Results 18,441-18,460 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Chairman for his remarks. I wish to read an introductory statement into the record, after which I would like to take questions and deal with some of the areas the committee wants to focus on. My statement is pretty general. From my perspective, in terms of the interaction with this committee, I would like to listen as much as contribute. However, I will be as upfront and open...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: It will still be a large number

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: To be honest, and this may be unusual for a Fine Gael Minister to say in response to a Sinn Féin Deputy, but I do not disagree with a lot of what Deputy Ó Broin has said. We do need to significantly increase the provision of social housing. That has started and is happening now. Approximately 5,000 vacant social housing units were brought back into use in the past two years....

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: What Deputy Cowen said about the need for a new approach is spot on. That is why we need a new action plan. I am not sure whether we should set up a national authority for housing. We could spend a lot of time trying to construct a new governance model or we could focus instead on taking a project-management approach within the Department and driving a results-based approach with local...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Planning is part of the issue but there is planning for 27,000 houses in Dublin, which means the planning system has delivered in a way that can allow house building to start. In terms of the NARPS model, which is a good model, NAMA has essentially created a model which is off-balance sheet that allows it to purchase or make properties available for long-term lease to approved housing...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Does the Chairman want me to respond to the other issues Deputy Cowen raised or will I come back to them?

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: There are quite a few questions there. In respect of local authority funding to build houses, about €1.6 billion was made available to local authorities for a three-year period so there is a significant amount of capital available for local authorities to build. About €124 million has been made available for Cork City Council, while about €80 million has been made...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: That is an automatic delivery but I expect we would go beyond that.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I do not want to put a figure on it.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I do not see how one would be able to say that definitively.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: There are NAMA estates in the Deputy's constituency. However, 20,000 houses will be built and she has no idea what percentage of them will be social housing.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: That is not necessarily true because, through the NARPS model, NAMA is already making houses available for approved housing bodies. The latter has nothing to do with its 10%. Let us not assume the worst all the time. I expect and hope that more than 10% of the NAMA-built properties will be available for social housing through various different mechanisms. Let us work out, development by...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Based on what I know, the 25,000 figure is a Housing Agency figure. It is also backed up by a number of economic think tanks in Ireland, including the ESRI. There are few people who would disagree that a country with a population of approximately 5 million and the type of demographics we have needs to build approximately 25,000 housing units per year. Most people would also accept that...

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Yes, I think so.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Yes, that would be my view. If we can reach the 25,000 target in terms of delivery in advance of 2020, it will be a huge achievement. If we can go beyond that target, we should aspire to do so. In response to the question on the number of houses I would like to be built per year for the next ten years in a perfect scenario, I would like between 30,000 and 35,000 per year to be built....

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I do not mean to interrupt but I need time to answer before I go to a Cabinet meeting at 2 p.m. That is the problem.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: On that particular question, Deputy Wallace will get an opportunity to ask questions of some of the chief executives later on.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Hopefully, the Deputy will get some answers then. I am aware that NAMA spent tens of millions of euro doing up properties to make them suitable for social housing. I do not have the exact figure but it was very significant.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: It spent €100 million making properties ready for social housing.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Of course it matters, but €100 million is a very significant investment in social housing.