Results 221-240 of 1,037 for speaker:Joe Neville

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: You do not hear of that. You think about it from the plumber's or electrician's point of view but not necessarily from an engineering perspective.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: That is perfect. I know the Chair will give me an extra 30 seconds so the witnesses do not have to worry too much. I want to put the same question to Mr. Dempsey. Would he mind referencing local authorities and his own experiences? I wanted to ask what the witnesses' views were on local authorities and how they think it is working. I know it is a completely separate point but I want to...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: Does that mean that everyone is liable? Is it Mr. Dempsey's point that everybody on the chain is liable?

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: Even if it is the 1%. That is the point that was talked about, the 1% versus the 99%. That was interesting.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: On local authorities, maybe it is a general question for who might best equipped to deal with it. Do the witnesses feel local authorities are individually equipped in the way that Uisce Éireann and those other bodies may seem to be to deal with contracts? How do they find them and what is the feedback? Without calling out any individual names, obviously. Ultimately, a lot of what we...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: You are right, yes.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: Okay. I thank the Chair for the extra time.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: As an example, there has been a proposal for a bridge in Celbridge for the last number of years. It seems that these things are raised, talked about and then it disappears from view for a year or two. Then it goes to some other step and then it disappears. The process seems to work in a very strange way. It could take ten years to do something that could be done a lot quicker. Is that...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: A bit like me when we first met.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: I left the council to become a politician. Obviously, it was not all it was cracked up to be.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: In fairness, there is no planning permission needed for an extension on school grounds, for example. If people want to, they can put anything they want on school grounds-----

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: There is that. On school grounds, they can almost build a new school on a school ground site. Just put it in and there is no planning process.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: It is exempted. People cannot object to it, basically.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: I have one thing to ask as well if Deputy Cronin wants to buy a minute. I read something, although I am not sure where, about the number of judicial reviews in the UK compared to Ireland.

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: Was it 150 in Ireland versus something like 30 in the UK? Were there numbers like those?

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: It is ten times the size of us. Yes, it is a completely different number. I have been a councillor with Deputy Cronin; we had the good fortune to be councillors together for five years. I was a town councillor for five years before this, but I had been a councillor for 15 years before I got elected here. Judicial reviews were not overly a thing we came across as such, but my God, all of a...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: I have a final question. I am sorry; does Deputy Cronin want to come back in?

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: I have one or two final points in relation to the gold-plated element of everything. Is that the type of thing that conspires against the delivery of county council homes because, ultimately, we see these exorbitant numbers where they almost have to call something off on the delivery of houses because they are coming out at €600,000 apiece? Is that what we are talking about? Then...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: Is that because people are afraid to make decisions? Is there a culture of fear, be it in a local authority, housing body or some other body, that unless gold-plated housing is delivered, the body might get called out and, therefore, it will not do so? Nobody is going to lose a job over looking for the best, but he or she might if questioned after it over cutting corners. I am not saying...

Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery: The Role of Engineering in Delivering High-Quality Infrastructure: Discussion (8 Oct 2025)

Joe Neville: That is interesting for the work programme because who we are going to invite is exactly what we were talking about before the witnesses came in, funnily enough. Is it wrong of me to ask if anyone else had other thoughts on who to invite? Who would the witnesses recommend we should bring in?