Results 15,221-15,240 of 25,999 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The regeneration of Poolbeg West is the next important step in transforming the Docklands area, given its strategic location east of Grand Canal Dock, with close proximity to important bridge connections to Dublin Port and North Lotts. In relation to the activation of these lands it is this Department’s understanding that, having decided to embark on the competitive tendering...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government provides that the Government will establish a Commission on Housing to examine issues such as tenure, standards, sustainability, and quality of life issues in the provision of housing. Further scoping is necessary as to the most appropriate type of structure for the Commission and to flesh out the issues that it will be tasked with examining. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Data (27 Jan 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 report the Deputy is referring to has been commissioned by the Department of Health who have asked the Health Research Board to undertake a one-year feasibility study to...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme introduced in 2012 is targeted at supporting households in mortgage arrears who have had their mortgage position deemed unsustainable by their lender under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP); agree to the voluntary surrender of their home and are deemed eligible for social housing support. The property in question must also meet certain...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Dublin City Council has been granted Approval in Principle for Serviced Site Funding of €18,750,000 in respect of the proposed development St. Michael's Estate development at Emmet Road, Dublin 8. This funding will support the delivery of 375 cost rental homes on this site. These homes will form 70% of the total homes in the development. The remaining 30% of homes will be social...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Shared Ownership Scheme (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 306 to 308, inclusive, together. The "Shared Ownership Scheme" was a national scheme introduced by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in 1992. Local authorities administered the Scheme in each of their administrative areas. The Shared Ownership Scheme was discontinued in June 2011 by the then Government. The Shared...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Accommodation (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 312, 338 and 344 together. My Department's role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless services rests with individual housing...

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

Darragh O'Brien: My Department launched the Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Programme in 2013 with the aim of funding retrofit of social homes requiring insulation and energy upgrade works. Since the programme commenced in 2013 over 73,500 units of social housing stock have been retrofitted with a total exchequer spend of €161 million under the scheme. The Energy Efficiency Programme has been...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Proposed Legislation (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Section 9 of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2020 provides that a person guilty of an offence under the Acts shall be liable on summary conviction to a Class B fine of between €2,500 and €4,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both. If the offence is continued after conviction, the person is guilty of a further offence every day that the offence persists...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 321 and 322 together. The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including the cost of pre-letting repairs to vacant properties and the carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. However since 2014, Exchequer funding has also been provided through my...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Probate Data (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I am informed by the Property Registration Authority (PRA) that, as a registering authority, the PRA is part of the process of dealing with property involving probate on foot of applications for registration lodged with it, but it has no involvement in the process of extracting the Grant of Probate. I am further informed that a number of application types require that the PRA has sight of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Derelict Sites (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities are empowered under a number of statutes to acquire land, by agreement or compulsorily, for the purposes of performing any of its functions, including any derelict site situated within their functional area under the Derelict Sites Act 1990. In this context, the exercise of compulsory purchase powers to acquire land is a matter for local authorities and is subject to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The advancement of each URDF supported project is, in the first instance, a matter for the individual local authority involved. It is also a matter for each local authority as an independent statutory body to establish whether their projects can be considered essential by reference to the relevant regulations concerning restrictions during the current Covid 19 lockdown (The Health Act 1947...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Capital Assistance Scheme (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Information on the funding provision under the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS) to each of the local authorities is set out below, for each of the three years 2018-20. Under CAS, funding of up to 100% of project costs may be advanced by local authorities to Approved Housing Bodies to provide accommodation for priority categories on the waiting list including elderly, people/families who are...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payment (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the HAP scheme, tenants source their own accommodation in the private rented market. The accommodation sourced by tenants should be within the prescribed maximum HAP rent limits, which are based on household size and the rental market within the area concerned. Each local authority has statutory discretion to agree to a HAP payment up to 20% above the prescribed maximum rent limit to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Reviews (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016. The Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme. To be eligible, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum and having been in receipt of social housing support...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Housing First enables homeless individuals with high levels of complex needs to obtain permanent secure accommodation with the provision of intensive housing and health supports to help them maintain their tenancies. The National Implementation Plan for Housing First, published in September 2018, which puts the programme on a national footing, is designed to provide this response, by...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Help-To-Buy Scheme (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government, ‘Our Shared Future’, commits to putting affordability at the heart of the housing system, and to progress a state-backed affordable home purchase scheme to promote home ownership. To begin delivering on these commitments, Budget 2021 allocated €75 million for an affordable housing shared equity scheme. Broadly, the objectives of an...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Emergency Accommodation (27 Jan 2021)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 336 and 337 together. My Department's role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless services rests with individual housing authorities. ...