Results 14,541-14,560 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: I am open to considering all options for innovative approaches to funding additional social and mixed tenure housing.  Representatives acting on my behalf have met with the group in question and the proposals referred to will now be considered by my Department.  The Programme for Government provides that we will examine the possibilities for new and innovative roles...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Diaspora Issues (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Government decided in March of this year to hold a referendum to amend the Constitution to give the right to vote at presidential elections to Irish citizens resident outside the State, including Northern Ireland. In order to inform public discourse on the significant policy change proposed, I published an Options Paper on 22 March 2017, which is available on my Department's website at ....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Policy (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: The recent NERI report Ireland's Housing Emergency: Time for A Game Changer is to be welcomed as an important addition to the debate on housing in Ireland. I note that there is considerable common ground between the NERI report and the Government’s Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan and the Strategy for the Rental Sector. For example, and in line with Rebuilding Ireland, the NERI report...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: My Department routinely monitors the planning process and acts to ensure it facilitates appropriate multi-unit housing developments to meet the broader housing requirements of society. My Department’s 2009 Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas encourage local authorities to bring about high quality and sustainable urban...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Provision (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: Rebuilding Ireland has put in place both the targets and funding resources to accelerate the delivery by 2021 of 47,000 social homes. This work is already well underway and we are increasingly seeing new social housing construction projects move onto site. I recently published the latest update of the Status Report on Social Housing Construction Projects, which now includes over 600 social...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Data (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: Details in respect of the substantial pipeline of new social housing construction projects that is now in place are set out in the Status Report on Social Housing Construction Projects, the latest update of which I published last week and which is available at the following link: . Details of all the social housing construction projects being implemented across...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Mortgage to Rent Scheme Administration (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: The review of the Mortgage to Rent scheme published in February 2017, concluded that the current financial model of the Mortgage to Rent scheme may not, in its current configuration, be capable of delivering the scale of successful cases that could benefit from the scheme over time. In order to test the operability of alternative funding models for the scheme, the Housing Agency is...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Alternative Energy Projects (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: There are no specific planning guidelines in place in respect of solar farms. Proposals for individual solar farm developments are subject to the statutory requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, in the same manner as other proposed developments. Planning applications are made to the relevant local planning authority with a right of appeal to An Bord Pleanála....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Community Development Initiatives (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: The importance of creating sustainable communities is recognised in the National Planning Policy Statement published in 2015. In addition, national-level policy approaches in relation to residential densities in urban areas are set out in my Department’s Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas. These place a heavy...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Data (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 30, 33 and 57 together. The recording and reporting of statistics on housing activity is complex and involves tracking a range of different indicators, including planning permissions, construction commencement notices, ESB connections and several others, from various sources, each of which measure different aspects of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Eligibility (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 prescribe maximum net income limits for each housing authority, in different bands according to the area, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard Household Means Policy. The income bands and the authority area assigned to each band were based on an assessment of the income needed to provide for a household's basic needs...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation Costs (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: It is well understood that under-supply is the fundamental cause of the significant challenges in the housing sector.  The Government's attention has been very much focused on addressing this, as is clear from the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness, published in July 2016, and the Strategy for the Rental Sector, published in December 2016, which lay out a range of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Policy (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: A range of measures are being taken under the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness to increase housing supply overall, with the aim of creating a functioning and sustainable housing system which can meet housing demand at more affordable prices. The plan is divided into five pillars, with each targeting a specific area of the housing system.Pillar 3, entitled Build...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: I refer the Deputy to the reply to Question No. 5  on today's Order Paper which sets out the position in this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Provision (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: I refer to the reply to Question Number 232 of 16 May 2017, which sets out the position in this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: I am aware of reports relating to advertisements of the kind referred to.  As there may be criminal activity involved in some instances, I would urge people to report any concerns in this regard to An Garda Síochána.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Approved Housing Bodies (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: Under my Department’s Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS), funding of up to 100% of project costs may be advanced by housing authorities to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) to provide accommodation for various target groups, including specific categories of housing need such as accommodation for the elderly, homeless people and people with a disability.  Applications to deliver new...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Data (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Census of Population and Housing collected and published by the Central Statistics Office produces a wide range of different housing statistics, none of which maps precisely to the measurements which are disseminated by my Department. Amongst the most important of those measures are the net change to the total housing stock, the net change to the occupied housing stock and the numbers of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Rent Controls (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: The existing rent pressure zones were designated because they meet the criteria required under the Act, which are: (i) that rents are above the national average, and (ii) that rent price inflation has been 7% or more in four of the last six quarters. Other areas, including those adjoining and surrounding rent pressure zones, do not meet the criteria for designation and therefore have not...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Emergency Accommodation Data (25 May 2017)

Simon Coveney: It is my intention that homeless families be transitioned from hotel arrangements as quickly as possible and to limit the extent to which hotel accommodation has to be used for new family presentations, and my Department continues to work closely with housing authorities to realise this objective. The use of hotels for emergency accommodation is a much more significant issue in the Dublin...