Results 1,021-1,040 of 2,156 for speaker:John Cummins

Seanad: Road Traffic and Roads Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Feb 2023)

John Cummins: On amendment No. 64 on parking for people with disabilities, I accept the Senator's concerns are valid but I think the matter is captured in what we saying in relation to the wider availability of parking. In my experience, where schemes have been put in place in Waterford, while it may have necessitated the moving of disabled parking spaces, they have always been replaced as closely as...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Housing Schemes (25 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: I echo those comments in welcoming my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who is a former Member of this House. I look forward to working with him in my role as spokesman and also as a member of the joint Oireachtas committee. We will have a lot of legislation in the House in the months ahead, not least in the area of planning, and I know the Minister of State will be a...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Housing Schemes (25 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: I thank the Minister of State for confirming that it is based on the affordable purchase price as opposed to the market value of the house. I welcome his statement that the Department will issue a guidance note to all local authorities because to be honest, many of them, including my local authority, are not aware of the scheme's interaction with the local authority home loan. There is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: I thank the representatives of both Mayo County Council and Longford County Council for being here today. The vacancy rate in local authorities is an issue that I have addressed with all of the representatives of the local authorities who have appeared so far before this committee. I welcome the comments that the representatives of Mayo County Council have made about utilising the repair...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: Has Longford County Council commenced CPO proceedings in terms of those properties?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: It is a carrot and stick approach. The repair and lease scheme is the carrot and the CPO is the stick. If the stick is not being used, or not being seen to be used, there will not be any take-up. Evidence has been provided to this committee from local authorities that have been exceptionally proactive in the CPO space. Limerick City and County Council has acquired upwards of 100 units...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: Longford County Council will progress the CPOs----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: -----as a result. I will go back to Mayo County Council. It operates the website vacanthomes.ie. Will its representatives give the committee an overview of its operation? Who operates it for the council? If somebody clicks on vacanthomes.ieand registers a vacant property in, for example, Longford, what happens?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: The scheme limits are per unit as opposed to per property.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: The choice-based letting system is the appropriate system for determining need in a particular area. As I have said to multiple local authorities, I know there are areas of choice that they operate but there will always be demand for a unit in a locality. If decisions are being made not to take units under the repair and lease scheme because an arbitrary list says that there is no demand,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: It is very rare. It is a breakthrough.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: Do both councils operate a framework for turning around properties when they become vacant or do they tender those on an individual or bundle basis?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: Sure. I appreciate that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: Sure, but there is a framework so Mr. Mahon does not have to go out to tender each time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: How about in Mayo?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: What is the turnaround time from a property becoming vacant to re-letting?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: That is in the higher percentile. What about Longford?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: Okay. It is not to hone in but I am just trying to understand, with a framework in place, how it is so long because frameworks have worked well in reducing it in other local authorities. What I saw in the past was the difficulty in getting people to tender. When the local authorities went out with a bundle of properties they might get a single tender and then they would have to go back out...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jan 2023)

John Cummins: I still do not understand how the average could be so high with a framework in place. Is it that no timelines are attached to the frameworks? Is there no penalty in place for non-compliance? If someone on the framework takes 69 weeks to turn around a property, clearly he or she should not be on the framework.