Results 10,561-10,580 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Unfinished Housing Estates (21 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Data from individual local authorities on the number of site resolution plans are not held in my Department on an on-going basis. At the time of the publication of the 2012 National Housing Survey 136 developments had site resolution plans completed with a further 75 in the process of being completed. A further 770 SRP’s had been requested or initiated by the relevant local authority...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation (21 May 2013)

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: Local Authority Housing Maintenance (21 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: This year my Department has allocated in excess of €56 million to Dublin City Council in respect of their 2013 social housing programme. This include s €31m for regeneration in both Ballymun and Dublin City and some € 9.8 million under the Remedial Works Scheme for the refurbishment of tenanted and vacant units in Liberty House and Bunratty, Phases 1 and 2. Under my...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (21 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: On 21 December 2010, the Government designated Grangegorman as a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ). On 25 July 2011 Dublin City Council decided to make the Draft Planning Scheme submitted by the Grangegorman Development Agency, and on 2 May 2012 An Bord Pleanála approved the making of a Planning Scheme for the Grangegorman SDZ. Any breach of the Planning Scheme is a matter for the...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments Eligibility (16 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: The provision of sheltered housing is mainly funded through my Department’s Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS) which provides funding of up to 100% of the approved cost for the provision of accommodation to meet the needs of persons with specific categories of housing need including older people, people with an intellectual, physical or mental health disability, the homeless, returning...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (16 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Section 35 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 provides that planning authorities may apply to the High Court for authorisation to refuse to grant planning permission to a developer who has substantially failed to comply with the conditions of a previous permission. This power was significantly strengthened in the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006, which...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Departmental Expenditure (16 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: On 22 February 2013, I announced capital allocations to local authorities under the suite of Grants for Older People and People with a Disability amounting to €42.750 million. This year I allocated local authorities the full amount of their contractual commitments which, in the case of Dublin City Council, amounted to €2,906,500. The balance of the available funding was...

Seanad: Wind Energy Guidelines: Statements (15 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I thank all the Senators who participated in the debate. There was a high level of engagement, concern and knowledge. A couple of common themes emerged, the main one being the importance of the community, of listening to what the community has to say and of real consultation. That is an absolute priority for me too. As I said in my opening statement, we received 550 submissions when we...

Seanad: Wind Energy Guidelines: Statements (15 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I thank Senators for the opportunity to attend and to contribute to this important discussion. Wind energy is a highly-topical issue and looks set to remain in public focus for some time to come. It is important to clarify my exact role and that of my Department regarding wind energy. I do not set policy on wind energy development or renewable energy, in general. Nor do I have direct...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Rental Accommodation Scheme Criteria (15 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: The 18 month threshold, as referred to, is employed as a 'rule of thumb' to try to distinguish between persons who are seeking a short term income support and those who have a long term housing need. While in general a household must be in receipt of rent supplement for 18 months or more in order to qualify for RAS, housing authorities do, on occasion, accept households on to RAS where they...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Property Taxation Exemptions (15 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: An exemption from the local property tax applies to developments listed in the schedule to the Finance (Local Property Tax) Regulations 2013. The list of unfinished housing developments eligible for the exemption was compiled by local authorities utilising the categorisation employed for the purposes of the National Housing Survey 2012. The Survey was carried out over the course of summer...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Private Residential Tenancies Board Staff (15 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 192 and 193 together. I have no function in the operational matters of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), an independent statutory body established on 1 September 2004 under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 and, consequently, my Department does not collate the information requested. The Act regulates the tenant-landlord relationship in the...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Issues (15 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: To qualify for social housing support a household must meet the eligibility and need criteria set down in the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011. This includes households who were on the social housing list prior to the introduction of the Regulations in 2011. The issue of qualification for rent supplement is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection. When a...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Issues (15 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Housing rents are set in accordance with a rent scheme adopted by each local authority. The making and amending of rent schemes is the responsibility of housing authorities as an integral part of their housing management functions. The current arrangements for determining local authority rents will be substantially replaced on the coming into force over the next year of provisions of...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme Review (15 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: While the 1995 tenant purchase scheme for existing local authority houses closed for new applications on 31 December 2012, two incremental purchase schemes remain in operation, one for newly-built local authority houses and the other for local authority apartments. It is intended to advance the necessary legislative proposals as soon as practicable to underpin an incremental purchase scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Property Repossessions (15 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I have no function in relation to the matter in question.

Topical Issue Debate: Ambulance Service Provision (14 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I will ensure that the Minister of Health, Deputy Reilly, is made aware of all the Deputies' questions and concerns. I did indicate that the preliminary report would be produced as a matter of urgency and would then be followed by a full report. I note that the Deputies have also requested a review of the whole service and not just this specific incident.

Topical Issue Debate: Ambulance Service Provision (14 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Deputy Stanton asked a number of questions about average response times and the number of calls. I will convey those queries to the Minister. I agree with all the Deputies that it is important that people have confidence in the ambulance service. I have no doubt that I speak for the Minister, Deputy Reilly, when I say that it is a major concern. I will ask that the information sought by...

Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs Services Provision (14 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: As the Deputy stated, the NCSE will report to the Minister very shortly, and I am sure his information must be accurate and it will be on Friday. It will then be in the public arena and I hope parents in particular and Deputies will have an opportunity to comment on the report. It is a statutorily appointed body, the role of which is to provide advice in this area to the Minister. He will...

Topical Issue Debate: Ambulance Service Provision (14 May 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I thank the Deputies for raising this issue, to which I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Health. I join with the Deputies in extending my sympathies to the bereaved family and all those involved. The death of a child in any circumstances is a tragedy for all concerned and, in speaking about this matter, I am conscious of their terrible loss. Nothing we can say can make it any...