Results 10,861-10,880 of 26,787 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department provides annual funding to local authorities under the Disabled Persons Grants scheme to carry out works on social housing stock to address the needs of older people, people with a disability or overcrowded situations. The detailed administration of this scheme including assessment, approval and prioritisation is the responsibility of local authorities. My Department's...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: In accordance with the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act 1998, the role of my Department is to ensure that there are adequate structures and supports in place to assist housing authorities in providing accommodation for Travellers, including a national framework of policy, legislation and funding. Funding of €20 million has been made available in 2023 for the delivery of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department provides funding for the Housing Adaptation Grant for Older People and People with a Disability scheme, which is a range of grants for necessary improvement works or adaptations to houses, in order to facilitate the continued independent occupancy of their own homes by older people and people with a disability. These schemes cover works reasonably necessary for the purposes of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All, is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes by 2030. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) budget funds the ongoing current costs of social homes delivered using a variety of different delivery streams. This includes properties built or acquired by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) using funding under the Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) and the Housing Agency Acquisitions Fund (HAA), which are then made available under a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended. Once a household is deemed eligible for social housing support, it is a matter for the local authority...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All, is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes by 2030. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct Exchequer funding, €3.5bn in funding through the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 204 and 206 together. The Local Authority Home Loan is a Government backed mortgage scheme for those on modest or low incomes who cannot get sufficient funding from commercial banks to purchase or build a home. It has been available nationwide from local authorities since 4 January 2022 for first-time buyers and fresh start applicants. As of 4 January 2022,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Supports (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government ‘Our Shared Future’ commits to developing a Youth Homelessness Strategy. This commitment is articulated in Housing for All. The development of this Strategy was identified as a priority action at the first meeting of the National Homeless Action Committee in December 2021. This Strategy has been underpinned by an extensive consultation process,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Supports (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: A review of homeless deaths was undertaken on behalf of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) by Dr Austin O’Carroll. The review analysed the available data concerning deaths in homeless services for 2020 to identify learnings for homeless and health services that could help tailor the provision of care to homeless people. This ‘Interim Report on Mortality in Single...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme was reviewed in 2021 in line with Programme for Government and Housing for All commitments, with a number of changes subsequently coming into effect from 1 February 2022. The minimum reckonable income required to be eligible under the scheme changed from €15,000 to €12,500. The time tenants are required to be in receipt of social housing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (6 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Pathway 4 of Housing for All sets out a blueprint to address vacancy and make efficient use of our existing housing stock. Many areas of cities, towns and villages of all sizes face the blight of vacant properties, which, if brought back into use, could add vibrancy and provide new accommodation in those areas. The Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund is a key initiative which underpins...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2022 (RTA) regulate the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented sector and set out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Acts to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Expenditure (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Details of the allocations provided to Met Éireann in the years 2002 to 2022 are set out in the table below. These can also be found in the Revised Estimates for Public Services published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for the respective years and are available at the following link:   www.per.gov.ie/en/rev/ Met...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Staff (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department continues to work as per transitional work arrangements following the lifting of restrictions on workplace attendance in the spring of this year. Staff who normally worked from home under pandemic restrictions currently attend the office on a minimum of 2 days per week. The Blended Working policy for my Department was formally launched in July 2022, this policy was developed in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All was published in September 2021 and, as part of a broad suite of social housing reforms, committed to reviewing income eligibility for social housing. The review, which examined inter alia the efficiency of the current banding model and income limits applicable to local authorities, has been completed and I have recently approved implementation of its recommendations. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Energy Conservation (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: A new enhanced ten year energy efficiency programme was launched in 2021 in response to a commitment made under the Programme for Government, which called for the 'retrofit' of 500,000 homes to a B2/Cost Optimal Equivalent BER standard by 2030, of which approximately 36,500 are expected to be local authority owned homes. The energy efficiency programme which is run by my Department...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: A table setting out the details of the three bands and the limits currently applicable in each local authority area is available on my Department's website on the following link: The income of all persons aged 18 years and over included in a social housing application is assessable for social housing assessment purposes, local authorities have no discretion in this regard. Housing for All was...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: While grant-aid is not provided for the purposes of purchasing and renovating properties which will not be occupied by the purchaser, the Repair and Leasing Scheme does provide an upfront loan, to a maximum of €60,000 (including VAT) per unit, to owners of vacant properties which require work to bring the units up to the required standard for rental properties.  Under the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (5 Oct 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme was reviewed in 2021 in line with Programme for Government and Housing for All commitments, with a number of changes subsequently coming into effect from 1 February 2022. The changes include a reduction in the minimum reckonable income required to be eligible under the scheme from €15,000 to €12,500. The time an applicant is required to...