Results 17,601-17,620 of 26,886 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

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 the 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: Pyrite Remediation Programme (21 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Pyrite Resolution Act 2013 provides the statutory framework for the establishment of the Pyrite Resolution Board (PRB) and for the making of a pyrite remediation scheme to be implemented by the PRB with support from the Housing Agency. The full conditions for eligibility under the scheme are set out in the scheme which is available on the PRB's website, www.pyriteboard.ie. A person who...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Defective Concrete Blocks Grants scheme is targeted at assisting a restricted group of homeowners who have no other practicable options to access redress. It is not a compensation scheme and the regulations apply only in respect of qualifying works that have not commenced prior to confirmation of grant approval being issued in respect of a dwelling by the relevant local authority. ...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Defective Concrete Blocks Grant scheme applies to private dwellings in Donegal and Mayo that have been damaged due to defective concrete blocks. In respect of local authority housing stock, Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966 provides that management and maintenance is a matter for each individual local authority. This includes maintenance programmes and carrying out of responsive repairs...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2019 provide that where a tenant has been in occupation of a dwelling for a continuous period of 6 months, with no valid notice of termination having been served during that time, a 'Part 4 tenancy' is established to cover the next 5 years and 6 months. Section 34 of the 2004 Act provides that a landlord must state a reason for the termination in any...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The new Programme for Government, identifies the need to avoid over-concentration of particular housing types in areas, by requiring local authorities to complete housing need and demand assessments to inform delivery of an appropriate mix of housing typologies to cater for the needs of disparate household types and sizes. As I have indicated publically, I intend to review the...

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

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 309 and 327 together. As one initiative of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) was primarily designed to fund the provision of public off-site infrastructure to relieve critical infrastructure blockages and enable housing developments to be built on key sites at scale. ...

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...