not been fined almost €20 million as a consequence of related matters. This Bill is of a different order.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021 (5 Oct 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I do not agree with that. I will make a counter-proposal, during private session next week, that we hold a second PLS session and the committee can then decide, by way of a vote if necessary.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (30 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: 194. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when he plans to meet a group (details supplied). [47353/21]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: 92. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason his Department is using the public spending code as an excuse for not directly funding Dublin City Council to develop the site at Oscar Traynor Road as a fully public housing development in the most cost-effective and affordable manner. [46717/21]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: 90. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is committed to introducing some form of redress mechanism for homeowners with defective homes in Budget 2022 arising out of the ongoing work of the independent working group examining the issue of defective housing. [46716/21]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: As the Minister is aware, the programme for Government includes a commitment to "examine the issue of defective housing in the first twelve months of Government, having regard to the recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing report, 'Safe as Houses'". That report included the call for a latent defects redress scheme for homeowners who are affected by fire safety and water...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: The difficulty is that, from memory, the Minister announced the working group in September 2020. He appointed the Chair in January or February. The group did not have its first meeting in March. A lot of time was wasted because, in my view, officials from the Minster's Department were trying to impose very restrictive terms of reference. That is a matter of public record. Thankfully, we...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Nobody is asking the Minister to put pressure on the group to rush the report; it is the very opposite. However, interim measures could have been considered. For example, for over two years now, the Construction Defects Alliance has been calling for access for homeowners who have had to pay those levies of €10,000 to €20,000 to the same treatment as private landlords currently...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Minister for his response. The difficulty for many on this side of the House is that for a long time we advocated for rent certainty when that was the right policy but rents have now risen so high that a rental increase of 2%, 3%, 4% or possibly 5% is not sustainable, particularly for renters who have experienced a more than doubling in the cost of renting in the past decade....

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Minister. The crucial point is that the clock is ticking and that this was entirely foreseeable. In fact, I was not the only Deputy on the Opposition benches to say when the legislation was brought forward in May that this was likely to happen. If the Minister brings forward such a measure, it will get the support of the Opposition and, therefore, I urge him to bring it forward...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: 88. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the changes he plans to make to the rent pressure zones if the harmonised index of consumer prices hits and breaches 4%. [46715/21]

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Rental Sector (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: When the Minister introduced legislation to link rent reviews to the harmonised index of consumer prices, HICP, he said that inflation was running at approximately 0.4% in the previous four months. Of course, in the month the legislation was enacted, rental inflation was 1.9%, thereafter went up to 2.2% and is now at 3%. What will he do to ensure that if inflation continues to rise, people...