John Cummins

-----100 homes as part of Dolphin House phase 1, and 32 homes for older persons at Glin Court in Coolock. The Department is funding eight projects currently on-site, delivering almost 1,000 homes at a total investment cost of €490 million. Additionally, Dublin City Council has a strong pipeline of regeneration projects that are currently at implementation phase, with building contractors on-site …

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I always address through the Chair.

I would appreciate some extra time because I might not get finished as a result of the interruptions, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

To that end, and recognising the efforts of Dublin City Council to create an agreeable and sustainable plan, funding of €13 million for the retrofit and deep refurbishment of four blocks at Pearse House has recently been approved by my Department. This follows an initial rejection of an amalgamation proposal from DCC, which would have resulted in the loss of 43% of existing homes at a very high co…

The Department is acutely aware that regeneration programmes cannot succeed without the input from local communities. That is why Dublin City Council continues to seek input from existing communities in flat complexes at each stage of the regeneration process.

Their input is valued and all projects are advanced with the objective of improving the living conditions of these long-term established communities.

I have a couple more concluding comments and would appreciate some latitude, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, because I was interrupted several times. We are aware of the collective complaint that was made to the European Committee of Social Rights in Strasbourg in 2017. It is for that very reason that Dublin City Council has been working on plans to regenerate all such flats through either deep retrofit…

I am listening to the Deputy.

I thank the Deputy for raising what is obviously an important matter. It is an issue of concern both locally and nationally. I appreciate the impact and challenges that shortages and outages of water have on communities around the country where they occur. As the Deputy will be aware, since 1 January 2014, Uisce Éireann has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, deli…

The Deputy raised valid points, particularly around the reservoir levels. Obviously, I cannot answer to that specific case in the Deputy's constituency, but he is correct in pointing out that the significant investment of taxpayer's money we are allocating to Uisce Éireann as a utility company to be able to deliver those generational projects, and also to deliver those smaller projects right acros…

Shocking.

I thank the Deputy very much for raising what is a very important issue for the area of Kanturk - an area that the Deputy is exceptionally passionate about. The operation of public wastewater treatment, together with the operational issues locally, are matters for Uisce Éireann, which has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services, planning, delivery and operational at national, r…

There is no question that our water and wastewater systems require substantial and sustained investment over a number of cycles to be able to bring it up to the quality required for a modern service. On the upgrading of plants, there have been many plants across the county that have been upgraded over the past number of years. I compliment Uisce Éireann for its work in that respect. However, there…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter in the House today. As the Deputy knows, the Land Development Agency, LDA, acquired land beside Clongriffin train station from the market with existing permission in 2023. It subsequently sought and was granted approval for a revised planning application, broadly similar to the existing planning which took into account the new objectives and policies in D…

I thank the Deputy. Obviously, the successful delivery of projects of this scale are certainly dependent on a number of factors and that includes engagement with the community. Certainly, I know the Deputy would have written to his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Browne, in this respect and I am informed that there has been consultation meetings which have included meetings with local councillors,…

How much?

Let us be clear about what is happening today. At a time of real global uncertainty, when families are worried about the cost of living and when businesses are planning for an unpredictable future, the motion of no confidence is not about stability or solutions; it is about opportunism. Sinn Féin is seeking to collapse the Government because it thinks it can benefit from chaos. It offers noise but…

On planning, we are simplifying the system to ensure timely decisions are made, red tape is cut and that people have a reasonable expectation of receiving planning permission for a home, particularly in rural Ireland, where they want to continue to put down roots and support their local communities

This Government will-----

I thank the Deputy. We have sent the finalised regulations for screening and once the screening is done we will bring them before the Oireachtas joint committee. That is in relation to the domestic exemptions. The next set of regulations is the infrastructure exemptions, which are being finalised as well.

The screening usually takes four to six weeks and then they will go to the Oireachtas joint committee.

I thank the Deputy for the question. Currently, local authorities charge rent under the Housing Act 1966 and this is known as the differential rents system. It is a critical piece of the State's welfare apparatus that subsidises housing costs and supports households who cannot meet their long-term accommodation needs from their own resources. The making or amending of such rent schemes is generall…

The Deputy asked whether it will result in increased or decreased rents. As I outlined in my initial response there are significant differences in rent schemes from local authority to local authority. Somebody with a given income in one council may be paying more than someone on a similar income in a different local authority area. There is a national framework contained in the housing plan. Optio…

I thank the Deputy. In the premise of his follow-up question, he is determining the outcome of this review. He is stating the outcome of it will be that we will go to the highest rent provided by a local-----

I did not interrupt you, Deputy.