Results 11,701-11,720 of 25,858 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: 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. The loan can be used both for new and second-hand properties, or to self-build....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Project Tosaigh aims to bring 5,000 privately developed units of affordable housing on stream over the first half of Housing for All. This is in addition to the State lands the Land Development Agency (LDA) is already working on. The initial focus of the initiative is on projects which have been granted planning permission or for which a grant of planning is anticipated in the short term...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Services (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government includes a commitment to develop a scheme between local authorities and Irish Water to provide drinking water fountains nationwide to reduce plastic bottle litter. In addition, EU Directive 2020/2184 (the Drinking Water Recast Directive) as adopted on 16 December 2020 updates the obligations on Member States in relation to the quality of water intended for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2021 regulates the landlord-tenant relationship in the rented residential sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Act to operate a national tenancy registration system and to facilitate the resolution of disputes between...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: House Sales (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 359 and 360 together. My Department does not collect data in relation to the ownership or construction of individual housing units purchased and sold in the housing market. The Government is cognisant of the potential impact of institutional investment on the housing market but recognises there is an important role for such investors in financing the much...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Advertising (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: As clarified by the Deputy, during the period 2013 to present, my Department has not placed any advertising in this magazine.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 363 and 382 together. Housing for All (published in September 2021) provides a new housing plan for Ireland to 2030 with the overall objective that every citizen in the State should have access to good quality homes through a steady supply of housing in the right locations, with economic, social and environmental sustainability built into the system. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 365 and 366 together. In 2018, a total of €3,719,011 was allocated to Kerry County Council under Call 1 of the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) in respect of the projects submited for Tralee and Killarney. To date, Kerry County Council have drawn down a total of €2,136,735 in respect of these projects. In 2021, I announced...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible. In this regard, the assignment of local authority staff to a particular function, such as the delivery of affordable housing, is a matter for the Chief...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table. Action No. TABLE OF VACANCY ACTIONS TIMELINE UPDATES @ SEPTEMBER 2021 1: ESTABLISH ROBUST, ACCURATE, CONSISTENT AND UP-TO-DATE DATA SETS ON VACANCY 1A Establishment of a Vacant Homes Unit within the Department and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Affordable Housing Act 2021, the first ever standalone affordable housing legislation, established a basis for four new affordable housing measures. These measures will deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to put affordability at the heart of the housing system and prioritise the increased supply of affordable homes through (1) delivering affordable homes on local authority...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Energy Efficiency Programme for 2021 was the first year of a newly revised ten year programme designed to help deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to retrofitting 500,000 homes by 2030 to a B2/cost optimal BER standard. It is expected that approximately 36,500 of those will be local authority owned homes. €65 million of Exchequer funding was made available to support...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) do not have guidelines specifically on this issue. The RTB Dispute Resolution process gives parties two options to resolve a tenancy dispute. The first option is Mediation which aims to resolve disputes with an independent Mediator in a mutually agreeable way or the second option is Adjudication where an independent decision is made based on the facts and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Public Services Provision (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department has not won any award from this publication.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 made under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992. The Regulations specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light, fire safety and the safety of gas, oil and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003. My Department supports fire authorities through setting general policy, providing the legislative...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Under Section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible. My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector, including the monitoring of local government sector employment levels. To this...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme plays a vital role in housing eligible families and individuals. At the end of Q3 2021, over 97,000 HAP tenancies had been set-up since the scheme commenced, of which there were more than 62,000 households actively in receipt of HAP support, including 1,554 households in Wexford. Local authorities have discretion, because of local rental market...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Communications (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department does not utilise the application referred to in the Question as an official means of communication. I do not have the application referred to installed on my official Department phone.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (22 Feb 2022)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities will always have a level of vacancy in their housing stock. This will fluctuate over time as tenancy surrender and re-letting of dwelling is an ongoing process. Therefore, ongoing data in relation to vacant local authority owned homes are not collated by my Department. However, statistics in relation to social housing stock, at a point in time, are published by the...