Results 1,821-1,840 of 25,713 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department is designated as the Lead Government Department for co-ordinating the whole-of-Government response to severe weather and flooding emergencies, supporting local response agencies, including local authorities. The Crisis Management Team of my Department's National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM) have responsibility for co-ordination of the response to severe...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Properties (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The information requested is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All includes a commitment to review income eligibility for social housing. From this review, completed in November 2021, it was recommended moving five local authorities from Band 3 to Band 2, ensuring the income eligibility thresholds better reflect housing costs in those counties. Government also agreed to increase the baseline income thresholds by €5,000 for all local...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Official Travel (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The details as requested are available and regularly updated on my Department's OpenData website and are available to view under the following links: 2023: Ministerial Travel 2023 - Dataset - DHLGH Open Data - opendata.housing.gov.ie/dataset/ministerial-travel-20232024: Ministerial Travel 2024 - Dataset - DHLGH Open Data - opendata.housing.gov.ie/dataset/ministerial-travel-costs-202 4.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority administrative area is provided in the annual statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The most recently published summary for all counties, conducted in November 2023, is available on my Department's website at www.gov.ie/en/collection/62486-summary-of-social-housing-ass essments/....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a form of social housing support available for people who have a long-term housing need. Any household assessed as eligible for social housing is immediately eligible for HAP. Eligible households can source their own accommodation in the private rental sector which should be within the HAP rent limits provided to them by the local authority. The...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Derelict Sites (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department continues to liaise with local authorities, including Kerry County Council, on the implementation of the Derelict Sites Act 1990 (the Act) with a view to improving its effectiveness. Under the Act, local authorities are required to maintain a derelict sites register, which includes the name and address of each owner and occupier, where these can be ascertained by reasonable...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Addressing vacancy and dereliction and making efficient use of existing housing stock is a key priority of Housing for All. The Vacant Homes Action Plan, which was published in January 2023, built on Pathway 4 of Housing for All and set out the various actions that were being pursued to return vacant properties back into use as homes. In April 2024, an update on the Action Plan was...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Addressing vacancy and making efficient use of existing housing stock is a key priority for Government, as set out in Pathway 4 of Housing for All. The Vacant Homes Action Plan, which I published in January 2023, built on Pathway 4 of Housing for All and set out the various actions that were being pursued to return vacant properties back into use as homes. In April 2024, I published an...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Kerry County Council's Housing Delivery Action Plan, which sets out the Council’s annual social housing targets to 2026, can be accessed at the following link: www.kerrycoco.ie/housing-delivery-programme/. Last November the Government approved new national housing targets up to the year 2030. 303,000 homes will be delivered in the period from 2025 to 2030, equating to an annual...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The objective of the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF) is to provide public off-site infrastructure to relieve critical infrastructure blockages. The types of infrastructure being provided include roads, bridges, diversion of power-lines, drainage works as well as public amenities (parks). In July 2016, the Department invited relevant infrastructure project proposals from...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Data (22 Jan 2025)

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 role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual local authorities. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Contracts (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department is compliant in respect to Department of Finance and Revenue regulations and guidelines in regard to public contracts. Irish tax clearance certificates are requested for all contracts entered into which exceed a combined value of €10,000 in a twelve month rolling period. My Department does not hold information as to the tax residency of suppliers as this is a matter for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Contracts (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The information requested is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I commenced the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) on 22 June 2023 which contains the enhanced grant scheme and adopted the related Regulations on 29 June 2023. Following the recent receipt of preliminary results from scientific research into damaged dwellings in Donegal, which claims that the underlying mechanism of damage is as a...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I commenced the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) on 22 June 2023 which contains the enhanced grant scheme and adopted the related Regulations on 29 June 2023. As Ireland’s official Standards Body, The National Standards Authority Ireland (NSAI) has been tasked with the review of I.S. 465. The NSAI have published an update...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Applications for a Local Authority Home Loan and the Local Authority Purchase and Renovation Loan are made through the individual Local Authorities and the final decision on loan approval is a matter for the relevant local authority and its Credit Committee on a case-by-case basis. Decisions on all housing loan applications must be made in accordance with the Regulations establishing the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department publishes comprehensive programme-level statistics on a quarterly basis on social housing delivery activity by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) in each local authority. This data is available to the end of Q3 2024, and is published on the statistics page of my Department’s website, at the following link:...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Defective Building Materials (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I commenced the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) on 22 June 2023 which contains the enhanced grant scheme and adopted the related Regulations on 29 June 2023. A review mechanism is provided within the 2022 Act, which provides for an increase or decrease in the overall grant scheme cap (originally set at €420,000) a year after...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (22 Jan 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Kildare County Council presented a proposal to my Department to support a new Approved Housing Body (AHB) to take responsibility for the housing development in question. In March 2024 my Department confirmed funding approval for the necessary works to restore and re-tenant these homes. I understand from Kildare County Council that certain legal matters need to be regularised between them...