Results 1,121-1,140 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I have been accepting amendments all morning. I might have accepted those in the name of the Deputy if he had been here.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Without repeating what I said, the wording of amendment No. 15 is good, but this section of the Bill is probably the wrong place to include it. Theefore, if the Deputies withdraw the amendment, we will see what is the most appropriate vehicle in which to include the definition. There is nothing in the Bill that speaks against it. Therefore, it is not necessary to include it in it, but if...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Yes, absolutely.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I move amendment No. 16: In page 30, to delete lines 19 and 20. This amendment relates to the discussion we had on section 11. It is the follow-on in section 35(5) whereby we will delete the ability for AHBs to be charged by the regulator in that three-year transition period.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the amendment. We are not talking about having the regulator step into the role of the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. The regulator and RTB will come to a memorandum of understanding on all of these issues, as the regulator will with other regulators in this sector, such as the Charities Regulator. That is common practice. It will not be about setting a new...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: On Deputy Boyd Barrett's points, we might be confusing a couple of issues. We are not talking about standards such as standards of insulation. Rather, we mean standards for financial performance, governance and others. It is not to say the regulator will have a responsibility for putting them in place but instead to ensure that AHBs will have standards for matters such as the letting of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I take the Deputy's points but the subsections and the amendments do not speak to the issues he raised.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The performance standards, which the voluntary regulator has set, will ensure that AHBs have an allocations policy, and a fair and transparent procedure that provides a consistent approach to letting properties. It will ensure that procedures are in place for communicating current and potential vacant properties to local authorities, as well as documented tenancy and housing management...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The memorandum of understanding will then delineate the space a bit more clearly between the regulator and either the RTB or NOAC. In respect of the standards to which each AHB would adhere, as far as I am aware, it is AHBs' standards, but the regulator will have to have oversight of that and ensure they will be published and communicated appropriately. Unlike the position with local...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I am trying to find the previous amendment from Deputy Boyd Barrett to see if it was one of the amendments I intended to accept. As I said earlier, we are all approaching this with a common purpose. I believe this amendment is covered in the section and subsections. This is exactly the type of information that will be reported. That is why it is there. We have what should be covered, at...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: This falls back on the idea of trying to make the committee a statutory consultee on these issues. Where it is sought to amend a standard it would be made public and I would be accountable to the Deputy for my decision. That is how it should be maintained. It goes back to the previous conversation about the independence of the regulator and not making the committee a statutory consultee....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: No. Policy might change in the future, in which case the regulatory environment would change. As a result, the regulator would have to be directed in that instance to regulate for the new reality. I cannot foresee why I would want to change a standard at present, but it could be the case that the policy on housing bodies might change in the future. That would change the position for the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I understand what they are saying. What I do not want to do, though, is undermine executive decision-making. I do not want a future Minister to be in a situation in which the policy has changed but an Oireachtas committee then tries to hamstring the implementation of that policy by interfering with the setting of new standards for the regulator...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: That is a great reason for definitely not accepting the amendment.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I will look at it but-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I was not being flippant at all-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: -----when I said I would look at it. It was in jest. I remain to be convinced on this amendment. Perhaps in this instance the Deputies could either come forward with a different version of the amendment or just come forward again on Report Stage, depending on how this vote goes.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Again, I believe there is plenty of consultation here in that the committee may call in the regulator, the CEO, the Minister, etc. It is not that I am against that.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I move amendment No. 21: In page 39, line 29, after “subsection (4)” to insert “within the period specified in the notice”. Amendments Nos. 21 and 22 are technical amendments to provide consistency with the time period within which an AHB may make representations to the regulator. The amendments are straightforward.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I move amendment No. 22: In page 39, lines 30 and 31, to delete “not later than 14 days from the date on which the notice is given” and substitute “within the period specified in the advance notice”.