Results 1,801-1,820 of 2,386 for speaker:Michael Finneran

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: Does the Senator refer to the incremental purchase scheme?

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: It does not exist. The incremental purchase scheme, whereby people can purchase a local authority house, is part of the Bill under this section.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: The proposed amendment is not appropriate to the subsection.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: Subsection (7) empowers the Minister to make regulations to set out how an assessment of housing need will be carried out on an individual household. The aim of housing policy is to provide accommodation for households not in a position to provide it for themselves. In this context, the particular goals have been set in the new homelessness strategy, The Way Home, relating to the...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: There is a commitment to introduce statutory-based local homeless action plans. The way to give legislative effect to this goal is to put those plans in place. We are working on the legislation.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: The amendment proposes an additional subsection in this section providing that tenants in receipt of social housing support from the voluntary sector prior to the enactment of the Bill are deemed to be qualified for social housing support under this section. The amendment is required to copperfasten the existing exclusion from the terms of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 of dwellings let...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: These amendments delete subsections that provide for a matter to be prescribed in situations where the section already provides for that matter to be prescribed. Thus, section 21(2) provides for the Minister to prescribe the form of a summary of social housing assessment when section 21(1) refers to the prescribed form of the summary. Similarly, section 43(1)(i) provides for the Minister to...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: The amendment is not necessary. Section 22(4) empowers the Minister to make regulations governing the matters that housing authorities must include in their allocation scheme, which is a mechanism for them to allocate dwellings fairly and transparently to individual households. Section 22(5) provides sufficient scope for housing authorities, as appropriate, to reserve a portion of dwellings...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: This amendment is not necessary. Section 3(3) provides that every regulation under this Act shall be laid before the Oireachtas and resolutions may be passed to annul the regulation.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran:

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: This amendment is unnecessary. The principle upon which housing authority schemes are founded is allocation on the basis of need, as provided for by section 22 as a whole. Subsection (5) provides a mechanism whereby, within a general allocation on the basis of need, housing authorities may reserve a portion of dwellings within the stock to cater for particular groups with particular types...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: It is open to any member of the public to present concerns on issues such as this to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: Section 22 provides that housing authorities put in place an allocation scheme for the provision of social housing supports to eligible households. It replaces section 11 of the Housing Act 1988. The section will allow the Minister to make regulations governing the making of an allocation scheme, the method by which households are prioritised and how the scheme will operate. It re-states...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: The existing subparagraph (i) specifies that in order to benefit under the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, a rental accommodation provider must furnish to the housing authority either his or her PPS number, as defined in social welfare legislation, or, in the case of a company, its registered number and address. The purpose of this amendment is to replace this provision with a single...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: Procedures for housing authorities to deal with tenants who fall into rent arrears are provided for in section 31(6)(f), which allows a housing authority to include in its rent scheme procedures, where appropriate, to waive rent in whole or in part on a temporary basis in the case of financial hardship as tenants move into the scheme from the rent supplement. The provisions of section 31...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: These amendments substitute new provisions for two existing provisions in section 25(5)(c)(iii) and in paragraph (ii) of Schedule 3, respectively. The new material essentially makes two changes to the existing text. It extends the grounds on which a Chapter 4 tenancy may be terminated from knowingly permitting a person to enter the house who is the subject of an exclusion order sought by a...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: These amendments extend the provisions concerned to disapply section 211(2) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 from disposals of dwellings or lands by a housing authority under the following schemes: the rental accommodation arrangements, the new incremental purchase scheme, the tenant purchase scheme and affordable housing under both the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002 and...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: The intention of this amendment is not clear. Section 31(4) provides housing authorities with the power to make charges relating to a range of functions, including the provision of services which are also provided to the occupants of other dwellings. It is not intended that charges would be levied on households for services from which such households do not benefit, nor is there any...

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: The purpose of the entire section is to ensure needs are met appropriately. This is the essence of why we are changing the way needs are assessed. Therefore, the word "appropriate" is superfluous in subsection (4)(e). We are changing the law to accommodate all situations.

Seanad: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (3 Dec 2008)

Michael Finneran: This amendment is not appropriate to subsection (4) which deals with the eligibility of households for social housing support by virtue of their current circumstances regarding income, availability of alternative accommodation, etc. The description of the particular housing needs in terms of medical needs and so forth is covered by subsection (6), which provides that: The Minister may make...