Tag Archives: Housing Minister

Housing and Local Government Minister Simon Coveney, today (Wednesday) afforded key local development and community development stakeholders an opportunity to have their say in the development of an implementation plan for the Framework Policy for Local and Community Development in Ireland, which was approved by Government a year ago. The National Forum took place at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, with more than 230 participants in attendance. The forum afforded communities, their representatives and those directly involved in local development and community development an important opportunity to discuss critical issues facing our communities and to input to the development of the implementation plan. The plan will contribute to the Programme for Government commitment to produce a coherent policy framework and develop a strategy to support the community and voluntary sector and encourage a cooperative approach between public bodies and the community and voluntary sector. The event centred around five thematic workshops that aligned closely with the themes of the Framework Policy. …

Minister for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan has dismissed as “misleading and grossly inaccurate” Opposition claims that recipients of the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) will not have a route to other forms of social housing. “The new Housing Assistance Payment is the most radical reform of social housing support in decades. It transforms the system of rent supplement which is widely recognised as not being fit for purpose.The new Housing Assistance Payment will benefit those households who require assistance with their housing needs,” she asserted on this Tuesday. The minister said:  It will ensure that all long-term housing support is accessed through each local authority, rather than the current fractured system that involves the Department of Social Protection making payments, with people joining waiting lists to access the local authority system; It will ensure that people can take up employment and still retain housing support; It will improve standards of accommodation for tenants, with a more coherent system of inspection under the …