Results 15,141-15,160 of 25,999 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I will deal with some of the questions and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, will respond to the question about horticultural peat. On housing, it is unfortunate that we have had to close the construction sector in the interests of public safety and to reduce the movement of people. There are some exemptions and those regulations will be updated and published later tonight. The...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Those are regulations from the first level 5 restrictions earlier this month. The regulations are being worked through right now and will be published later on this evening or tomorrow. Obviously, where people need certain works done so they can get into their house in the short term, we ask them to take a pragmatic and realistic approach on that and if someone is a week away from getting...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: When did the Deputy write to me?

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I will respond to both Deputies in writing. Deputy Collins' figures on the homeless numbers are from 2019 . Thankfully, since then more than 2,000 people have exited homelessness. The 2020 November figures will show a great improvement, down nearly 19% overall and nearly 40% for child and family homelessness. On the issues of rural planning, the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, and I...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I am.

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: To be helpful, Simon is part of my homeless task force delivery. I engage with them every week.

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Absolutely.

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I ask the Deputy to refer the details to me and I will have someone look into the specific cases.

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Yes, I will gladly do so. I know the Deputy's constituency well and also the area to which he referred. It is a designated growth area providing much-needed homes. The assessment of URDF applications has concluded and the work of assessing applications is ongoing, with a view to making announcements in this regard in the first quarter, hopefully by the end of February. While that may not...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Deputy has made a good point. We have changed the regulations to permit that method of inspection and we encourage all local authorities to proceed on that basis. The pandemic poses difficulties for local authorities but there is no reason people should be living in substandard accommodation. In the budget, we also allocated significant additional funding for the Residential Tenancies...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy Hourigan for her question and the points raised. I want to be clear, once more, that the issue of local connection is not a barrier to anyone accessing emergency accommodation. I followed up that letter of the 9th, which the Deputy referred to, of an announcement I had made on the 7th, and have had a meeting since with the local authorities, with housing officer and with the...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy Tóibín for his question. The Deputy will understand why I will not refer to a specific case, but every death of a person accessing homeless services is an absolute tragedy. My condolences and those of the Government go to that gentleman, his family and his friends. I said that we would investigate this issue. The deaths of those accessing homeless services...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I will do my level best to try to do so. No one is operating with any degree of ignorance here. I assure the Deputy of that. I have already answered on the issue of homeless deaths. On local connection, the Deputy did raise this issue in the Dáil previously. This process was changed and that did not just happen just on foot of what the Deputy had said. I announced the change on...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy McAuliffe for his intervention and for affording me some time to respond to some of the charges. The level of aggression, particularly from the Sinn Féin Members in the questioning and barraging in which they have engaged, has been telling. I get a sense that the reason they are so focused on the affordable housing scheme is that they do not want it to work because they...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for her contribution but our changes have not failed. They have been in place for less than six months. We have increased the eligibility limit for the single-stage approval process to €6 million. I have met the chief executives and directors of services of all the main local authorities either virtually or in person to set their housing targets for 2021, leaving...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Does Deputy Barry wish to contribute and I will respond to both Deputies then?

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I will do my best to respond in the 23 seconds remaining. Under the programme for Government, the SHDs will expire at the end of the year. That is what has been agreed between the three parties. I believe in public housing on public land. I believe in real affordable housing but I also believe in delivering it. I do not know whether Deputy Barry, when he was a councillor in Cork, ever...

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: In the Deputy's constituency, which happens to be mine, which I know very well, we will be delivering affordable homes in Lusk and Rush this year. I do not want to be too colloquial about it. She will be aware of that. There are more than 90 active sites in the area. I believe in home ownership, as does my party and the Government.

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: That is the reason we want to help first-time buyers. I do not want to shoot schemes down before they have even been seen. We will deliver home ownership for young people.

Response of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to Covid-19: Statements (28 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: We will deliver affordable rental in the constituency too.