Results 9,641-9,660 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Topical Issue Debate: Foreshore Licence Applications (22 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Officials from my Department intend to meet representatives of the offices of the Chief State Solicitor and the Attorney General in the near future. I will check that the issue is followed up as quickly as possible.

Topical Issue Debate: Foreshore Licence Applications (22 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I thank Deputy Pearse Doherty for raising the matter. I know of his interest in it. He referred to a number of parliamentary questions on it. Proposals for activity and development on the foreshore vary greatly in terms of their nature, scale and complexity, and the time required to determine applications varies accordingly. There is a long and complicated history to this. The...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation (22 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: In accordance with the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, statutory responsibility for the assessment of the accommodation needs of Travellers and the preparation, adoption and implementation of multi-annual Traveller accommodation programmes, designed to meet the accommodation needs of Travellers, rests with individual housing authorities. My Department’s role is to ensure...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant Funding (22 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I announced details of capital allocations totalling € 38.4 million to local authorities under the suite of Grants for Older People and People with a Disability on 16 January. I have increased the level of funding available for the grant schemes by 12% in 2014. Every local authority will receive increased funding for grants compared to the initial allocation in 2013. Dublin City...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: NAMA Social Housing Provision (22 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department, the Housing Agency and NAMA continue to work together with housing authorities and approved housing bodies towards identifying suitable NAMA housing units and bringing them into social housing use. It continues to be my Department's objective to maximise the delivery of social housing using all of the resources available. By the end of December 2013, of the 4,374 units...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: NAMA Portfolio (22 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: My Department, the Housing Agency and NAMA continue to work together with housing authorities and approved housing bodies towards identifying suitable NAMA housing units and bringing them into social housing use. It continues to be my Department's objective to maximise the delivery of social housing using all of the resources available. To that end, I have contacted each housing authority...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Provision (22 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: In 2013 my Department provided funding of over €6 million to Kildare County Council in respect of their social housing investment programmes which included €3.64 million for the purchase of properties to meet housing need. This year, in addition to the funding levels set out in the Abridged Estimates 2014 in respect of my Department’s social housing investment...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Unfinished Housing Developments (22 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Budget 2014 contains a special provision, in the form of a targeted €10 m Special Resolution Fund (SRF), to further assist in addressing the legacy of unfinished housing developments. The Local Government (Household Charge) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 prescribe such developments, 58 of which are located in Co. Kildare. The SRF has been proposed to encourage the resolution of...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Regeneration (22 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I refer to the reply to Question No. 500 of 15 January, 2014 which sets out the position on this matter.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I presume Kilkenny has a larger population than Laois.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: We used a fair formula based on the general population plus a weighting for our older population to allocate additional amounts to each local authority.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: If I did not ask the local authorities to provide 20% of this funding, I would have less money to go around. This is a way of trying to ensure we have as much money as possible for a limited fund and we want the money to go to those who most need it. The upper limit for the disabled person's grant is €30,000 while the threshold for the elderly person's grant has been reduced from...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Local authorities need to address that issue in terms of how they manage the funding they receive. As far as we are concerned, we make the allocation as fair as we can. Local authorities make different decisions about how they spend that money.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am just telling the Deputy about it.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Also, the local authority should have a site resolution plan for the estate so the Deputy might take the issue up with it. This is a positive story and we are making very steady progress in this regard. With regard to the issue of homelessness, we will maintain the same amount of funding this year, €45 million, so there is no reason to believe the midlands in particular should have...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: I have several more questions to get through. Deputy Humphreys raised the issue of the shortage of RAS units. There is a difficulty, particularly in the Dublin area, with regard to the responsibility of the Minister for Social Protection for rent supplement accommodation and RAS. We will keep it under review. The intention is the funding we have this year will provide for a further 2,500...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: In some parts of the country it is very difficult-----

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: -----to get rented accommodation.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: Deputy Humphreys also asked about RAPID. We will examine it to see whether there is an issue. It crosses between my responsibilities and those of the Minister, Deputy Hogan. The €15 million carryover about which Deputy Humphreys asked will go into the general construction programme. I stated there was €65 million for local authorities, with €35 million through the...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Jan O'Sullivan: There are very different patterns. Some local authorities turn over houses very quickly and others very slowly. If there is nothing to be done, the local authority should reallocate the house as quickly as possible. This fund is for houses which need a lot of work and where the local authorities tell us they simply do not have the money to do it. It is a separate €15 million which...