Results 1,941-1,960 of 4,700 for speaker:Noel Ahern

Social and Affordable Housing. (8 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: The Deputy may have a point. Members of the Oireachtas still have links with councillors and we try to communicate with them when travelling around the country. Some phenomena never cease to amaze me. I met a delegation from a particular local authority not so long ago which was looking for more money for the authority's programme. I outlined the facts to the delegation and was rather...

Social and Affordable Housing. (8 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: We hope to initiate a pilot tenant purchase scheme to see how it will operate. I can well understand why the voluntary housing body would still want to control an estate and be responsible for the green areas therein. I see merit in this because its input and commitment might decrease if it were only looking after half the estate. I am sure it would be possible to have some sort of scheme...

Social and Affordable Housing. (8 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I hear what the Deputy is saying.

Social and Affordable Housing. (8 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I was not speaking about Kildare on that occasion. I was referring to a case further afield.

Written Answers — Community Development: Community Development (7 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: My Department has responsibility for a range of community-based schemes, including the Young People's Facilities and Services Fund (YPFSF). Through the YPFSF, allocations are made towards the construction and running costs of community facilities. These facilities are specifically aimed at attracting "at risk" young people in disadvantaged areas into activities that will divert them from...

Written Answers — Departmental Bodies: Departmental Bodies (7 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 510 and 527 together. An increased provision of €3.7 million is available to fund the Private Residential Tenancies Board's administration and services in 2006, compared with an outturn of €1.737 million in 2005. There is currently a total of 51.5 staff working in the Board. The Board has also engaged a panel of 175 mediators and adjudicators to assist...

Written Answers — Services for People with Disabilities: Services for People with Disabilities (7 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I propose to take Questions Nos. 521 and 522 together. The tabular statement gives details of the combined capital allocation for disabled persons and essential repairs grants notified to each local authority in 2005 and the combined out-turn expenditure on the schemes by each local authority. In 2005, the capital allocation for these schemes was €74.5m and out-turn expenditure notified to...

Written Answers — Charities Regulation: Charities Regulation (2 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: The Government has acknowledged that Irish charity law is in need of modernisation. To address this, there is a commitment in the Agreed Programme for Government that a comprehensive reform of the law relating to charities will be enacted to ensure accountability and to protect against abuse of charitable status and fraud. In delivering on this commitment, earlier this year, the Government...

Written Answers — Private Rented Accommodation: Private Rented Accommodation (2 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: To date 1877 housing units have been inspected by local authorities for suitability under the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) of which 1771 cases have been approved as suitable for the scheme as detailed in the following table. Under RAS local authorities use a range of measures to provide accommodation for recipients of rent supplement assessed as having a long-term housing need and is...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: I oppose the Bill but wish to clarify the Government's position regarding the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act introduced in 2002 and particularly how it impacted on the provision of social and affordable housing. There has been much misinterpretation of Part V since its introduction. I have arranged for my Department to prepare a short Part V fact sheet which is available in the...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: The developers may make suggestions but it is the local authorities that decide.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: Most of us have been members of local authorities in the not too distant past. If Members of this House feel councillors are not acting on Members' behalf, they can communicate this to them. Measures to address the housing needs of all sectors of the existing and future population in the area including first-time buyers, the elderly, people with disabilities, students etc. are also in the...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: One would think it was a Sinn Féin idea originally. It was very much the idea of this Government.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: Part V is about providing social and affordable housing and is an important mechanism in our approach to meeting the ever-increasing demands for such housing. The question for Government is how best to maximise the delivery of such output. Part V was difficult to implement in the early stages.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: It soon became apparent to all that it was not realising its potential. Something had to be done to ensure greater output. Like all new schemes it was slow to get going, but this did not distract from what was obvious to the various stakeholders, namely, that the Part V provisions were inflexible and overly bureaucratic and were not achieving the desired results of improving the supply of...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: There were clear advantages in accepting off-site provision, in cases where one or two social or affordable units would be provided in a very expensive area of a city as opposed to multiple units elsewhere. This was just one of the impediments to achieving maximum output and it could not be ignored. A Government committed to enabling home ownership for as many people as possible could not...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: ——including local authorities and representatives of the house building industry, professional institutes and voluntary housing providers.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: No one could argue that this group did not represent a broad range of relevant interested parties from whom balanced and practical recommendations for improvement could be expected. The review concluded that greater flexibility in the operation of Part V was required. Measures to achieve this were contained in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2002 that Deputy Crowe is now...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: It has to come in first.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (1 Nov 2006)

Noel Ahern: It will come in. It is all ring-fenced for housing, be it affordable or social and will all be used. It is totally protected.