Results 16,721-16,740 of 25,999 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payment (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government contains a number of commitments in terms of HAP, namely to: - ensure that Rent Supplement and Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) levels are adequate to support vulnerable households, while we increase the supply of social housing, and, - reduce our reliance on the use of HAP for new social housing solutions, as the supply of social and public housing increases. I...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Legislative changes (the Planning and Development Act 2000 (Exempted Development) (No. 2) Regulations 2019) were introduced last year in relation to the regulation of short-term letting sector through the planning code to help address its impact on the supply of private rented accommodation, particularly in urban centres of high housing demand i.e. rent pressure zones (RPZs). The planning...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Expenditure (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The current single stage process operates for social housing projects encompassing 8 units or less and valued at less than €2m. It was reviewed in 2017 to allow, in certain circumstances, for a second application for a limited budget revision. Social housing projects funded by my Department, like all publicly-funded construction projects, must comply with the Government’s...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Mortgage Resolution Processes (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme introduced in 2012 is targeted at those households in mortgage arrears who have had their mortgage position deemed unsustainable by their lender under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP), who agree to the voluntary surrender of their home and who have very limited options, if any, to meet their long-term housing needs themselves. In addition, the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: As outlined in this interview, I would like to see progress on many fronts during my tenure as Minister, including, in addition to housing, modernising the planning system. This is in line with the commitments in the Programme for Government. The Programme for Government to a range of measures in relation to ‘Planning and Reform’, including:- - Introduce a ‘use it or...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government - our shared future, commits to ensuring that policy and planning across Government in relation to the future provision of services and infrastructure will be fully aligned with the National Planning Framework (NPF) to ensure balanced and sustainable development in Ireland over the next 20 years. A vibrant, inclusive and thriving Ireland requires actions to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I have no direct role in this matter. Responsibility for sports and leisure facilites at a local level rests with the local authorities and at national level, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has overall policy responsibility for such facilities. Local authorities derive their income from a variety of sources including commercial rates, charges for goods and services and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Sites (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the vacant site levy provisions in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015, planning authorities were empowered to apply a vacant site levy of 3% of the market valuation of relevant properties which were listed on local authority vacant site registers in 2018, which relevant owners were liable to pay in January 2019. The rate of the levy increased to 7% for sites listed on local...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Regional Development (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: In order to ensure coherence across the broad range of national policies generally, Section 23(7)(a) and (c) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), states that Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies (RSESs) “shall take account of” any relevant policies or objectives for the time being of the Government or of any Minister of the Government, including any...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Regional Assemblies (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The National Planning Framework (NPF) identified the five cities and five other large towns in Ireland as regional/cross-border drivers, in order to ensure that each Regional Assembly area could further develop the overall NPF framework on a regional basis, by identifying a more detailed growth strategy for each region to be determined taking into account regional conditions. Within this...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I have no function in this matter. Funding and policy responsibility at a local level rests with the local authorities and at national level with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. Local authorities derive their income from a variety of sources including commercial rates, charges for goods and services and funding from Central Government. Central Government funding of local...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Commercial Rates (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government - Our Shared Future, commits to reviewing the treatment of commercial rates for the remainder of the year, as a priority action. This process is underway in my Department in the context of the forthcoming July stimulus. The previously announced waiver forms part of this consideration, with a view to a single communication with local authorities and ratepayers in...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 322 and 323 together. Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority area are set out in the statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The most recent summary, conducted in June 2019, shows that 68,693 households were assessed as qualified for and being in need of social housing support. This...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payment (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 324 and 325 together. The table below provides details of the number of active HAP tenancies in Longford and Westmeath at the end of Q4 2019 and details of those households receiving HAP where the main applicant is over 65 years of age. Local Authority Active HAP tenancies at end 2019 Persons above 65 years of age that are...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Section 63(3) of the Local Government Act 2001 provides that, subject to law, a local authority is independent in the performance of its functions of which the provision and allocation of social housing support is one. My Department does not collect data from local authorities on their allocations to individual categories of applicant. The housing needs of people with disabilities are...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I note that the Deputy raised this matter recently during a debate in the Dáil. Ireland ratified the Revised European Social Charter on 4 November 2000. At that time, Ireland accepted 92 of the 98 paragraphs of the Revised Charter. Three of those paragraphs not accepted by Ireland make up Article 31, which relates to the right to housing. The issue of the right to housing was...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Social housing is built to the design standards set out in the guidelines 'Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities' which are available at . In preparing the Guidelines, particular account was taken of the objectives of government policy on sustainability, including access for people with disabilities and meeting varied needs of occupants through their lifetime. The design approach to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Question number 427 of 14 July 2020, provided the ranges of Unit Cost Ceilings (UCCs) as issued to each local authority as a benchmark for the development and costing of new build social housing. These UCCs were based on returned data from tendered social housing schemes over an extended period, updated from published tender index information, with the most recent set of UCCs being produced...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Services Acts, 1981 and 2003. My Department, primarily through the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Service (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Services Acts, 1981 and 2003. My Department supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central...