Results 17,621-17,640 of 26,886 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

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...

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

Darragh O'Brien: Persons from all strands of society, including staff of local authority fire services, are eligible to be nominated for an award under the National Bravery Awards. Under this scheme, Deeds of Bravery Awards are given to people who have saved a human life involving personal risk to themselves. Comhairle na Míre Gaile - the Council for the Recognition of Deeds of Bravery - is under...

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

Darragh O'Brien: At end Q4 2019, in County Tipperary, there were 1,266 approved housing applicants, 1,778 households were actively in receipt of HAP support and there were 1,088 tenancies supported by RAS.

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

Darragh O'Brien: The role of my Department in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at local or regional level. Responsibility for the provision of emergency accommodation and related services for homeless persons is a matter for the local authorities. Therefore, the...

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

Darragh O'Brien: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016. The Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme. The Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015 governing the Scheme provides for a number of specified classes of houses to be excluded from sale, including...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Data (16 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 89 to 92, inclusive, together. The primary objective of the legislative changes introduced last year in relation to the regulation of short-term letting sector through the planning code is 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: Social and Affordable Housing (16 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 93 and 95 together. 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. Under the Household Means Policy, which applies in all...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Persons Supports (16 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the statutory role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Under the Housing Act 1988 it is a matter for each local authority to determine whether a person is regarded as homeless; section 2 of the Act sets out the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Land Development Agency (16 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: The Land Development Agency (LDA) was established on an interim basis in September 2018, by way of an Establishment Order (S.I. 352 of 2018, as amended by S.I. 603 of 2018) made under the Local Government Services (Corporate Bodies) Act 1971, pending the enactment of primary legislation when it will be established as a commercial State agency. On establishment, the LDA had access to an...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Commercial Rates (16 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on the occupiers of rateable property in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015. In order to support the local government sector, my Department is continuing to keep local authority income, expenditure and cash...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Rental Sector (16 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: With effect from 27 March 2020, under new emergency measures introduced into law to protect tenants during the COVID-19 emergency period, tenants cannot be forced to leave their rental accommodation, other than in exceptional circumstances. The measures also prohibit any increase to rent for the duration of the emergency period. These emergency laws initially applied for a period of 3 months...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Energy Efficiency (16 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: As set out in the Programme for Government, a national retrofitting scheme is due to be rolled out in 2021. The national retrofitting scheme will be managed by a newly designated National Retrofitting Delivery Body which is to be in place by the end of 2020. Responsibility for the National Retrofitting Scheme rests with my colleague, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action &...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (15 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: As an initiative of the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is 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. In 2018, 30 projects received final LIHAF approval with an...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing (15 Jul 2020)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 95 and 96 together. This Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that affordable, quality housing is available to everyone in Irish society and this is reflected in the Programme for Government "Our Shared Future" which commits to putting affordability at the heart of our housing system and delivering 50,000 social housing homes. My initial focus is on...