Results 15,121-15,140 of 26,971 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My office has received five emails from the office of the Lord Mayor in relation to Report No. 70/2020 - Housing Strategic Policy Committee Report on the Development of Lands at Oscar Traynor Roadincluding one acknowledgement of receipt of my office’s reply. The initial correspondence from the office of the Lord Mayor requesting a meeting was received on 29 January 2021. A reply was...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Affordable Housing Bill 2021 provides for three schemes delivering on the Programme for Government commitment to put affordability at the heart of the housing system and prioritise the increased supply of affordable homes through (1) affordable homes on local authority lands, (2) the introduction of a new form of tenure in Cost Rental, and (3) a new affordable purchase shared equity...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Issues (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland has recently published two reports on residential delivery costs. The Real Cost of New Housing Delivery,published in 2020, and The Real Costs of New Apartment Delivery, publishedin 2021 respectively provide an analysis based on real market data, on the typical overall cost of development for houses and apartments in the Dublin area. Each report...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department is committed to ensuring that existing housing stock is utilised to its fullest extent including providing a targeted, effective and co-ordinated approach to identifying and tackling vacancy across Ireland.There are a range of measures to assist in meeting housing needs by ensuring that our existing housing stock is used to the greatest extent possible. My Department published...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Supports (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: There have been a number of deaths, in recent months, of people who had been sleeping rough or accessing homeless services. Each of these deaths is a tragedy and I extend my sympathies to the families concerned. The deaths of people availing of homeless services are a concern and are being taken very seriously. It is important that we establish the facts concerning the circumstances...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks in Construction (Remediation) (Financial Assistance) Regulations 2020 came in to operation on 31 January 2020 and the resulting Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme has been open for applications since the end of June last year. The scheme design was informed by the comprehensive work of an Expert Panel and the current...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a flexible and immediate housing support that is available to all eligible households throughout the State. At end Q4 2020 there were nearly 60,000 households in receipt of HAP and over 33,520 separate landlords and agents providing accommodation to households supported by the scheme. In respect of the provision of HAP funding, Limerick City and...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I have no wish to interrupt Deputy Boyd Barrett. I know we are starting off but we have gone back to group 1 and now we are going back to group 2. I know there was a question about whether we have dealt with amendments Nos. 42 to 44, inclusive. It is difficult to follow. We are back on the grouping we dealt with. We are not on group 2. I am not sure whether the Chairman can give some...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: My thanks to Deputy Boyd Barrett for his amendments. I will deal with his initial comments first. We are talking here about a commercial semi-state company. It is 100% publicly owned. It is fully accountable to the Oireachtas. There is full oversight. I have ensured that there will be full freedom of information provisions and oversight from the Comptroller and Auditor General. It...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Again, we discussed this at length on Tuesday. This is about delivery. The main purpose of the LDA will be to deliver affordable and social housing. In many instances, particularly in our urban centres, we will have 100% affordable and social in the sense that entire developments will be made up that mix of housing, particularly in Dublin and in Cork. We need to ensure the agency also has...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputies for their contributions. No one is talking about offering unaffordable, open market sales at all. Deputy Ó Broin knows that. I intend to align the provisions of Part 9 more closely to the provisions of the recently published Affordable Housing Bill. This significant affordable housing legislation is in the Seanad and will, hopefully, pass Committee Stage...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I assure Deputy O'Callaghan I am extremely serious about delivering affordable and social homes to the Land Development Agency at scale. That is not just talking about it but actually doing something about it, as colleagues in Fingal County Council did on Tuesday. I do not defend that by the way, but I welcome it. The Deputy will have to explain, as Deputies Ó Broin and Boyd Barrett...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I will happily respond to that. I was not ignoring the Deputy's question but it relates to the Affordable Housing Bill, which is not the Bill in front of us. It is a matter of caps, not targets. We are not setting affordability at the levels of the caps; rather, we are saying the cap in an area is unaffordable. The measures being introduced in the Affordable Housing Bill, such as shared...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: With respect to Deputy Boyd Barrett, I have answered his question even though it does not relate directly to the group of amendments.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I fully understand where the Deputies are coming from and I am certainly happy to examine the remit of the agency. Following on from our debate on the previous grouping of amendments, we need to be clear that the LDA is not a housing authority or a planning authority. The primary responsibility for the delivery of homes and of Traveller accommodation is with the local authorities, and I...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (27 May 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputies Ó Broin, Gould and Smith for tabling those two amendments. I fully understand the intent of the amendments. To follow on from what Deputy Boyd Barrett said, I have always been, and continue to be, a full and unambiguous supporter of Traveller-specific accommodation and improving the lot of our Traveller community. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, has been...