Results 16,041-16,060 of 25,999 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I apologise.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I will take the last question first. I agree with the Deputy. I have already met our delivery partners, the local authorities and the approved housing bodies. In any schemes that are brought to us, I want to see designs for community schemes that provide for a mix of units. I visited one such scheme yesterday with the Taoiseach in Balgriffin. More than half the units there are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: On Deputy Ó Murchú's question on Housing First, our priority is to expand it into the rest of the country on a singles basis first. Where local authorities such as Louth County Council have other plans, they should bring them forward and we will have a look at them. Our focus must be on tackling homelessness and expanding Housing First as it exists.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Referendum Campaigns (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The commitments in relation to constitutional reform in the programme for Government provide for the holding of a referendum on housing. My Department has begun the initial work on scoping the complex issues involved and will in due course make recommendations on how we might progress such a referendum. I do intend to, and will, consult with my colleagues in government as to the proposal...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Funding (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I would not want to ruin the surprise for the Deputy. To be serious, because this is serious, staff and services are being provided to our citizens across the Twenty-six Counties. A couple of points arise. The €600 million waiver provided is not insignificant. Colleagues will agree that significant work and negotiation were required to ensure a waiver of 100%. In early April,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 39, 46 and 47 together. I thank the Deputies. The programme for Government, Our Shared Future, commits to reducing and preventing homelessness and provides detail on how the Government will approach it as a priority. This year, we are seeing a reduction in the numbers of people in emergency accommodation. That is to be welcomed. Deputy Murphy's...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Does the Deputy oppose the supply of 597 homes?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Does the Deputy oppose the provision of 597 homes?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for his valid question. All of us hope that we do not have to move up further through the levels. Work is ongoing with regard to other measures that may have to be taken in the future, particularly if it was a level 5 event. I earnestly hope that will not be the case. I know the Deputy is aware of the protections that are in place under the Residential Tenancies and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, published its quarterly report on 2 October and within that are some of the facts that pertain to the positive effect within the market of the new protections and the new legislation the Government brought forward. As a result of the legislation we are now able to track the number of 28-day warning letters for rent arrears issued. We were not able to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: From the medical advice that we are given there is no question that people moving through society during a virus pandemic enhances the risk of its spread. That is the reason measures were taken by the previous Oireachtas and why further measures have been taken here to protect tenants. It is something that we will watch. Significant permanent changes were made in the Residential Tenancies...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Funding (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy Ó Broin. Funding local government is a serious issue and something all of us want to ensure because they have had a very tough time. I take this opportunity to thank the staff in the 31 local authorities across the country who have gone above and beyond the call of duty during this pandemic. Our citizens saw the commitment of the women and men in local authorities to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Housing Policy (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Did Deputy Murphy ever vote for a development plan?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Housing (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: To conclude, it is a priority. We want to build more new homes. Covid has had an impact on output this year. I mentioned to colleagues earlier that between 16,000 and 18,000 house completions will happen this year, half, or even less, of which will be local authority completions between acquisitions, leasing and builds. There is even greater pressure to use the existing stock we have in a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Housing (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank my colleague, Deputy Brendan Smith, for raising this matter and agree with him completely. It is a frustration for all of us to see housing stock that is not in use and that is why, in July this year, I announced €40 million in funding and a targeted approach for all 31 local authorities to bring voids, which are vacant stock, back into use. We set each of the local...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authority Housing (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy. He has raised the important point that the voids programme provides local employment. The programme provides housing for local people and a lot of the work involves smaller local contractors. The scheme that the Government brought forward in July created 750 jobs across the country. We need that to be sustainable into the future. I mentioned earlier that we need to...

Priority Questions: Rent Controls (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for the question. The Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 provided a temporary moratorium on tenancy terminations, other than in exceptional or limited cases, and on all increases in rent during the period from 27 March to 1 August 2020. The emergency measures aimed to assist in restricting the movement of people to suppress the spread of...

Priority Questions: Rent Controls (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The facts simply do not bear that out. The Deputy voted against these protections in July this year that we brought forward to put protections on tenancies. These were not just temporary protections relating to the pandemic but also in relation to dealing with rent arrears, the extension of the rent arrears notice, the fact that if a landlord issues a rent arrears notice, it has to go to...

Priority Questions: Rent Controls (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: If the Deputy has any information or facts around landlords who are trying to circumvent regulations, he should bring it to the attention of the RTB. Since the RTB was empowered to initiate sanctions against landlords, it has processed information in relation to 704 tenancies and this has led to commencing investigations on nearly 200. That is what needs to happen. That is why we need to...

Priority Questions: Housing Provision (6 Oct 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I cannot give the Deputy a commitment today. I have engaged intensively with the HSE in this regard. One of the first things I did when I was appointed Minister was set up a homelessness delivery task force. It meets every week and is made up of the stakeholders such as the homelessness NGOs and the tenancy advocates, as well as senior officials in my Department. From that has evolved a...