Results 15,721-15,740 of 25,999 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Rates (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The closure of power plants in Offaly and Longford will have a negative impact on the commercial rates income of Offaly and Longford County Councils, an impact which has been fully recognised by my Department. In recognition of this, my colleague, the Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, Peter Burke, T.D., and I recently announced the allocation of compensatory funding for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Wastewater Treatment (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels including information on current population equivalent in terms of the operating capacity of the Drogheda Waste Water Treatment Plant. Irish Water has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Wind Energy Guidelines (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department is currently undertaking a focused review of the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines in line with the “preferred draft approach” which was announced in June 2017 by the then Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, in conjunction with the then Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The review is addressing a number of key...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Offices (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department does not have lease arrangements with co-working real estate companies. The majority of offices used by staff in my Department are managed by the Office of Public Works.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Offices (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The information requested by the Deputy is currently being compiled and will be forwarded in accordance with Standing Orders.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Deer Hunting (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The license in question issued from my Department earlier this week.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Inspections (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light and the safety of gas, oil and electrical supplies. With very limited exemptions, these apply to all private rented residential accommodation. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Part IV of the Housing Act 1966 deals with overcrowding and establishes effective limits on the numbers of people that can occupy the same bedroom. The Act requires, inter alia, that there is at least 400 cubic feet of free air space for each person in a bedroom. Local Authorities are responsible for the enforcement of this legislation. Under the Act, a housing authority may request...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2020, to operate a national tenancy registration system and to facilitate the resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants. The Clerk of the Dáil requested that arrangements be put in place to facilitate the provision of information by State...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath TD published a number of spending review papers on 5 November 2020, including a paper on the Social Housing Build Programme. The paper examines local authority build programmes in six local authorities, encompassing local authority build, Approved Housing Body build and the acquisition of newly built units through Turnkey and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government commits to increasing the social housing stock by more than 50,000, with an emphasis on new builds. In 2021, the total funding being made available for the delivery of housing programmes is €3.3bn. This includes funding to deliver 12,750 social homes through build, acquisition and leasing. A major focus of this investment is the delivery of new build,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The current cost guidelines for the acquisition of houses and apartments for use as social housing were issued to all local authorities, including to Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council in April 2019, under Circular 15/2019. The relevant details will be provided to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Emergency Accommodation (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Supporting individuals and families experiencing homelessness is a priority for this Government and a range of measures are in place which reflect that priority. My Department is funding an initiative to provide homeless families residing in temporary emergency accommodation in the Dublin Region with access to free public transport for essential school journeys. The Dublin Region...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Issues (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Supports towards the purchase of housing, including affordable housing under Part 5 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, the Help to Buy Scheme and the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan, are generally directed towards first time buyers. An exception is in Part 5 whereby a prospective purchaser who previously purchased a dwelling under an affordable dwelling purchase...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Legislative Programme (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government - Our Shared Future - contains a commitment to develop comprehensive legislation for the identification, designation and management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Irish waters. It contains a further commitment to realise Ireland's outstanding target of 10% MPA coverage as soon as is practical and to aim for 30% by 2030. These commitments will advance the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Parks and Wildlife Service (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: There is a commitment in the Programme for Government to review the remit, status and funding of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to ensure that it is playing an effective role in delivering its overall mandate and enforcement role in the protection of wildlife. I have decided that the review should be headed by an independent chairperson overseeing a triptych review process...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 209 and 210 together. Local authorities are responsible for the provision of social housing in their areas, and, as such, decide on the number and specific types of dwellings to provide in their developments, based on identified need. My Department oversees national social housing delivery at programme and scheme level and does not hold specific details in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The National Housing Strategy for people with a Disability (NHSPWD) 2011-2016 and associated National Implementation Framework were jointly published by my Department and the Department of Health. They set out the Government’s broad framework for the delivery of housing for people with disabilities and were developed as part of a coherent framework in conjunction with the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homelessness Strategy (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 212 and 217 together. My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the statutory role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (12 Nov 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: In Budget 2021, the total funding being made available for the delivery of housing programmes was €3.3 billion. From this sum, €468 million will be specifically provided to support housing affordability measures. This includes the Serviced Sites Fund, the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund, the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan and the Land Development Agency (LDA)....