Results 16,641-16,660 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Provision (24 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: Providing affordable, quality and accessible housing for people is a top priority for the Government, as outlined in the Programme for a Partnership Government. As the Deputy will be aware, the root cause of the very challenging housing crisis lies in a chronic under-supply of housing across all tenures. At an overall level, while 25,000 new homes a year are needed to meet demand, annual...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Library Services (24 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 108 to 112, inclusive, together. ‘My Open Library ’ is an initiative under Opportunities for All, the national public library strategy 2013-2017 and is part of a strategy to address customer demand. It allows library members the freedom and flexibility to use the library at times that suit them. It provides additional opening hours from 8am...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Regeneration Projects (24 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: I understand that the project in question has been approved for funding of €36,500 under the Limerick Regeneration 2016 Social Intervention Fund. The evaluation and selection of projects under this Fund are a matter for Limerick City and County Council together with the Social Intervention Grants Assessment Committee, which was established to evaluate funding proposals.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Departmental Agencies Staff Data (24 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 115 and 123 together. Details in relation to the membership of State Boards including the dates of appointment and mechanisms of appointment of members under the aegis of my Department are available on the Department’s website at the following link: . The following table details the current vacancies on these Boards: BOARD NO. OF VACANCIES CURRENT...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Private Residential Tenancies Board Administration (24 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 116 to 119, inclusive, together. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established in September 2004 under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, which regulates the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented residential sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The RTB was established as an independent statutory body...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (24 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 120 and 121 together. The local authorities in Cavan and Monaghan were notified in April 2015 of social housing delivery targets and provisional funding allocations out to end-2017. These are available on my Department’s website at the following link: . Together, these two local authorities have a target to deliver 445 social housing units for the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (24 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: Pillar 4 of Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessnesswhich deals with the Rental Sector, commits to developing a comprehensive strategy for the sector in Q4 2016. The strategy will be structured around 4 key areas: security, standards, supply and services. In terms of supply, the strategy will focus on maintaining existing levels of rental stock and encouraging investment...

Local Government (Mayor and Regional Authority of Dublin) Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: I move amendment No. 1:To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following:the Bill be deemed to be read a Second Time on 30 June 2017 to allow for consideration of the Bill in the context of implementation of the commitment in A Programme for a Partnership Government to consider directly elected mayors in cities as part of wider potential local government reform measures and...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: The correct figure is 28,000.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Seanad for really co-operating in trying to facilitate the movement of this Bill quickly through the Houses. I am determined to try to get this legislation finalised and enacted before the end of the year in order that when we start next year, we will have a series of new systems that can deliver more efficiently than current systems. The focus so far in the discussion has...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: I will tell the Senators exactly what I said for the avoidance of any------

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: -----doubt. This was not an organised meeting a few days ago.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: Sometimes one needs to take the ball on the hop and the ball bounced today and I thought I would pick it up and run with it.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: The Senators should listen to what we are trying to do. We will introduce an amendment next Tuesday on Report Stage, which is very similar to the amendment the Senator will move later. We can tease out why there need to be tweaks and so on. We will require chief executives during the pre-planning consideration process, which is a statutory nine-week period, to inform and consult...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: Fifty next year.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: Senator Landy's concern seems to be based on the fact that he thinks I am having a go at local authorities for their delay in making decisions. As it happens, that is not what this is about. There is as big an onus on developers here as there is on the system to make decisions. If developers do not have their work done before they go to a pre-planning stage, they will not get very far. We...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: If we were to instead take the approach some people have suggested and just concentrate on streamlining the decision-making process at local authority level, the reality is that the vast majority of these would be appealed and go to An Bord Pleanála anyway. While I accept that it would improve it, even if we had a guaranteed eight-week decision-making process at local authority level...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: I am certainly never going to take the AILG for granted. I outlined some of our thinking to the AILG. I believe it is consistent with what a number of people have been saying. I told the AILG that we would try to introduce an amendment. I did not give an exact wording, but I gave the spirit of the amendment we want to introduce on Report Stage. We will talk about it later when amendments...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: Just one housing estate has been built in County Galway, which Senator Craughwell knows well, in the past seven years. The estate in Oranmore was the only one to be built in the second largest county in Ireland in that time. I do not think the estate in question was over 100 units. Maybe I am wrong in that regard.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2016)

Simon Coveney: The point I am making is that we are trying to improve the pace of delivery by changing the system in a fairly fundamental way for a temporary period. We are trying to get movement in the system. That is all we are trying to do. We will have a separate planning Bill. A planning Bill that is before the Dáil on Second Stage at the moment will set up a new planning regulator to make...