Results 17,181-17,200 of 26,886 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

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

Darragh O'Brien: Despite the challenges faced throughout the period of the Covid emergency measures, local authorities and the Housing Assistance Payment Shared Service Centre (HAPSSC) have continued to provide a critical service to all HAP customers. This is evident in the high number of HAP tenancies that continued to be set-up this year. The 2020 HAP target is for 15,750 additional tenancies and, at the...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Home Loan Scheme (22 Sep 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme enables credit-worthy first-time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand properties in a suitable price range, where they cannot obtain sufficient mortgage finance from a commercial lender. As a requirement of the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan applicants must be first time buyers. This is to ensure the effective...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The provisions for affordable housing made available by or though housing authorities are contained in Part 5 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, which was commenced in June 2018. Under Part 5, an affordable dwelling purchase arrangement will normally only be available to a household where the household, or any household member, has not previously purchased or built a...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme which came into operation on 1 January 2016 is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme. To be eligible, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum and having been in receipt of social housing support for at...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended. The 2011 Regulations prescribe maximum net income limits for each local authority, in different bands...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I am committed to maximising the number of young people voting and engagement with our democratic processes. Several initiatives are either in place or in development in order to achieve this aim. Firstly, my Department promotes greater awareness of the register of electors and encourages people to register to vote through an annual public awareness campaign. This entails the use of...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities in their capacity as registration authorities are responsible for the compilation and maintenance of the register of electors in their areas. It is their duty, as far as possible, and with the co-operation and engagement of the public, to ensure the accuracy and comprehensiveness of that register.The current process provides a number of opportunities to register or update...

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...