Results 16,301-16,320 of 25,999 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Acht na dTeangacha Oifigiúla (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Eisítear freagraí ar Cheisteanna Parlaiminte sa teanga ina gcuirtear iad. Cé gur leagadh amach na “sonraí a soláthraíodh” le haghaidh Cheist Pharlaiminte Uimhir 329 i nGaeilge, cuireadh an cheist féin i mBéarla agus i mBéarla a tugadh an freagra féin, dá réir. Tugtar an freagra ar an gceist i nGaeilge thíos, ar...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Defective Building Materials (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme is primarily a grant scheme of financial assistance to support affected homeowners to carry out the necessary remediation works to dwellings that have been damaged due to the use of defective concrete blocks. The Scheme outlines five remedial options ranging from rebuilding on existing foundations to replacing of external walls. The maximum...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Vacant Properties (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: There has been very strong local authority uptake in the Voids programme as a result of the funding I announced in the July stimulus programme. Submissions from all 31 local authorities were received and were reviewed by my Department promptly with over €39.9m allocated to return 2,402 vacant homes. The number of void in each category is broken down as follows: - Standard Void: 1,826...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Vacant Properties (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Voids are vacant social housing properties which are in need of refurbishment in order to bring them up to the minimum letting standards. The Voids Programme provides exchequer funding to support local authorities in remediating such vacant homes. The exchequer funding provided by my Department is additional to the funding that local authorities provide themselves towards such work. ...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Property Registration Authority (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: In relation to the dates for registering rights of way acquired by prescription on foot of amendments made by Parts 12 and 13 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 to the provisions relating to the acquisition of easements and profits by prescription contained in Part 8 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009, I understand from the Property Registration Authority...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Local Authority Funding (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department continues to make every effort to assist local authorities with the financial challenges they are experiencing since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, including cash flow support by bringing forward payments where possible, so that the vital services that local authorities deliver can be maintained. As cash flow support, in early April an advance of €136m of LPT...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Local Authority Funding (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Central Government funding to local authorities involves a wide range of Departments and Offices, with funding allocated for a variety of purposes. Some streams of funding are delivered directly from Government Departments to local authorities, while others are routed through Departmental agencies. The Comptroller and Auditor General reports on the central government funding of local...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Legislative Reviews (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: A review was initiated in 2019 to examine the underlying policy rationale relating to the inclusion of categories of relevant property in Schedule 3 and Schedule 4 of the Valuation Acts 2001 – 2020. There is a broad stakeholder base involved and this is reflected in the composition of the review group. The Valuation Office, the Joint Rateable Valuation Forum, the local government...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Local Authority Staff (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible. Staffing numbers for the local authority sector are available on the Public Service Numbers databank, which is hosted and maintained by the Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Waste Management (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: As highlighted in the Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent bathing water quality report released earlier this year, encouraging progress is being made in improving bathing waters across the country. I was particularly pleased to see the continual increase in the number of bathing waters meeting or exceeding the minimum water quality requirements. It is well known that our...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Social and Affordable Housing (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department publishes comprehensive statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity. This is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link: This data provides a breakdown of social housing delivery across a range of mechanisms. In addition to the statistical overview of activity in each local authority, a detailed Social...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Housing Assistance Payment (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Increased rent limits for the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and the Rent Supplement Scheme were introduced in 2016. These limits were agreed in conjunction with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP). In reviewing the rent limits, my Department worked closely with DEASP and monitored data gathered from the Residential Tenancies Board and the HAP Shared Services...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Housing Policy (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I understand that on December 6th, 2019 Dublin City Council entered into a development agreement with Bartra Capital Limited for the development of it's residential lands at O'Devaney Gardens. The legal agreement requires that 30% of the residences developed shall be for Social Housing, 20% of the residences shall be Affordable Purchase units and 50% of the residences shall be Developer...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Housing Provision (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 364 and 365 together. The current position in relation to the refusal by households of offers of social housing dwellings is set down in Regulation 12 of the Social Housing Allocation Regulations 2011, made under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Under Regulation 12, a household that refuses two reasonable offers of such...

Ban on Rent Increases Bill 2020: Second Stage [Private Members] (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I am indeed. I will have nine minutes and they will each have three. I will look into the matter Deputy Ó Broin mentioned. Where I was today in Adamstown, I saw fantastic work that has taken place and continues to take place. This is also the case in other parts of south Dublin like Killinarden where the Deputy's own party opposed 100 social homes and 300 affordable homes as part of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Air Quality (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I understand that the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 sets out the main provisions in relation to the safety health and welfare of people at work. This legislation is under the remit of my colleague the Minister of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and is overseen by the Health and Safety Authority. In addition, the Department of Health has a role in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Monuments (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I assume the Deputy is referring to an archaeological survey undertaken in 2017 on behalf of Wexford County Council to further assess the findings of a previous survey and to determine the presence or otherwise of additional archaeological features associated with the Vinegar Hill battlefield site. The survey was licenced by my Department under the National Monuments Acts. The survey...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Offshore Exploration (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: In respect to issuing of and consultation on exploratory offshore licenses the local authorities have no functions in this regard.  Functional responsibility of the local authorities ends at the high water mark and the seaward side out to 12 nautical miles is a shared responsibility, depending on the activity being licensed, between myself and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities have a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes.  An initial three-month waiver of rates for businesses forced to close business due to COVID-19, was announced in May.  In order to enhance the supports available for enterprise, and in recognition of the fact that not only were many ratepayers forced to close business due to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Home Loan Scheme (17 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan is designed to enable credit-worthy first-time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand properties in a suitable price range. The scheme is targeted at first-time buyers who have access to an adequate deposit and have the capacity to repay a mortgage, but who are unable to access a mortgage sufficient for them to...