Results 13,101-13,120 of 25,880 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department provides funding to local authorities under the Disabled Persons Grants scheme to carry out works on social housing stock to address the needs of older people, people with a disability or overcrowded situations. The programme is 90% funded by the Department with a 10% contribution from the Local Authority. My Department is very supportive of work in this area and has...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority area are set out in the annual statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA) published by the Housing Agency. The purpose of the SSHA is to capture the total number of households qualified for social housing support across the country whose social housing need has not yet been met, in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (28 Sep 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. This includes ensuring that the services of the local authority are in compliance with EU law. Accordingly, information in relation to the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Student Accommodation (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I am committed to working collaboratively with my colleague the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (FHERIS) to improve student accommodation provision through a dedicated working group set up for that purpose. This will build on the excellent and productive relationship that has been build up between the two Departments over the past number of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department does not collect data on the number of Rebuilding Ireland home loans that have been issued to non-first-time buyers who are separated or divorced. As regards the policy context, the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme enables credit-worthy first-time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand properties in a suitable price range, where they...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Quality (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: As a result of the increase in people swimming and beach users generally, I have tasked the Bathing Water Expert Group with examining the different measures that could be employed to improve protection of bather’s health outside of the statutory bathing season, within the context of the current review by the European Commission of the Bathing Water Directive. The Bathing Water Expert...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The merger of Galway City Council and Galway County Council to create a single administrative area was recommended unanimously by the Galway Expert Advisory Group in April 2018.  This recommendation was endorsed by a Government Decision in June 2018 and provisions to give effect to this policy decision were included in the Local Government Bill 2018. Those provisions passed all...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Data (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department publishes a detailed monthly report on homelessness, based on data provided by housing authorities. The Report outlines details of individuals utilising State-funded emergency accommodation arrangements that are overseen by housing authorities. The Reports are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/80ea8-homelessness-data/and via...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: A number of targeted measures and initiatives are being developed to provide better security of tenure and greater rent certainty for tenants, as well as enhancing the supports and services available to both tenants and landlords through the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) particularly, to facilitate the development of a more vibrant and sustainable rental sector. Inter alia, these...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Affordable Housing Act 2021 was enacted by the President on 21 July 2021. On 18 August, I signed the Affordable Housing Act 2021 (Commencement) (Parts 1 and 3) Order 2021, which commenced Parts 1 and 3 of the Act from 19 August, and brought into operation the Cost Rental elements of the Act. On 19 August 2021, I made the Affordable Housing Act 2021 (Cost Rental Designation)...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The implementation of Cost Rental is being supported by the new Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) scheme, under which Government loans to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) on favourable terms will finance up to 30% of the capital costs of new homes for Cost Rental. CREL was allocated €35m under Budget 2021. The Housing Finance Agency also made available €100m to AHBs in very...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 378, 381, 382 and 391 together. 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 are for the delivery of a total of 88,400 new build social homes, 53,800 new affordable homes and 170,000 private homes in the period...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (28 Sep 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: Departmental Strategies (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All: A New Housing Plan for Ireland is a whole-of-Government plan that will require a deep level of collaboration throughout its lifetime. The implementation of Housing for All has already begun. There are 213 objectives in this plan, all of which will be delivered according to the dates outlined in the plan itself. The first progress report on Q3 2021 actions is currently being...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: House Prices (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: House price inflation is measured in the Residential Property Index compiled by the CSO which is published monthly, and covers all market purchases of houses and apartments by households. My Department reviews this data monthly, along with other market trends. Housing supply has been impacted by Covid-19. The periods of lockdown since early 2020 have reduced construction activity...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (28 Sep 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 Schemes (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government’s commitment to increase the supply of public housing was underpinned in Budget 2021, which provided €3.3 billion to deliver housing programmes this year. This funding will support social and affordable housing delivery, along with the continued implementation of a broad range of programmes providing targeted support to meet housing need. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Strategies (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 390 and 392 together. 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. Under Action 4.12 of Housing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department regularly publishes information on the number and value of (i) local authority loan approvals and (ii) local authority loan drawdowns. Local authority approval means that an official letter of offer has been sent to a borrower (and therefore relates to a specific property and loan amount). Local Authority drawdowns to Q1 2021 is available at the following link, which will be...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (28 Sep 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority area is 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 households or...