Results 12,961-12,980 of 25,880 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Funding of €75 million is available nationally in 2021 for the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability scheme, in respect of private houses. Local authorities fund 20% of the overall budget from their own resources with the balance of 80% funded by the exchequer. Details of the allocations and drawdowns for all local authorities up to 2021, are available...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Statutory Instruments (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016. The Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme. To be eligible, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum and having been in receipt of social housing support...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Copies of the 2019 and 2020 reports provided by the Chairperson of the Task Force were previously provided to the Deputy on 17 February and 5 May last. Since then, the Chairperson has provided me with a further report and I will arrange for a copy of this report to be forwarded to the Deputy for information.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Wildlife Protection (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: With effect from 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels for public water services, including the delivery of water services capital infrastructure, encompassing the management of urban waste water collection and treatment infrastructure. All discharges to the aquatic...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The National Building Control Management Project (NBCMP) is managed by the National Building Control Office (NBCO) within Dublin City Council (DCC) to provide oversight, support and direction for the development, standardisation and implementation of Building Control as an effective shared service in the 31 Building Control Authorities, through the five pillars of Training, Inspections,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Under Action 4.12 of Housing for All, in the period to December 2021 local authorities will be preparing Housing Action Delivery Plans to include social and affordable housing where necessary (affordable purchase and cost rental). This will allow each Local Authority to determine the affordability constraint in their area based on the Housing Need and Demand Assessment. The Housing for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Programme for Government (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The commitments in question (details supplied) are being progressed by my Department. Supporting individuals and families facing homelessness is a key Government priority. Housing for All details how the Government will approach this challenge and includes a commitment to develop a National Youth Homelessness Strategy within Quarter 1 of 2022. Preparing this strategy will involve...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Revenue Commissioners (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I am aware of the matter in question. In relation to the State bodies under the aegis of my Department, the requested information is not available in my Department. However, it may be obtained by contacting the dedicated e-mail addresses for members of the Oireachtas in respect of those State bodies, as set out in tabular form below. State Body Contact E-mail Address ...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The recently published Housing for All strategy is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. The annual targets include the delivery of 88,400 new social homes and 53,800 new affordable homes in the period 2022-2030. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing for All Strategy delivers on the Programme for Government commitment to step up housing supply and put affordability at the heart of the housing system, with an ambitious target of 300,000 homes over the next decade for social, affordable and cost rental, private rental and private ownership housing. Measures to deliver this housing are supported by over €4 billion in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: As stated in the reply to the Question referred to, the delivery of Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) homes is subject to construction schedules, which, together with housing projects more generally, were impacted by COVID delays at the start of this year. The initial timeframes submitted by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) were based on all efforts being made to deliver the homes as soon as...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority administrative area are provided in the annual statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The most recent summary, conducted in November 2020, shows that 61,880 households were assessed as qualified for and being in need of social housing support. This represents a decrease of 6,813...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (5 Oct 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing First enables homeless individuals with high levels of complex needs to obtain permanent secure accommodation with the provision of intensive housing and health supports to help them maintain their tenancies. The National Implementation Plan for Housing First, published in September 2018, which puts the programme on a national footing, is designed to provide this response, by...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Funding of €75 million is available nationally in 2021 for the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability Scheme. This funding has increased year on year since 2014. As part of the annual budgetary process, consideration will be given to this funding in future years in line with the Programme for Government commitments and the...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Housing Circular 41 of 2019, issued 20 December 2019, provided local authorities with revised guidelines for the operation of the Housing Adaptation Grant for Older People and People with a Disability scheme, in respect of private houses. This circular also included a revised single application form for use by all local authorities. These guidelines clearly state that there is no legal...

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

Darragh O'Brien: On 19 August 2021, I made the Affordable Housing Act 2021 (Cost Rental Designation) Regulations 2021, which came into effect that day. These Regulations govern the process by which the owners of dwellings may obtain the designation of their properties as Cost Rental dwellings.  The first Cost Rental homes were delivered by the Approved Housing Body (AHB)...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, sets out the objective that everybody should have access to sustainable, good quality housing to purchase or rent at an affordable price, built to a high standard, and located close to essential services, offering a high quality of life. Housing for All confirms the introduction of two new affordable purchase scheme.  The first...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan is targeted at first time buyers who wish to own their own home, have access to an adequate deposit and have the capacity to repay a mortgage, but who are unable to access a mortgage sufficient for them to purchase their first home. The loan enables credit worthy first time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Supports (30 Sep 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 housing authorities in addressing homelessness at a local level. My Department does not fund any homeless service directly but contributes to overall expenditure incurred by housing authorities in the provision of homeless accommodation...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Economic and Social Research Institute (30 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Details of the four reports from the ESRI commissioned by, or prepared for, my Department in the past 12 months are set out in the following link, together with the publishing information. My Department operates a housing economics research programme with the Economic and Social Research Institute. Under this programme, which began in May 2017, two to three research...