Results 16,501-16,520 of 20,884 for speaker:Alan Kelly

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Staff Recruitment (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Since 20 May 2014, my Department has received 26 staff sanction requests from Longford County Council. The status of these requests is set out in the table below. Date of Staffing Request Title of Post(s) Number of Post(s) Outcome 09/07/2014 Civil Defence Water Safety Officer 1 Approved 09/07/2014 Civil Defence Water Safety Officer 1 Approved 15/07/2014 General Services...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Mortgage to Rent Scheme Applications (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: On foot of the recommendations of the Keane Report on mortgage arrears and a successful pilot scheme, my Department launched a national Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme for borrowers with mortgages from private institutions in June 2012. The scheme targets low income families whose mortgage situation is unsustainable and where there is little or no prospect of a significant change in...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Register of Electors Data (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The number of additions to the supplementary register at the May 2015 polls reported to me by registration authorities is as set out in the following table. County Councils Number of Supplement Applications Approved Carlow 810 Cavan 482 Clare 1,646 Cork 4,784 Donegal 1,264 Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown 5,308 Fingal 4,207 Galway 1,706 Kerry 1,049 Kildare 4,366 ...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Staff Data (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 944 and 985 together. In 2014, 688 employees retired from local authorities and ten employees retired from agencies under the auspices of my Department. 282 local authority employees availed of the voluntary redundancy scheme for local authorities in 2014. No staff from agencies under the auspices of my Department availed of voluntary redundancy in 2014. A...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Regeneration Projects Expenditure (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 946 and 947 together. Funding for this scheme has been provided in the main under my Department’s Capital Loan and Subsidy Scheme, whereby my Department recoups capital loan charges to local authorities in respect of borrowings from the Housing Finance Agency for projects undertaken by approved housing bodies. Costs incurred by Dublin City Council in...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Non-Principal Private Residence Charge Collection (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The Local Government (Charges) Act 2009, as amended, provides the legislative basis for the Non Principal Private Residence (NPPR) Charge. The NPPR Charge of €200 per annum, which has since been discontinued, applied in the years 2009 to 2013 to any residential property in which the owner did not reside as their normal place of residence. Under the Act, it is a function of a local...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Efficiency (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: The 2015 allocations in respect of energy efficiency upgrades for social houses are currently under consideration in my Department and will issue to local authorities shortly.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Adaptation Grant Funding (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Exchequer funding of over €37 million was provided by my Department to local authorities in 2014 for the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability. Combined with an additional 20% contribution by individual local authorities, there was an overall spend last year of €46.3 million in this area. I am pleased to confirm that the 2015 amount will...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Drainage Schemes (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Local authority drainage functions are performed under the Arterial Drainage Acts. The Office of Public Works, which operates under the aegis of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, is the main agency responsible for the development of policy on arterial drainage in Ireland. The Local Government Act 2001 (Section 231) Order 2014 provided for the dissolution of specified joint...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Charges Exemptions (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: A new water charging regime was announced by the Government on 19 November 2014. The capped annual charges will be €160 for single adult households and €260 for all other households until the end of 2018. All households now know what their capped bills will be until the end of 2018, which is particularly important for larger households or those with high usage due to medical...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Issues (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Successfully tackling the current homelessness issue demands that a higher priority be afforded to homeless households in the allocation of housing. Accordingly, I issued a Direction to a number of key housing authorities on 27 January 2015 to prioritise homeless and other vulnerable households with regard to the allocation of tenancies under their control. The four Dublin local authorities...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water and Sewerage Schemes Provision (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Since 1 January 2014 Irish Water is responsible for the public water and wastewater systems and infrastructure, including water supply pipes or drainage pipes extending from a waterworks or waste water works to the curtilage of a private dwelling. Irish Water has entered into service level agreements (SLA) with each of the local authorities for the provision of water services, as provided...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: On 1 April 2015, I announced provisional funding allocations totalling €1.5 billion for all local authorities, to meet an ambitious delivery target of 22,883 social housing units out to 2017 under the Social Housing Strategy, through a combination of building, buying and leasing schemes by local authorities. On 5 May, I announced a major social housing construction investment...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I have considered what next steps need to be taken in respect of certain Donegal County Council planning matters taking account of advice from the Office of the Attorney General. My Department is finalising arrangements for the imminent appointment of a Senior Counsel, on a non-statutory basis, nominated by the Attorney General to prepare a report in relation to these matters in line with...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Ministerial Travel (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: I will be attending an Environment Council meeting in Luxembourg on 15 June 2015. On 2 July, I will attend a dinner hosted by HRH Prince of Wales and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership in London to discuss sustainable development. I will also attend the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York in July, the dates/duration of which...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: National Carers Strategy Status (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Progress by my Department on actions within the National Carer’s Strategy is set out in the annual reports on progress published by the Department of Health. The second annual report (September 2013–September 2014) is available at the following link: .

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Provision (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Social housing targets and provisional funding allocations have been set for each local authority out to 2017 and are available on my Department’s website at the following link: . Since the launch of the Social Housing Strategy 2020in November 2014, almost €90 million has been drawn down by local authorities under my Department’s two main capital programmes for the...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Provision (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Funding to approved housing bodies is allocated on the basis of proposals they make in respect of social housing provision which have been approved by local authorities and my Department. These proposals must be viable, meet housing need and represent value for money. Under my Department's Capital Assistance Scheme, approved housing bodies are already implementing projects for the...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Register of Electors Administration (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: My Department takes a number of measures to coincide with the annual publication by registration authorities of their draft registers of electors in order to encourage the electorate to check that they are correctly registered and to bring to attention any errors or omissions. Measures taken include the supply of promotional posters to registration authorities for display in their offices...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Finances (26 May 2015)

Alan Kelly: Section 96(12) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, requires that any amount paid to a planning authority in accordance with relevant provisions of Part V of that Act shall be accounted for in a separate account and shall only be applied as capital for its functions under Part V or by a housing authority for its functions in relation to the provision of housing under the...