Results 21-40 of 8,419 for speaker:James Browne

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1131, 1193, 1234 and 1301 together. The Vacant Homes Action Plan, published in January 2023, set out the various actions being pursued to return vacant properties back into use as homes. In March, I published the 2025 Progress Report which shows the significant progress that is being made and it is available on my Department's website at the following...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Homeless Accommodation (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: 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. While...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: 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: Coroners Service (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1134 and 1135 together. My Department can only provide audited figures for overall expenditure on operation of morgues and coroners expenses for the years 2020 to 2023. The figures are from local authority Annual Financial Statements (AFS) and 2023 is the latest year for which audited figures are available. It should be noted that the figures provided show...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: The Government is acutely aware of the housing challenges faced by many sectors of society. The Government's current housing plan, Housing for All, contains a suite of actions that have increased, and will continue to increase, the provision of housing through accelerating supply and increasing the affordability of homes. Under the Programme for Government published in January 2025,...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme 2016 is open to eligible tenants of local authority houses that are available for sale under the scheme. The scheme is underpinned by the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014, which excludes the sale of apartments, flats, and duplexes. A separate scheme, the Tenant Purchase of Apartments Scheme (TPAS) allows tenants to purchase their...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Offices (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: The Government agreed on 29th April, to establish a new Housing Activation Office in the Department of Housing.   The HAO will seek to address infrastructure barriers that are affecting housing development on zoned lands, by engaging with key stakeholders, coordinating cross-agency collaboration, and supporting the development of a pipeline of housing enabling infrastructure...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Staff (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: My Department is progressing work to establish the Housing Activation Office (HAO) to support housing delivery by addressing infrastructure barriers. My Department does not comment on the specifics of individual staff and their rate of pay. To date, six staff have been assigned or seconded to the HAO.  In addition to the secondees in place, senior staff including a Senior...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Policy (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: Under the 2025 EERP programme, €90m has been made available to local authorities to upgrade approximately 2,500 homes. It is expected that 36,500 local authority owned homes will be retrofitted under this programme out to 2030 inclusive, achieving a minimum BER rating of B2. Works eligible under my Department's revised Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme include attic/cavity wall...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Energy Conservation (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1142 and 1143 together. In 2021 a new holistic approach was applied to the Local Authority Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP). This was designed around the Programme for Government's commitment to retrofit 500,000 homes to a minimum B2 BER standard by 2030, implementation of which is led by the Department of the Environment, Climate and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Services (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: The Water Services Strategic Plan 2050 (WSSP 2050) is a long-term strategic plan that Uisce Éireann is required to prepare and submit to me as Minister under Section 33(1) of the Water Services (No.2) Act 2013 (the Act). I approved this plan on 1st August 2025. Section 33(6) of the Act provides for the incumbent Minister to approve the Water Services Strategic Plan. In line with...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1147, 1152, 1235 and 1272 together. The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant introduced in July 2022, provides a grant of up to €50,000 for the refurbishment of vacant properties for occupation as a principal private residence and for properties which will be made available for rent. A top-up grant of up to €20,000 is available where the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Functions (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: My Department has provided €325 million to support a second-hand acquisitions programme in 2025. The programme supports acquisitions addressing priority categories of need including -exits from homeless services,tenancy sustainment (tenant in situ),people with a disability and older persons requiring urgent housing responses, andBuy and Renew acquisitions tackling vacancy.Some...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Regulatory Bodies (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: On July 22 2025, the Cabinet approved moving the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) and the Property Services Appeals Board (PSAB) functions, in line with Programme for Government commitments, from the Department of Justice to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I can confirm that this transfer of functions took place on 1 August 2025. This transfer brings...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Local authorities also have a legal obligation to ensure that all of their tenanted properties...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Notwithstanding the legal obligation on local authorities to manage and maintain their...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: Local authorities borrow from the Housing Finance Agency to finance their mortgage lending.  Where there is a change in the cost of borrowing for local authorities from the Housing Finance Agency my Department instructs local authorities to change the interest rates as appropriate for their borrowers.  Any change in the interest rate applying to variable rate mortgages will then be...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1160, 1161, 1213 and 1214 together. The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, the implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under Section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Local authorities...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1162 and 1233 together. The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme 2016 is open to eligible tenants of local authority houses that are available for sale under the scheme. The scheme is underpinned by the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 and the Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015 (as amended). The scheme allows for the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authorities (8 Sep 2025)

James Browne: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1163, 1164 and 1165 together. Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended. The 2011 Regulations prescribe maximum...