Results 14,281-14,300 of 25,979 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these Regulations. Responsibility for enforcement of the Regulations rests with the relevant local authority. The HAP scheme is underpinned by the Housing (Miscellaneous...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Enhanced Leasing Scheme was introduced in 2018 in order to encourage social housing leasing at a reasonable scale in order to supplement social housing delivery under other programmes. All potential proposals are submitted by the proposers to the Housing Agency for initial assessment and co-ordination with local authorities. The proposal is then submitted to my Department for approval....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Following the launch of the Social Housing Strategy 2020, a wide variety of stakeholders expressed an interest in being involved in the provision or financing of social housing across the country. On foot of a wide variety of interest from stakeholders in being involved in the provision of social housing, a structured, formal process was put in place to facilitate engagement with such...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Given the importance of the Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector in the delivery of social housing there is an ongoing level of communication and interaction with this sector across my Department regarding a range of funding streams and in the area of AHB policy and regulation. In regular meetings with officials of my Department the AHB sector advise and update on the status of projects...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: This Government is fully committed to implementing a new Cost Rental sector in Ireland. Significant progress has already been made through the Enniskerry Road pilot project supported by Serviced Sites Funding, the new Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) scheme, and through legislative provisions in the Affordable Housing Bill 2021, which was recently approved by Government and is now published....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: As set out in the reply to Question No. 46 of 20 April 2021, I understand that Limerick City and County Council has offered a number of payment options available to the borrowers concerned. It is important that these borrowers now seek independent financial advice on this matter. Under relevant legislation, I am precluded from intervening in relation to individual cases. To assist with the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Irish Water (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I refer to the reply given to Questions Nos. 126 and 127 of 12 May 2021 which sets out the up-to-date position in relation to this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (13 May 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 statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The SSHA has been conducted on an annual basis since 2016, prior to which it was carried out once every three years, with the last Summary under this approach having taken place in 2013. Below are links...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 259 and 260 together. The Social Housing Current Expenditure Programme (SHCEP) supports the delivery of social housing by providing financial support to local authorities for the long term leasing of houses and apartments from private owners and Approved Housing Bodies. At end 2020, a total of 9,208 leased properties were supported under SHCEP across all...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The current price caps envisaged for the Affordable Purchase Shared Equity Scheme are detailed below. These will be finalised in advance of the schemes deployment and will be kept under review. Determining the price caps requires balancing the accessibility of the scheme for eligible purchasers, mitigating against potential inflationary pressure and ensuring that a range of homes can be...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: On 8 February 2021 I announced approval in principle of funding for 390 new homes under the Cost Rental Equity Loan (CREL) scheme. This new scheme was allocated €35m in funding in Budget 2021, which is being used to make loans on favourable terms to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) for up to 30% of the cost of new homes for Cost Rental. The announcement followed a Call for Proposals and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 263, 264 and 265 together. The National Vacant Housing Reuse Strategy, which was published by my Department in 2018, strives to provide a targeted, effective and co-ordinated approach to identifying and tackling vacancy across Ireland. To assist local authorities in achieving this objective, my Department has, since 2018, provided funding to each local...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Circulars (13 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: In accordance with the requirements of Circular 20/2019, my Department collates information on the basis of a reporting template provided by the Environmental Protection Agency. This includes information on the total number and total value of contracts over €25,000 which have incorporated green public procurement, across a range of given priority sectors (e.g. transport, energy and IT...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (12 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme (RIHL) is designed to enable credit worthy first-time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand properties or self-builds. In relation to self-builds, the RIHL requires that construction is covered by latent defect insurance policies and is underwritten by Insurance Companies. Builders', manufacturers' or...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (12 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 116 and 117 together. My Department does not collect data in relation to the ownership of individual housing units purchased and sold in the housing market. I understand that data published by market commentators indicates that approximately 15,500 units were owned by investment trusts at the end of 2020. The Property Registration Authority (PRA), which was...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Advertising (12 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department has not incurred any expenditure on advertising in relation to COVID-19 related matters. In 2020, my Department spent €192,907 on awareness-raising public information material as part of the Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This expenditure related to the design and translation of the Community Call national leaflet into a number of languages and also...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (12 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department provides funding to all local authorities, including Mayo County Council, to support the delivery of new social homes via a range of programmes, including through build, acquisition and leasing. Statistics on all social housing delivery activity including via build programmes, is publicly available on my Department’s website, at the following link: . In addition to the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Wastewater Treatment (12 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I refer to the reply to Question No. 785 of 21 April 2021 which sets out the position in this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (12 May 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 Policy Statement on Housing...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (12 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The approved housing body referred to delivered new build social homes through the Capital Loan and Subsidy Scheme. This funding model involves local authorities accessing loan finance from the Housing Finance Agency to support approved housing bodies to deliver homes for social use. The funding arrangement is secured by way of a mortgage agreement between the relevant local authority and the...