Results 1-20 of 25 for waste management speaker:Michael McCarthy

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (26 May 2015)

Michael McCarthy: ...the Bourn Vincent Memorial Park Act 1932 to the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, to amend and extend the Air Pollution Act 1987, the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992, the Waste Management Act 1996 and other Acts, and to provide for related matters. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government with special...

Report on the Outline Heads of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Motion (23 Jan 2015)

Michael McCarthy: ...increase costs, escalate risk and foreclose options to address the risk. The carbon dioxide we produce accumulates in Earth's atmosphere for decades or centuries, or even longer. It is not like pollution from smog or wastes in our lakes and rivers, where levels respond quickly to the effects of targeted policies. The effects of CO2 emissions cannot be reversed from one generation to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Management of Sewage Sludge: Cré (28 Jan 2014)

Michael McCarthy: We will now consider the management of sewage sludge and biofertiliser with representatives of the board of Cré – the Composting Association of Ireland. The witnesses are Mr. Percy Foster and Mr. Maurice Cremin and I thank them for their attendance. I draw witnesses' attention to the fact that by virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Michael McCarthy: I welcome Mr. Owen Keegan, Dublin city manager; Mr. Michael Phillips, city engineer and director of traffic; Mr. Peadar O'Sullivan, acting head of waste management and Dublin waste to energy project engineer; and Mr. James Nolan, assistant engineer in the Dublin waste to energy project. I thank them for their attendance. By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2013
Vote 25 - Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (9 Jul 2013)

Michael McCarthy: I thank Deputy Bannon. We will move on to the next programme - programme C, environment and waste management - which comprises 2% of the Vote.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2009 (Certified Money Bill): Second Stage (28 May 2009)

Michael McCarthy: ...in the current situation. To paraphrase Laurel and Hardy, "That's another fine mess they've gotten us into." No one would win any prizes for guessing who "they" are. We have seen an unbelievable waste of Celtic tiger resources in recent years. Senator Boyle might want to believe he is sitting on the opposite side of the House and talking about honest politics, but it is about time he...

Seanad: Economic and Recovery Authority: Motion (1 Apr 2009)

Michael McCarthy: ...people off the dole queues and putting them back into the economy serves to stimulate and reboot that economy. The Government must look seriously at this proposal. It is just not good enough to waste resources while giving money to the unemployed in the form of social welfare. It ignores the underlying issue. We do not want a return to the levels of long-term unemployment that obtained...

Seanad: Schools Building Projects (4 Mar 2009)

Michael McCarthy: ..., was almost 700 pupils and information available to me suggests it would be nearer 750 in September 2009. The school has a dedicated team of staff, teachers and parents and a dedicated board of management. The principal, Sr. Mary, has been looking for this extension for a long number of years because it is necessary and urgent. This school is no different to many others in the greater...

Seanad: Harbours (Amendment) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Jan 2009)

Michael McCarthy: ...being consistently reduced and power being taken from them. One of the few reserve functions councillors had was to set charges for refuse collections, but that is now an executive function. The manager comes along and the price is fixed, but that took an element of democracy out of the system. Councillors are elected from all sections of society. Those elected to a town, borough or...

Seanad: Harbours (Amendment) Bill 2008: Committee Stage (22 Oct 2008)

Michael McCarthy: .... A public representative has access to engineers and planners who provide two major reports on any planning application. Senator Denis O'Donovan already referred to the assistant county manager in west Cork who is a model of public service and listens and engages with local authority members. I have never found that same level of co-operation and service with An Bord Pleanála. It...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2006)

Michael McCarthy: ...Members of the Oireachtas by local authorities. I am not certain how the service works in most other counties, but I find it to be increasingly inefficient. I have to wait for replies from county managers and directors of services. I understand a great deal of money is being wasted on using Oireachtas facilities, such as e-mails and faxes, to contact people who are blatantly taking...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (3 May 2006)

Michael McCarthy: ...their role undermined somewhat in recent times. The Local Government (No. 2) Bill, for example, removed the decision making ability members of local authorities had as regards setting the cost of waste collection. That gives rise to a greater issue, namely, the role of the elected member and his or her reserved functions. It is very important that management at all times is at least...

Seanad: Morris Tribunal Reports: Motion. (15 Jun 2005)

Michael McCarthy: ...the levels to which some people were willing to stoop in order to damage the character and good name of others. The opportunity presented to us by the Garda Síochána Bill is in danger of being wasted. We have an enormous opportunity to enshrine some of the recommendations of the Morris report in the Bill. The Bill is not good enough and misrepresents the Swedish origin of ombudsman. It...

Seanad: Order of Business. (9 Feb 2005)

Michael McCarthy: I add my voice to those who request a debate on the waste collection issue. It is remiss of the House not to acknowledge the crisis in waste management. Waste management strategies of various local authorities have been given an added bump by the Government. The former Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, took the decision-making ability to set waste...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (11 May 2004)

Michael McCarthy: ...now in storage across the country, may very well be obsolete and of no real benefit to this country if we take up the mantle of e-voting and the commission decides we should do so. Is it fair to waste €52 million on an issue as notorious as this at any time? If this happened in private industry, the manager responsible would be shown the door quicker than his or her feet could touch the...

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Michael McCarthy: ...be the eighth or ninth public representative to have been approached. It should never be forgotten that it is the members of the local authority who compile the development plans. It was not the managers or State Departments that compiled them but the members of the local authority, as appointed by the people. This is something people quite conveniently forget at times. As regards the role...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Second Stage. (27 Jan 2004)

Michael McCarthy: ...officials. There are salient points in the Bill and some aspects of it are good. As a society, we probably have adopted the same attitude to our treatment of water as we have to the treatment of waste, namely, that it is not something that needs to be given priority. We have become careless about it. The majority of the regulations and laws governing the treatment of water derive from EU...

Seanad: Waste Management: Statements. (5 Nov 2003)

Michael McCarthy: ...this contentious Bill. I had strong reservations and spoke to that effect during the debates on it. This legislation will be remembered for one thing only, the fact that it gave county and city managers the power to set the refuse charge and leave waste uncollected in cases where bills were not paid.

Seanad: Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McCarthy: ...limited enough and that is the view of many councillors across the political divide throughout the country. It is one of the perennial issues which councillors raise. Councillors go to the county manager and advise the manager so that he will make a favourable decision. That is the executive function being exercised. I am not suggesting that managers are not making decisions based on what...

Seanad: Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McCarthy: ...itself is local democracy at work. The fact that people can take these stances in regard to decisions is what local democracy is all about. One of my biggest fears in regard to this section is that waste collection charges next year will be much higher than they are this year, and there is a significant increase this year on last year. Apart from the issue of waste, if one considers the...