Results 17,241-17,260 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney
- Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: Let me answer the Deputy's question.
- Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: Yes, and that is exactly-----
- Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: I am glad we have-----
- Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: I am glad we now have the Deputy on the record as saying "no more rapid build". You do not want us to deliver-----
- Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: They are not timber-framed houses.
- Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: The Deputy has plenty of criticisms but no suggestions to make.
- Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: We are delivering a lot of new social houses and are doing that as quickly as is physically possible. Moreover, we will do it in a way that learns from the mistakes of the past in respect of the need for mixed-tenure developments and so on. I note HAP has not even been rolled out in Dublin; the homeless HAP project has been rolled out.
- Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: The Deputy is judging HAP before it even has been introduced to Dublin City Council. It is a joke. Thus far this year, approximately 550 families and individuals have got secure tenancies under the homeless HAP project, which certainly is a great deal better than the alternatives that are available for them. Most of the HAP schemes are not on three-year tenancies. Some of them are for...
- Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: I will.
- Other Questions: Housing Assistance Payments Implementation (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: First, I will take on board the comments in respect of the place finder service. However, I note HAP has not been rolled out in the Dublin City Council area yet. It is a specific homeless HAP pilot project, which is a different, albeit highly important, scheme because it has found sustainable tenancies for many people. The entire point of HAP is to take people out of the type of...
- Other Questions: Housing Finance Agency Funding (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: We will have a new rental strategy in place by the end of the year. There will I hope plenty of consultation on that with the committee and other parties before we finalise it. Whatever we do we need a fairly comprehensive and more progressive approach to a more stable rental market. The Housing Finance Agency is trying to get as much money into housing as possible. Our problem is not...
- Other Questions: Library Services (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: I want to give some reassurance. We have had some difficult debates in respect of Sligo libraries.
- Other Questions: Library Services (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: We have worked through those issues and have given sanction for some more staff to deal with those issues. This is not the thin end of the wedge, this is a case of using technology to open library hours for much longer than is the case because people are working. I have seen the technology working in one of the libraries in Cork. A person is given a fob and can drop books back and...
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Funding (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: Obviously Dublin City Council faces more pressures than any other council in terms of numbers. Dublin City Council also has higher targets than anyone else and it has more money available as a result. I am glad to say that Dublin City Council is actually well ahead of target and of where it is supposed to be by the end of next year. In fact, the council is already nearly there through a...
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Funding (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: This year, approximately 17,000 tenancies will be put in place for people looking for secure accommodation. This will come from a broad range of measures, including new build, leasing, the rental accommodation scheme, increased numbers on housing assistant payment scheme and so on. The target for Dublin City Council at the moment is to deliver 3,347 additional units through build, buy,...
- Other Questions: Housing Finance Agency Funding (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: I am glad Deputy Collins has asked me this question because it gives me an opportunity to clarify the position. In 2015, a €300 million fund for investment in social housing was put in place by the Housing Finance Agency with the support of the Government. A sum of €150 million of this fund was provided by the European Investment Bank. This funding is available to approved...
- Other Questions: Housing Finance Agency Funding (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: There is a difference between what has been committed and what has actually been drawn down. We only draw down the funding when it is actually spent. We believe all this funding will be committed and allocated by the end of the year. What has actually been drawn down, that is, spent so far, is €34 million. However, to date, 29 individual projects totalling €233 million have...
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: We are not prescribing that. We are saying we will look at sites on a case-by-case basis. We are asking councils to be ambitious and to use publicly-owned landbanks much more strategically than they have perhaps been used in the past. We want to promote a different way of developing social housing and the communities served by such housing. We want to integrate private housing with social...
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: Many people are looking for housing. The Deputy mentioned people on the list, but there are many people who are looking to try to buy their own homes. We have to try to cater for everybody and not just for one segment, which seems to be the only segment the Deputy represents. My job is to get more houses built for everybody, including people on social housing lists, people who are...
- Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)
Simon Coveney: I am glad to hear it.