Results 961-980 of 2,262 for speaker:John Cummins
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: I am referring to a specific scheme in which I have seen the modelling and it simply does not work on the €75,000. It will probably work on the €100,000 and it will deliver 22 two-bed homes in Waterford city for rent, which is something that is just not in the rental space in Waterford city at the moment. I take it that Ms Timmons will take that observation away. If I...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: -----awaiting something from the Department. I would appreciate if Ms Timmons could clarify what that may be.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: I will pick up where Deputy Cian O'Callaghan has left off. The single-stage process is not being used because all the risk is on the local authorities. If they say a project is going to deliver, for example, 50 units and put in a cost for those 50 units that turns out to be less than the actual cost, they are on the hook for the difference between their initial estimate and the final cost...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: Is that the case?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: The key part of what Ms Stapleton said was that review is possible if the costs are justifiable. Financial officers within local authorities do not know what is going to come out. When they receive envelopes containing four tenders for a project, if they are lucky, they do not know what is inside those envelopes. They do not know if the Department is going to call a particular cost...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: That was the follow-on point I was going to make. The Department does accept the outcome of the market process when a project has gone through the four-stage approval process. Why would the Department not accept the market process at completion of the single-stage approval process?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: Would I be right in saying that is not set down clearly in a circular to local authorities?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: Would I be right in saying it is not set down in a circular?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: It is not set down for them in a circular.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: Ms Stapleton and I both know that unless something is set down in a circular to local authorities - something that directors of services, chief executives or finance officers can put their hands on, which states the Department is underwriting a project on the basis that it has gone through a market process and gone out in an open and transparent manner - it is not there. All the assurances...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: It is.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: That is absolutely the feedback I have been getting. I am aware of all the changes we have made to the four-stage approval process and welcome all of them. There is no question but that the single-stage approval process has the ability to get quicker delivery on the ground but there cannot be risk on the local authorities because the second there is, they will not take it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: Perfect. That would be exceptionally useful. If anything were to come out of today's session, if that were to come out of it it would be a really welcome step. Leasing was one my lines of questioning to all the local authorities, not only in the context of the repair-and-leasing scheme but also in the context of general leasing. I believe it was a mistake to withdraw leasing as a method...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: Yes. I do not agree with it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: Has the 2024 figure been indicated to the local authority sector or-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: Is it 1,000 for 2023 and 2024-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: -----or 1,000 for each of 2023-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: So no consideration is being given to a further uplift in that figure of 1,000 at the moment.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: I ask, particularly in respect of that targeted element, that consideration is given to that because it is a quicker method of delivering units which, specifically, are targeting people who are homeless. The ability to deliver that one-bed and two-bed accommodation in urban locations is hugely valuable. That is what has been done in my local authority area with the repair-and-leasing scheme...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing for All: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (18 Apr 2023)
John Cummins: I can come back in, Chair, when Deputy Gould is finished.