Results 12,621-12,640 of 25,880 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Tá mé ag éisteach, bí cinnte. As I have said, there are two issues. There is the amendment, moved by the Opposition, which I will oppose, and I have explained the rationale for the amendment to section 50A of the principal Act. We are conducting a detailed review of judicial reviews and we will publish the legislation shortly. There was legislation in the previous...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Amendment No. 35 is significant and relates to section 94 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. I wish to signal to Senators and, indeed, Deputies that I will table an amendment that integrates for the first time the consideration of homeownership as already set out in the guidelines I brought forward in May 2021 under the Regulation of Commercial Institutional Investment in Housing for...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I will happily deal with that question. The Senator may not have had a chance to look into this, but that is exactly what this will do. Local authorities will have to submit that as part of their housing strategies. This is about tenure mix because home ownership is a tenure mix. Social housing is a tenure mix. Affordable housing is home ownership and we have got to make provision for...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: We will allow the local authority to decide that. It will be above the Part V requirement. From 1 August onwards, any development that comes forward for planning will need to include 10% social housing and 10% affordable housing. We are saying the new thresholds will be above that. Our LDA legislation prescribes that in Dublin, Cork and other areas with population centres of more than...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Senators. We discussed this issue on Second Stage, at which point Senator Warfield suggested we would not have any transitional arrangements. We want to get rid of SHDs and that is what we are doing, but we require a transition. SHDs exist right now and if people have made their applications under the current planning law and are in pre-planning or in planning, one cannot just...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I assure Senators that this is not a long goodbye and it is not a signal at all. This is about bringing in legislation that will endure, improve on what was there before and end a planning process that has been in place since 2016. One does not just rip it up, throw it in the bin and say that it is done. It is more legally complex than that. We are going in the right direction. This will...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Senator Boyhan for his kind words. Turning to these two amendments, vacancy in residential units is an issue, there is no question about that. One of the four pathways in Housing for All policy is concerned with how we can tackle vacancy. It applies to existing and new stock. We discussed the zoned land tax. It is going to be significant and a major change from what exists now....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Septic Tanks (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 273, 283 and 284 together. Under the Water Services Acts 2007 and 2012 (Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems) Regulations 2012, the owner of a domestic waste water treatment system is responsible for its maintenance and renewal and shall ensure that its parts and components are fit for purpose, operational where appropriate and kept in good order and repair...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: As part of Housing for All, I announced a reformed successor to the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme, the 'Local Authority Home Loan'. The Local Authority Home Loan will include an increase in the income ceiling for single applicants. For counties where the scheme’s house price limit is €320,000 (Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow), the income ceiling...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Stations (16 Nov 2021)

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 the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (16 Nov 2021)

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 Service Acts, 1981 and 2003. My Department supports fire authorities by establishing policy, setting national standards for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 277 and 278 together. There are estimated to be c.140,000 local authority social housing properties in the State. The proper maintenance of this valuable state asset will not only provide the appropriate levels of comfort to current local authority tenants but will also allow for currently vacant local authority homes to be tenanted as quickly as possible....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: There is no statutory scheme available to persons whose apartments are subject to defective issues such as the need for fire remediation works. However, the Programme for Government sets out a number of commitments in respect of the important policy area of building defects; it provides for an examination of defects in housing, having regard to the recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Waste Management (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I have not received any correspondence from the Minister for Agriculture in Northern Ireland in relation to the Farm Nutrient Management Scheme. In terms of protecting our water resources, primary responsibility for the monitoring, management, protection and improvement of water quality is assigned to local authorities under the Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts and related...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities when processing Rebuilding Ireland Home Loans (RIHL) must lend mortgages on a prudent basis, taking into account the most recent income and employment data available. It would not be appropriate to lend when there is an identifiable risk that the person’s income and ability to pay might not return to the level required to support the borrowing requested. This is both...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Regeneration Projects (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 286 and 290 together. Along with O’Devaney Gardens and Oscar Traynor Road, Emmet Road (4.9 hectare brownfield site, formerly St Michael’s Estate) is one of three significant sites, which is currently being brought forward for development by Dublin City Council (DCC). I have confirmed support for the proposed development, as being a project of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (16 Nov 2021)

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 the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Accommodation (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at a local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless accommodation and related services rests with individual local authorities. While responsibility...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) are independent, not-for-profit organisations providing affordable rented housing for people who cannot provide housing from their own means and for particular groups, such as older people or homeless people. AHBs also include housing co-operatives, which are housing organisations controlled by their members/tenants who actively participate in setting their...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Communications (16 Nov 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The dedicated e-mail addresses for members of the Houses of the Oireachtas in respect of the State bodies under the aegis of my Department are as set out in tabular form below. State Body Contact E-mail Address An Bord Pleanála oireachtasqueries@pleanala.ie An Fóram Uisce (the Water Forum) info@nationalwaterforum.ie...