Results 17,261-17,280 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: It is not.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: It is important to correct the record. The Deputy suggested that Part V required 20% social housing, rather than 10% social housing. It was not 20% social housing; it was 10% social housing and 10% affordable housing. The Deputy does not seem to care about affordable housing one way or the other because he does not consider it to be social housing. The first thing he should do is get his...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: That is not how Deputy Boyd Barrett sees it, however. We will have many developments progressing at the same time. It seems that the Deputy would prefer small numbers of large-scale social housing developments on big sites creating large mono-tenure developments. I do not think that is how we should be developing the communities of the future. We will continue to take proactive steps to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Funding (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: It is a big issue.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Funding (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: I agree that this is the big issue for me to deal with. It is great that we are talking about these issues, rather than water. While water is a difficult political issue to deal with in some ways, as far as I am concerned, housing is where it is at in terms of changing people's lives. That is why I welcome the fact that housing has been the dominant issue in these questions. All local...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: I do not disagree with much of what Deputy Ellis has said and that is why we are ramping up new-build social housing delivery through the local authorities. Last year, as the Taoiseach mentioned earlier, only 74 or 75 local authority houses were built across the whole country. Other local authority housing units were made available through voids being brought back into use and through...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: It will be a combination of local authority and approved housing body, AHB, units, with around 1,200 being built by the local authorities. We are ramping up and by the middle of next year that figure will be significantly increased. However, we must recognise the realities in the meantime. We have to get families who are currently in totally unsuitable accommodation and people who are in...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Staff (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: Since the publication of Rebuilding Ireland: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, the focus has been very much on implementation and driving an acceleration in housing delivery. To this end, I have visited a number of local authorities and have met all the chief executives. I have assured them that they will have the necessary support and resources to deliver on Rebuilding Ireland. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Staff (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy asked about extra staff. I have spoken to many CEOs and some of them have said that they need to bump up their staffing levels. Others had already asked my predecessor for additional staffing and had received approval. More than 500 approvals for extra staffing have been granted, mostly in the housing and housing-related areas. I have made it very clear to the chief executives...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Staff (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: Councils can, of course, add levies to development charges to get certain things done. That has been one of the big problems to date. Many developers have said to me, and I am sure to Deputy Cowen, that they simply could not make the numbers add up if they had to fund a bridge, a road or a new water connection, for example, to a site that may or may not be serviced. The whole point of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: I thank Deputy Ellis for taking the questions for Deputy Ó Broin, who for whatever reason is unable to be here. That is fine. In January 2015, a ministerial direction was put in place that required the Dublin region housing authorities to allocate at least 50% of tenancies under their control to homeless and other vulnerable households, with the authorities in counties Cork, Galway,...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: I agree with all the sentiments. We must do something significant and we are doing so. Tomorrow we will announce how we will spend €5.35 billion on a social housing programme that will add 30% to existing social housing stock nationally in the next five years. It is why we have a raft of measures to bring vacant properties back into use and we have tripled the ambition of the rapid...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: All local authorities already have targets for social housing delivery out to 2017. At present, my Department is liaising with local authorities in relation to increasing social housing targets and accelerating social housing delivery over the coming years. Having regard to the Social Housing Assessment 2016 and reflecting the increased targets and significantly increased budget of...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 21, 23, 27 and 70 together. Of the 47,000 social housing units to be delivered under Rebuilding Ireland, an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, it is estimated at this stage that approximately 26,000 will be constructed, including 1,500 rapid-build homes, primarily in the Dublin region. I envisage that there will be more than 320 homes either complete...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Homelessness Strategy (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 22, 51 and 68 together. The solution to the challenge of homelessness is to increase the supply of homes as envisioned under Rebuilding Ireland: An Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness. The Action Plan, published on 19 July 2016, aims to deliver 47,000 units of social housing over the period to 2021 through construction, refurbishment, acquisitions and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Provision (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: Following the launch in late 2014 of the Social Housing Strategy 2020, announcements in respect of a substantial new set of social housing projects were made in May 2015, July 2015 and January 2016. Between these three announcements, details of which are available on my Department’s website, almost €680 million has been allocated for over 3,900 social housing new builds,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Wind Energy Guidelines (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 25 and 55 together. In December 2013, my Department published proposed draft revisions to the noise, setback distance and shadow flicker aspects of the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines. These draft revisions proposed: - the setting of a more stringent day- and night-time noise limit of 40 decibels for future wind energy developments, - a mandatory...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Data (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: Of the 47,000 social housing units to be delivered under Rebuilding Ireland, an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness,approximately 26,000 will be constructed, while 11,000 will be acquired by local authorities and approved housing bodies directly from the market or the Housing Agency, with a portion of these being newly built units. 10,000 units will be leased by local authorities and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented residential sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. Section 3(2)(f) of the Act provides that it does not apply to a dwelling let for the purpose of a holiday. I have no function in the prohibition of advertisements on a company’s website. While, to...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Estates (5 Oct 2016)

Simon Coveney: Section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides that, as soon as possible following a request by the developer or by the majority of the house owners, a planning authority must initiate procedures to take in charge a residential housing estate completed to its satisfaction in accordance with the planning permission. Section 180 also provides that, following a...