Results 1,421-1,440 of 9,065 for speaker:James Browne

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Approved Housing Bodies (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: The Approved Housing Body Strategic Forum process was established in late 2023 under Housing for All, with a mandate to examine the strategic challenges facing the sector, to work with key stakeholders to co-create a compelling vision for the sector's role in Ireland’s housing system in the decade(s) ahead and to identify a policy reform roadmap to underpin this vision. Led by my...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: 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 Act 1981 & 2003. My Department supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Parks and Wildlife Service (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: The National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department purchases land for conservation purposes under various schemes (Peatlands, LIFE etc.) and on a case by case basis to expand and support the National Parks and Nature reserve network. A list of such lands purchased since 2020 is provided in the table below.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme is open to eligible tenants of local authority houses that are available for sale under the scheme. The scheme is underpinned by the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 and the Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015 (as amended). The regulations provide for a number of specified classes of houses to be excluded from sale,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Environmental Policy (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: The Water Action Plan 2024 published by my Department sets out a roadmap to restore Ireland’s water bodies to ‘Good Ecological Status’ or better and to protect water from any further deterioration. This plan fulfils a legal obligation under the EU Water Framework Directive. In some instances, water bodies have been physically modified in the past to serve a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Banking Sector (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: My Department does not collect information on the operation on the mortgage market in Ireland. Questions relating to the operation of the commercial mortgage market should be directed to my colleague the Minister for Finance who has policy responsibility in this area. The role of my Department in mortgage origination is limited to the provision of the Local Authority Home Loan and the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: As detailed under Housing for All, the Government plans to deliver 54,000 affordable homes, including 36,000 affordable purchase and 18,000 cost rental homes, by 2030. A comprehensive implementation strategy is in place to support the various affordable housing schemes now being delivered by a range of delivery partners. Under Housing for All, two Affordable Purchase schemes have been...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: The role of my Department in mortgage origination is limited to the provision of the Local Authority Home Loan and the Local Authority Purchase and Renovation Loan, which are delivered by local authorities. Local authority lending for home purchase is designed to enable creditworthy first time buyers and fresh start applicants who have been unable to secure finance from commercial...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: The 'Fresh Start' principle forms a key element in 'Housing for All' and is applied across a number of schemes of my Department which may apply to some buying their second home. The Fresh start principle, as defined in Section 10 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021, allows certain purchasers to be treated as First Time Buyers and be eligible to apply for the purchase of an affordable home....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: The Affordable Housing Act 2021 requires that where a person is married, in a civil partnership or in an intimate and committed relationship with whom they intend to reside in the affordable dwelling, the application for an affordable dwelling must be a made jointly. This requirement to apply jointly applies to other affordability initiatives such as the Local Authority Home Loan. ...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: Local authorities will always have a level of vacancy in their housing stock, which will fluctuate over time, as tenancy surrender and re-letting of stock is a continuous process. Therefore, ongoing data in relation to vacant local authority owned homes is not routinely collated by my Department. Notwithstanding that, statistics in relation to social housing stock, at a point in time, are...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Parks and Wildlife Service (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of my Department has been working with Galway County Council in relation to this project since 2016. The NPWS wrote to Galway County Council on 27 June 2023 and 22 May 2024 and comprehensively set out its views in relation to this project and this remains the position. Further correspondence was received from Galway County Council on 9 June...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: The standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 and specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light, fire safety and the safety of gas, oil and electrical supplies. These Regulations apply to all properties let or available for let....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Public Private Partnerships (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 513 and 514 together. The clear focus of this Government is to increase the supply of new build social and affordable homes. This is key to addressing the housing challenge and in particular preventing and ultimately eliminating long term homelessness, and that unquestionably must be the priority for all local authorities. The social housing PPP...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Land Development Agency (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: As a key partner in the Government’s delivery of affordable and social homes, the Land Development Agency (LDA) is activating and securing the delivery of social and affordable homes in stalled planning consented developments, managing the State’s own lands to develop new homes and partnering with local authorities to unlock housing delivery at scale on their lands. In the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 522, 523 and 524 together. 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 Act 1981 & 2003. My Department supports the fire...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Websites (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: My Department employs analytic tools that have the facility to track website traffic. In late 2024 the government analytics provider changed for operational reasons. The data for the period 11 June 2024 to 30 November 2024 is from Google Analytics 4 (GA4). The data supplied for the period from 1 December 2024 to 11 June 2025, is from our current analytics provider, Matomo. Please...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 528 and 529 together. My Department jointly published the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People (NHSDP) 2022-2027 and Implementation Plan with the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Disability and Equality. The Implementation Plan sets out 107 Actions, across the themes of the Strategy, to achieve the vision of the joint...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: Pathway 4 of Housing for All sets out a blueprint to address vacancy and make efficient use of our existing housing stock. The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant introduced in July 2022, provides a grant of up to €50,000 for the refurbishment of vacant properties for occupation as a principal private residence and for properties which will be made available for rent. A top-up grant...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Derelict Sites (17 Jun 2025)

James Browne: The Derelict Sites Act 1990 imposes a general duty on every owner and occupier of land to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the land does not become, or continue to be, a derelict site as defined in the legislation. The Act also imposes a duty on local authorities to take all reasonable steps, including the exercise of appropriate statutory powers, to ensure that any land within their...