Results 15,521-15,540 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: I am informed by my colleague, the Minister for Health, that participants in the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS), also known as “Fair Deal”, scheme which provides financial support for those in need of long-term nursing home care, contribute to the cost of their care according to their means while the State pays the balance of the cost. Participants in the Scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Data (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The role of the Housing Agency is to work with and support local authorities, approved housing bodies and my Department in the delivery of housing and housing services. From January 2016 up until the launch of Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness in July 2016, the Agency purchased 20 properties at a total cost of €3,199,500, on behalf of local authorities, for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Derelict Sites (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Derelict Sites Act 1990 requires every owner and occupier of land, including a statutory body and a State authority, to take all reasonable steps to ensure that land does not become or does not continue to be a derelict site. It also requires that local authorities take reasonable steps, including the exercise of appropriate statutory powers, to ensure that any land within their...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Assets (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: Local Authorities are independent in the execution of their powers and the directly elected members are democratically accountable for all expenditure of the authority. Notwithstanding their independence, local authorities are required to keep proper accounting, books, records and control systems including a register of fixed assets and a register of lands in accordance with the Accounting...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Policy (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The National Taking-in-Charge Initiative (NTICI) for residential estates, with funding of €9 million, was launched in April 2016 to explore enhanced systems and procedures and new methods of working to accelerate the taking-in-charge process of housing estates. Of the funding allocated, €7.7 million was paid out to local authorities and almost 330 developments containing 13,400...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The Government’s Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing & Homelessness contains a commitment to extend the use of choice- based letting (CBL) by local authorities as a method of allocating social housing support. This is in recognition of the benefits that a CBL system can deliver to social housing applicants, existing social housing tenants and to local authorities. On...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Repair and Leasing Scheme (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: I can confirm that following the success of the initial pilot in Waterford and Carlow local authorities, the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS) is being rolled out on a national basis from today. I am making an additional €26m available to fund the scheme in 2017, which brings the total amount available this year to €32m. This additional investment in 2017 means that delivery...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Applications Data (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: On Monday last, I published a Social Housing Construction Projects Status Report, which lists all approved projects including those delivered in 2016 and those at various stages of advancement through planning, design and construction. This report can be seen at the following link: www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/publications/files/re...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payments Data (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 218 and 239 together. The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) has been rolled out to local authorities on a statutory phased basis since September 2014.  As HAP is rolled out nationally it replaces Rent Supplement for households with a long-term housing need. The annual cost of the HAP scheme to the Exchequer is made up of the continuing cost of supporting...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Water Charges (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: As provided for in the 'Confidence and Supply Arrangement' agreed in the context of supporting a minority government, a Special Oireachtas Committee is currently deliberating on the findings of the Expert Commission on Domestic Public Water Services. This work is due to be completed by mid-March 2017. The Oireachtas will then consider the recommendations of the Special Committee and will...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Applications (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: My Department has recently received a Stage 4 submission from Galway County Council in relation to the construction of the dwelling referred to in the question. This submission is currently being assessed by my Department and I expect that a recommendation will issue to Galway County Council shortly.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Departmental Records (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: I refer to the reply to Question No. 493 of 17 January 2017 which sets out the position on this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Maintenance (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including the implementation of planned maintenance programmes and carrying out of responsive repairs to tenants already living in social housing and pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, is a matter for each individual local authority under section 58 of the Housing Act, 1966. In line with commitments in Rebuilding...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Funding (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: On Monday last, I published a Social Housing Construction Projects Status Report, which lists all approved projects, including those delivered in 2016 and those at various stages of advancement through planning, design and construction. This report, which includes a number of projects for Cavan and Monaghan areas, which are either recently completed or being advanced, can be accessed at the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Departmental Records (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: The cost per year for storage of data and or files on cloud storage or third party servers is set out in the following table: 2014 2015 2016 129,746.70 110,022.85 159,681 .25 The main costs relate to hosting charges associated with my Department’s Geographic Information Systems. This includes cloud based servers, databases and hosting as well as data storage. Since May 2013,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Regulatory Impact Assessment Data (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIAs) are commonly undertaken within my Department at an early stage in the policy development process, as they are regarded as a valuable tool in deciding the best approach to take. In general, after the text of a Bill has been agreed by Government, any related RIA is published on the Department’s website, . The following table sets out the position as...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: An Bord Pleanála Review (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: Further to the Organisational Review of An Bord Pleanála, undertaken by an independent expert panel and published in March 2016, an Implementation Group, comprising representation from my Department and An Bord Pleanála, has been established to oversee the implementation of the Review Group recommendations. To date, the Group has met on three occasions (18th October 2016, 25th...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Data (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: Under my Department’s Social Housing Capital Investment and Social Housing Current Expenditure Programmes, funding is provided to local authorities to deliver additional social housing stock through new construction projects and through the acquisition of new and previously owned houses/apartments. Details on the number of properties constructed, purchased and leased by all local...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Data (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: On Monday last, I published a Social Housing Construction Projects Status Report, which lists all approved projects including those delivered in 2016 and those at various stages of advancement through planning, design and construction. This report can be accessed at the following link: . The report contains a range of information in relation to each separate social housing construction...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (23 Feb 2017)

Simon Coveney: It is up to each local authority, including Kildare County Council, to consider what are the best mechanisms for the delivery of social housing units in their area and this can include traditional construction methods, rapid delivery, acquisitions and also can include the delivery of units through current-funded programmes, such as the Rental Accommodation Scheme, Housing Assistance Payment...