Results 9,881-9,900 of 26,787 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Like Sinn Féin's guys.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Deputy Gould would probably object to it.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputies for their questions which I will go through starting with Deputy Conway-Walsh, if the other Deputies do not mind. As I mentioned earlier, and as I discussed with both the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, a very small number of properties under the defective concrete block scheme may have had work done already. What I said about...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 88, 101, 103, 114, 138, 158, 161 and 220 together. I thank all the Deputies for their questions and the number of Deputies asking shows how important this matter is in relation to legacy defects. I know Deputies of all parties and none have been working hard on this. We know there are significant legacy defects in a large number of apartments and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I will refer to a couple of the examples used by the Deputy. He mentioned the paying down of local authority debt. Does he know why they are doing that? There are encumbered sites throughout this country that have not been able to be developed for the social housing the Deputy says he wants because the local authorities have been carrying a very significant debt, some of them for up to two...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: On the delivery of our affordable housing programme, I remind the Deputy that he and his party voted against the Affordable Housing Act. For the very people who are living with their folks-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----later than they would like to, we have now provided avenues for them to get into home ownership. That is why 16,700 first-time buyers were able to buy their own homes in the past 12 months, many of them through the first home scheme, which had more than 800 approvals. Again, the Deputy's party opposed that scheme. Many of them used the help-to-buy grant that gives them €30,000...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----in a year or two years. However, I am pleased to say to the Deputy that we will quite significantly exceed the target of 24,600 in overall delivery set for 2022, which is a big step up from the previous year. We have a very good pipeline for 2023. We will deliver more new-build social homes in 2022 than we have done in decades. I am fully open to criticism. That is what I would...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----or to build on State-owned land, such as that in respect of the Land Development Agency, was again opposed by him.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I know what Deputy O'Callaghan is against-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----but I have no idea what he and his party are for.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: In the first instance, I would like to inform the Deputy that we have to work through this, and I believe people will understand the regulations are important to underpin the scheme and its operation. There is no pause on applications coming through. Anyone who applies to the previous scheme will get the uplift of the new scheme and, thankfully, people are applying and we are seeing an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Yes, it is for defective blocks and I want to be very clear on that. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, in particular, has been in contact with me, as have other interested Deputies, on that point. I believe there will be a very small number of homeowners in the affected regions who have had work completed. It will have to be certified and invoiced appropriately, etc., for it to access the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: With regard to certified works, works which have been done already and on the retrospective element of that, we will look at the date. We will be flexible and we will do that in consultation with representatives. It is only fair and proper that we do that and it will be a very small number of properties. Just to let the Deputy know, we have had 150 applications in Donegal which have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: There is not quite 500 of those.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Defective Building Materials (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities have asked the Housing Agency to look through those cases. If we had accepted the views of some others in the Opposition to wait until IS 465 was fully interrogated, we would not have the scheme up and running now. It is important it is and that it is there. We will take on board the feedback we get and the research done on IS 465, which we will look at and share with...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for his question. Budget 2022 provided record levels of investment to support housing programmes, levels which we have not seen before, including for the delivery of increased levels of social and affordable homes. Exchequer funding of €4 billion was made available, comprising €2.6 billion in capital and €1.4 billion in current funding. Additional...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: As the Deputy knows, Housing for All is our plan to increase the supply of housing across all tenures to an average of 33,000 homes per year. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes, so it is a very ambitious and badly needed programme. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4 billion per...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The targets under Housing for All are set out year on year. They were set based on very detailed research and input from the sector. It is about building the capacity within the sector to deliver the homes that we need, doing things better and having more people in construction to build the homes we need. We have had about ten to 12 years of significant under-delivery across all tenures...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Housing Provision (26 Jan 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I will use an example. In 2021, the last full year for which we have published figures, we had just over 5,000 new-build social homes but, overall, just over 9,000. We need to do more than that. In 2022, we set a target of 10,500 overall and we will be very close to that, and the figures on new builds will greatly exceed the figure the Deputy referenced from the Department of Public...