Results 1-20 of 44 for nama speaker:Fergus O'Dowd

Housing for All: Statements (Resumed) (29 Sep 2021)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...has happened, who is doing what and who is not doing what. The Minister must put the boot in if the local authorities are not doing their jobs. Some years ago the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, offered over 4,500 houses free of charge to local authorities up and down the country. City and county councils in Dublin refused to accept over 1,500 homes that would have...

Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Second Stage (17 Feb 2021)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...so that we can make the right decisions now. I would absolutely challenge what Sinn Féin has said about houses, the private sector and local authorities. The fact is, that between 2011 and 2017 NAMA offered 6,640 houses to local authorities up and down country. These houses were built and empty and ready for occupation but the local authorities just took 2,500 of them and rejected...

Home Building Finance Ireland Bill 2018: Second Stage (Resumed) (5 Jul 2018)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...housing applicants in recent years has been committed by the local authorities themselves, in particular through the rejection by local authorities of the option presented to them of thousands of NAMA properties. They refused to take them. They refused to say, "Yes, we will take these homes and put local authority tenants into them". It is entirely unacceptable, although it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Review of Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (15 Nov 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...in a different way. I may not get it today. Despite the criticism, there is very good practice. I am the first to criticise the county councils in Dublin which were offered 2,000 houses by NAMA, of which they took less than 1,000. I have criticised Fingal County Council which was offered 270 houses by NAMA but took only 105. It dismisses our figures for the numbers of unoccupied...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government Finance: Discussion (9 Nov 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...at a time when property values were high. The councils purchased that land to develop them for housing and communities. I would welcome the views of managers on that issue. Perhaps we could establish a NAMA-type agency to remove these bad debts from councils. We need to ensure that no local authority is encumbered by bad debts. Much of the budget of Louth County Council is servicing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Housing Report: Dr. Mary Murphy and Dr. Rory Hearne, NUI Maynooth (20 Sep 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...local authorities up and down the country, including Dublin. More than 1,000 homes in Dublin were refused by local authorities under the process in which the Housing Agency was acting as an agent for NAMA. When we talk about local authorities, I am not convinced. I do not know if the witnesses have a view. They did not want these houses and they did not take them. I am not taking any...

Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2017: Second Stage (13 Jul 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...planning permission was given, I am happy with that and welcome it. I wish to respond on a few issues I will not fight with my colleague, Deputy Clare Daly, but I wish to make a point about NAMA. I always make this point because it is true. Much of what the Deputy said is true in many respects but it is also true, and this is at the heart of the housing problem in this country, that...

Quarterly Report on Housing: Statements (6 Jul 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...bring them together to get the action we so badly need. There has been a huge failure on the part of local authorities and the Environment Department has failed miserably in the past. The Housing Agency has also failed. NAMA offered over 6,200 homes to local authorities around the country, but not more than 2,500 were taken up, which is both a shame and a disgrace. The agencies must be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Finance for Social Housing: Housing Supply Alliance (4 Jul 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...a State body, as we do, with the named individual in the room with him or her and with the person's PPS number, cut the bullshit and get on with the job. We have to be able to represent people. NAMA has 6,564 houses that it offered to local authorities around the country. Only 2,520 of the houses were taken up by the local authorities. In Dublin, 2,030 homes were offered to local...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government: Derelict Sites and Underused Spaces: Discussion (1 Feb 2017)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...sense and the support of local authorities. I keep making the point but it is telling. The vast majority of local authorities failed in their duty of care with the houses offered to them by NAMA. They were offered 7,000 homes but they took 2,500, which is scandalous. Even in the city of Dublin, there were enough properties offered so that every family in a hostel or hotel tonight...

Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...on the web. It is being dealt with. Where there is a significant shortage of houses, this has been introduced and it works. As a member of the housing committee, I looked at this issue about NAMA. I am not commenting on any of the issues that have been discussed in other rooms in this House about properties and all of that. It is an undeniable, incontrovertible fact that NAMA...

Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016: Report Stage (15 Dec 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...greatest demand is where there is least supply. On that point, I believe Dublin has been treated badly by its local authorities. More than 800 houses were offered by the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, to local authorities in Dublin, but they did not take them. Across the country, NAMA offered 4,000 houses to local authorities which they did not take. I have grave concerns about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (14 Sep 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: .... The real tragedy here is the families that will again be homeless in places such as Dublin tonight. Every one of those families would be in an apartment or a house if those units which NAMA had offered to the local authorities in Dublin had been taken up. Nationally, there were 6,700 houses offered by NAMA to local authorities and approximately 2,500 of them were taken up. The Dublin...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (14 Sep 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...me. When councils say there is no demand for housing in an area, that is not actually true if they have not tested that demand. One of the issues that has arisen is councils refusing houses from NAMA. Houses are available but the councils do not actually ask the people who applied, or they do not advertise that homes are available at a location asking applicants if they wish to take...

Report of the Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Motion (7 Jul 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...to happen. I wish to throw my tuppence-worth in at this stage to make a point. I have done a little bit of work - not enough yet - on Freedom of Information Act documentation on the houses which were offered by NAMA to local authorities. Thousands of houses were offered and thousands were not taken up. Some of the documentation is amazing. More than 2,000 of these units were offered...

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

Fergus O'Dowd: ...scheme. There must be a quid pro quo. We must make it attractive for the private sector to sign up to rather than avoid the HAP scheme. That is happening in some cases. The other point is about NAMA. Local authorities have let down NAMA in the greater Dublin area, as the agency offered the authorities thousands of houses for social housing and they refused them in Dublin. That is a fact.

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

Fergus O'Dowd: To get back to the point, the representatives of NAMA stated very clearly that whereas some of those houses were in unfinished estates, they were being offered in a finished state. In other words, the agency would finish them. I am concerned that local authorities do not have the commitment to build what they need to. I acknowledge that the county managers or chief executive officers will...

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

Fergus O'Dowd: ...too because, like yourself, I have sat here. I am the first Government party speaker and I am not going to be rushed in the final part of my question. I spoke about the build-to-lease programme, NAMA homes and landbanks and now I want to mention the planning review. That is key. We need to look again at fast-track planning. I do not know whether it makes sense. Somebody spoke about...

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

Fergus O'Dowd: The point I was making, in response to other points about NAMA being the big bad wolf, was that the agency in fact offered thousands of houses that were not taken up.

Committee on Housing and Homelessness: Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the County and City Management Association (2 Jun 2016)

Fergus O'Dowd: ...must be built on because it is much cheaper for the State to use its own land than to go to the private sector. Why did the four Dublin local authorities refuse all the houses offered to them by NAMA? There were 6,000 houses in the State and I can give Mr. Cummins the figures for Dublin because he may not necessarily have them. The number of houses that were offered equalled the number...