Results 12,481-12,500 of 25,880 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I will go by the ruling of the Chair and just say on this that if Deputy Boyd Barrett has an issue with the quorum or the operation of the board structurally, and I mean this seriously, I cannot see how it would fit in with the Bill to be honest. I really do not. It is open to the Deputy to table an amendment. It would probably be better to deal with this by way of a separate Private...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Let us put a few myths to bed. We need transitional arrangements and they have to be there, as most people recognise. To respond to Deputy Boyd Barrett, the process cannot be just cut off. In the Seanad, the main Opposition party originally argued there should not be any transition but now it is proposing eight weeks. We have to provide a transition. If someone is engaging with a formal...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Is that the Deputy's only question?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: People have engaged in and are in the middle of a process under the planning guidelines and the planning legislation that were in place. We cannot just tell them to get out of that and go into something else. They have to operate under the legislation that is applicable and effective at the time they make the application. The Deputy is fully entitled to his opinion. Obviously, I have to...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I have a response to the amendment, which we are not accepting.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: However, we certainly understand the-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: While I believe this proposal has merit, in the circumstances and given the timeframe, I suggest the proposed amendment would be more appropriately examined in greater detail as part of the ongoing review of the Planning and Development Act 2000. With the Deputy's permission, if he provides me with some background detail and outlines his thinking on the amendment, I will have the matter...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank members and staff for their help and co-operation through this phase. We will see them all tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (1 Dec 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Just to be helpful, it is not a question of just signalling an interest in going into the SHD process; a lot of preparatory work would have to have been done. You would have had to apply through section 247 as well, that is, through the local authority. You would have to have plans drawn up and the whole lot. Someone cannot just come out and say, "Oh, God, SHDs are going. I am going to go...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (30 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The delivery of affordable housing for purchase by local authorities is provided for under Part 2 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021 which I commenced in September of this year. It is intended the Regulations governing the operation of these provisions will be put in place over the coming weeks. The first homes to be made available for sale under the scheme will be in Boherboy Cork in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Energy Conservation (30 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department has provided funding support to local authorities for energy efficiency retrofitting works under the Social Housing Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Programme since 2013 and under the Voids Programme over the period 2014 – 2019. Since the programme commenced in 2013 over 73,500 units of social housing stock have been retrofitted with a total exchequer spend of €161...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (30 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 223 to 225, inclusive, together. 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. Over 300,000 new homes will be built by the end of 2030, including a projected 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. The Plan is backed by...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (30 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2021 regulate the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented residential 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...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (30 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The allocation of suitable housing to tenants on Clare County Council's social housing waiting list is a matter for the Council and one in which I as Minister have no role. The Council will have a range of options for the provision of housing solutions including properties that the Council owns, that are leased, rented or contracted to the Council and properties owned and provided by...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (30 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Objective 37 of the National Planning Framework provides for a Housing Needs Demand Assessment (HDNA) by local authorities to ensure their respective long-term strategic housing needs are met. The HNDA is a standardised methodology which quantifies current and projected housing needs of local authority areas, including requirements for different tenures. Nationally, the proportion of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Staff (30 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The following table sets out the full time equivalent number of staff in the Local Government and Housing Divisions of my Department from 2016 to end October 2021. On foot of a Transfer of Functions order, the Heritage Division joined the Department in September 2020 and staff numbers in that Division are provided from the time they were in this Department. Details in relation the housing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Public Sector Staff (30 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing Agency was established under Statutory Instrument No. 264 of 2012, Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency (Establishment Order) 2012, and Section 7 deals with staffing of the Housing Agency. Details of the number of staff employed by the Housing Agency in each of the years 2016 to 2020 and to date in 2021 and the breakdown of staff in terms of function is set out in the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (30 Nov 2021)

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 authorities for which he or she is responsible. In this regard, it is a matter for each individual Chief Executive to assign staff to specific divisions. My Department has 48 housing related staff...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Credit Unions (30 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Following engagement with the Credit Union sector on proposals for credit unions to provide funding for the provision of social housing, the Central Bank undertook a review of the relevant investment framework in 2017. On foot of this review, revised Regulations commenced on 1 March 2018. These revised Regulations included the addition of investments in Tier 3 Approved Housing Bodies...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (30 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 235 and 236 together. The Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Act 2021 introduced measures in July 2021 to extend the operation of Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) until the end of 2024. The Act also provides that rent reviews outside of RPZs can, until 2025, occur no more frequently than bi-annually. This provides rent certainty for tenants outside of RPZs for a...