Results 10,841-10,860 of 15,309 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Committee Work Programme: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not arguing against that. I understand the time constraints but, for example, it would have been normal for us to have four or five sessions of pre-legislative scrutiny on a big Bill. Some members will read the papers and others will not. If we have a really technical Bill, we might like to question some of the experts. My preference is to have two sessions. When the Land...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Committee Work Programme: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: Perhaps between now and our next private session we could establish whether it is possible to have two meetings a week for a couple of the weeks after the recess. We can then fit all five of those categories in. I am with Senator Fitzpatrick. The issue of homelessness includes deaths, over-provision of services in Dublin and under-provision outside the county of Dublin. If we were able to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (8 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: 154. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of efforts by his Department to deliver affordable housing on the Glass Bottle site, Ringsend, Dublin; and if the delivery of the homes has been affected by the inability of NAMA to reach a commercial agreement with Dublin City Council and his Department prior to the competitive process commencing for the site in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Schools Building Projects (7 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: 107. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the provision of a new school building for a school (details supplied); and the estimated start and completion date. [28970/20]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (7 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: 161. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a decision has been made on the way in which the pandemic unemployment payment is to be treated for the purposes of means tests for social welfare payments such as the disability allowance. [29102/20]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: While I welcome the call for housing, although we will have to wait to see what it produces, the real problem is that we are not producing enough one-bedroom units in the social housing pipeline. In my own constituency, the housing waiting list is over 4,000 households. The demand for one-bedroom accommodation is a staggering 43.5% of that figure. It was previously 33% but it has gone up....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Funding (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Minister for his reply. As he knows from what I said at the committee meeting, we will support the Revised Estimate tomorrow. I understand the CCMA has, in very detailed discussions with the Minister's officials, given ballpark figures for the non-rates revenue and the additional Covid-19 expenditure. They are not absolutely accurate. I would have thought it would have been...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: On all the line sites.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not trying to shout down the Minister of State. It is just-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Funding (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: 38. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if additional financial support will be made available to local authorities to make up for the shortfall in non-rates revenue and additional expenditure due to Covid-19. [28369/20]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Funding (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: As Sinn Féin has stated previously, we welcomed the significant revenue the Government is providing for local authorities to fill the loss of rates revenue. We are still unclear about what will happen with the loss of non-rates revenue and additional Covid-19 expenditure. I know the Minister cannot tell me how much may or may not be in the budget because he is still negotiating that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is important to note that on the Shanganagh Castle site, which predates the Land Development Agency, we do not know if the purchase homes will be affordable because the LDA does not yet have a purchase price for them. The LDA has told Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that the rental units will cost €1,300 a month, which is not affordable for many of the cohorts. On the...

Priority Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: 30. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his policy response to the increase in the number of deaths of persons accessing emergency homeless accommodation and-or sleeping rough. [28830/20]

Priority Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: As the Minister knows, we have had a significant increase in the number of tragic and untimely deaths of people accessing emergency accommodation or sleeping rough. By August of this year, we had 39 reported such deaths in Dublin city alone. That is more than the 30-odd people who died last year and the year before in the city. We are also hearing similar reports from Galway and Cork....

Priority Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Minister for his response. We need something more and specific on this particular problem. We have had some of the most appalling deaths. We have had rough sleepers beaten to death on the streets, allegedly for their mobile phones. We have had people taking their own lives in emergency accommodation or people dying through overdoses because of an inability to manage their...

Priority Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: A good place to start would be to establish the number of these deaths annually. The information is based on media reports. While we have some data for Dublin, we do not have data from other cities. I encourage the Minister to look at that. I also encourage the Minister to look specifically at the recent increase in those deaths to see if there is something underlying it and if it...

Priority Questions: House Purchase Schemes (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: We will all judge the Minister by what he does and not what he says, and he would say exactly the same thing if the tables were turned. My question, however, was on when the scheme will be published and whether the Minister could give us more detail than what he has said until now. My concern is that, on the basis of what he has been saying in the media recently, a large portion of what the...

Priority Questions: House Purchase Schemes (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: The focus has to be on bringing down prices, both to rent and to buy. I have made a number of suggestions to the Minister and his predecessor, including amending the capital advance loan facility, and allowing approved housing bodies to purchase turnkey developments, many of which would be available to purchase now because of the slowdown in Covid-19 private sector supply, to deliver them as...

Priority Questions: House Purchase Schemes (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: 28. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the affordable housing plan. [28829/20]

Priority Questions: House Purchase Schemes (6 Oct 2020)

Eoin Ó Broin: On five occasions in July after he was appointed, the Minister made a very public commitment to announce both the details, targets and regulations of his new affordable housing scheme in September. That month has come and gone and we are very keen to hear as much about the scheme as possible. When he is going to announce it? Will he give us as much information as is possible at this stage...