Results 13,421-13,440 of 15,312 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank Mr. Skehan for attending. I will make a couple of initial comments. I am a strong defender of free speech. People have a right to express their opinions and I would not try to curtail that. Likewise, the rest of us have a right to respond to those publicly. People in public bodies should express their views even when they do not necessarily coincide with the views of politicians...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: Let me respond to that. This is very important and in some senses I am even more concerned now than I was at the start. Again I will be as measured as I can be. Third-party accounts of very complex family situations are not evidence. I am not disputing that the person who sent Mr. Skehan that may believe that. However, that is not evidence of people gaming the system. That is somebody's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: On a point of clarification. When somebody is in homeless accommodation, emergency offers of accommodation are not made on the same basis, so that very often somebody will be offered accommodation not in their area of preference but so far away from their area of preference and family support networks that it is not an appropriate offer. That is an important distinction to make....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: There is one very small point. Mr. Skehan is absolutely correct, the report dates from 2016 and the logic of the report was the dramatic rise in the increase in the number of families presenting as homeless. What he did not mention, but I am sure it was an oversight, was that this was also the period when we had a dramatic increase in the number of landlords increasing rents, but before we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a supplementary question but if you want to go ahead Chairman I will come in after you.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes, I will just throw them in quickly here. Data accuracy is one of the things we talk about a lot. The recently announced Government housing needs assessment figures of 80,000 plus is for June or July of last year. I have subsequent figures from every local authority under FOI of the same net need figures from September and they are 99,000. I would not get too excited that there has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: I would also say we have 32,000 households on the housing assistance payment, HAP, which is a short-term response to their particular housing situation. We have 20,000 households on the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. One could argue that we have a gross housing need of approximately 130,000. The reason I say that is because all of us in here represent all of those people in our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: I asked when Mr. Skehan asked the Housing Agency to conduct a further study given his view that the 2016 study was out of date. Is he saying he did not ask the Housing Agency to do another study?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: Would it not have been appropriate to ask the agency to do a study before floating the idea publicly that he was not satisfied with the 2016 report? Would that not have been more sensible given that Mr. Skehan is the chairman of the body?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: Given Mr. Skehan's concern about the possibility of gaming the system and his view that the 2016 report was out of date and in light of his statement that part of the job of the board is to challenge the Housing Agency, why did he not ask the agency to conduct a follow-up report on this issue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is a "Yes" or "No" question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is a "No" in reply to my question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is a "No".

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Role of Chairperson of Housing Agency and Related Matters: Discussion (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: We are not allowed to advertise commercial products in the building.

Other Questions: Housing Provision (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: 87. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans for the €25 million affordable housing fund; the details of his announcement of local authorities taking out an equity stake in affordable housing developments; the location in which the announced 3,000 affordable homes are to be located; and when construction will commence. [4586/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Standards (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: 57. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the actions he has taken since the broadcast of a programme (details supplied) in November 2017; his plans to amend the legal definition of "overcrowding"; his further plans to make it an offence to advertise substandard rental properties including on social media; if increased targets for local authority inspection will be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Standards (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: We were all shocked by what we saw in "Nightmare to Let", the RTÉ "Prime Time Investigates" documentary which was televised last November. What actions has the Minister taken in the period since then? While the primary responsibility rests with local authorities, they are dependent on legislation. There have been calls for stronger legislation to define "overcrowding" and for greater...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Standards (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: I assure the Minister that this is an issue on which we all want to work on a cross-party basis. In the debate we had last year, there was very strong agreement across the Chamber on the actions required. While I understand fully the provisions of the 1966 Act, we are being told by city and county managers that they are simply not strong enough. I sent the Minister and the chief executive...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Standards (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Minister. In The Irish Timestoday, Jack Power has a very good article listing a range of properties which are being advertised this week on a variety of social media websites primarily targeting foreign language students and migrant workers, although the substandard accommodation issues do not only occur in those sections of the rental market. I recommend strongly that the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (31 Jan 2018)

Eoin Ó Broin: 107. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of units to be developed in schemes benefitting from LIHAF; and the number of these units that will be sold in ranges (details supplied) by Dublin and outside Dublin respectively. [4584/18]