Results 1,601-1,620 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Wind Energy Guidelines (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: 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 the Environment. The review is addressing a number of key...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Protection of Tenants in Receipt of Rental Supports (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: 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. Under sections 18A and 18B of the Housing (Miscellaneous...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Accommodation Provision (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: 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 was published in September 2018 and contains targets for each local authority. The Plan includes an overall target of 663...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Eligibility (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Part 5 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 was commenced in June 2018 to provide a statutory basis for the delivery of affordable housing for purchase. Regulations in respect of the making of Schemes of Priority were signed on 12 March 2019, and these were issued to local authorities on 22 March 2019. The purpose of a Scheme of Priority is to set out the affordable...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector Strategy (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: My Department has been in regular contact with relevant planning authorities regarding the new short-term letting legislation, both before and subsequent to its commencement on 1 July 2019. In order for the new legislation to have the desired effect and achieve its objective of returning much-needed accommodation to the long-term rental market, it is essential that relevant planning...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The provision of Cost Rental homes will focus on areas where housing cost affordability is a challenge for moderate income households. As a result, this will see the initial emphasis on major urban areas. While two ‘pathfinder’ pilot projects are located in Dublin, it is intended that Cost Rental will become a national scheme, to be delivered at scale over the longer term. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: EU Legislation (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: While the question has a broad ambit, I can only answer with reference to my own remit in terms of my responsibility for housing in this jurisdiction. The right to housing assistance is referred to in Article 34(3) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union dealing with social security and social assistance and it provides that: In order to combat social exclusion and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: As a key initiative of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is designed to fund the provision of public off-site infrastructure to relieve critical blockages and enable housing developments to be built on key sites at scale. Funding of €200 million was originally made available under LIHAF, of which...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water and Sewerage Schemes Grants (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Earlier this year I announced details of the new Multi-annual Rural Water Programme 2019-2021. This included an improved funding scheme for individual wells. The composition of the new multi-annual programme is based on recommendations from the Working Group that I established in April 2018 to conduct a review of investment needs and rural water services. The changes that I have approved to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Chairman. I am joined by Mr. John McCarthy, Secretary General, and Ms Maria Graham, Ms Mary Hurley and Mr. Paul Lemass, assistant secretaries. Members have received a copy of my opening statement which, if it is acceptable to them, we will take as read. I congratulate the Chairman on his appointment and wish him the best of luck. He has big shoes to fill because Deputy Bailey...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for his questions, which covered a couple of different areas. I will start with the Deputy's first and last point around the cap and the move from €2 million to €6 million. To be able to raise that cap we would require a derogation from the public spending code from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We would need to seek that derogation. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The Housing Agency has a mandate to lead on bank-led vacancies and that is what it is doing. One of the things we have made clear to local authorities is not to compete with private buyers when it comes to new houses. That is separate from the issue of turn-key properties where the homes would not have been built at all were it not for the interest of the local authorities in spending the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The Deputy spoke about the figure for the market last year but I would dispute that. On the recent mortgage numbers, I believe that 24,000 mortgage were approved. I saw something else recently talking about 50,000 transactions. The market is a lot bigger than 7,000 so I am not quite sure where Deputy O'Brien got that number from.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: On institutional investors, the current data I have is that from the approximately 350,000 homes and apartments to rent, 10,000 are owned by institutional investors. This is a tiny portion. I am keeping this under review, as is the Department of Finance from a tax perspective, and I am in discussions with the Minister for Finance on this. It is important to say that institutional investors...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I addressed this issue in the Dáil earlier today. If what the Deputy is alleging happened, it is illegal and a matter for the Garda. I have already attempted to make contact with Deputy Coppinger to get information about the case. My office is also contacting the Department of Justice and Equality to see how we might compile statistics or evidence in this area. As with any other...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Senator for his questions. I refer to the points he raised about Tusla. When the Ombudsman for Children released his report, perhaps three months ago, I met him and we talked through the different recommendations in the report. We discussed the need to ensure all necessary care and supports are being put in place, including by agencies that do not report directly to me, of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: To respond to the question on the potential increase of between €2 million and €6 million on the one-stage and the four-stage in the social housing approval process, I cannot confirm anything because I have not had an opportunity to consult the Department of Finance on the need for a derogation and whether such a derogation would be forthcoming. As we made clear as a Government...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for those questions. On homelessness, a lot of the inquiries we are seeing are being driven by individuals and the complexities we have there. We are moving to increase the number of additional emergency accommodation places we have for individuals because it is important to do that. What we saw for two months in a row was a decrease in the overall numbers but for three...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Roughly. It is 10,275 in emergency accommodation and the number of children is slightly below 4,000 at 3,778. That is as of the end of July.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Update on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Discussion (18 Sep 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I do not have a breakdown in front of me on single-parent families but there are about 1,721 families in emergency accommodation.