Results 2,921-2,940 of 8,073 for speaker:Peter Burke

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Harbours and Piers (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I am not in charge of it but I will endeavour to respond.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Harbours and Piers (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and thank Deputy Cullinane for raising this issue. Responsibility for the development and maintenance of local authority-owned piers, harbours and slipways rests with each local authority. The relevant local authority in the case of Helvick Harbour is Waterford City and County Council. However, as part of its annual...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Housing Policy (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: The Deputy makes a very valid point and we are trying to resolve the matter. Deputy Stanton and Councillor Anthony Barry, who works very closely with Deputy Stanton, have raised the issue consistently. Project Ireland 2040 is the overarching policy and planning framework for the social, economic and cultural development of Ireland. It includes the 20-year national planning framework, NPF,...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Housing Policy (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputy for his response and I am absolutely delighted to take up his invitation. The review is expected to be concluded midway through 2022. We should expect a number of submissions and they may be complex but the target is to have it completed by mid-2022. The circular was sent to all the chief executives in the country and the chair of An Bord Pleanála for its...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Planning Issues (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: We have heard a number of sound bites from the Deputy which should guarantee a few clips in social media and potentially some coverage on regional radio.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Planning Issues (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: For the past five minutes, I have listened to a Deputy blacken the names of highly respected public officials who have given great service to the State. I robustly defend their actions. I know how hard they work and how well they are doing in their roles. In his annual report, the Planning Regulator's detailed explanation of planning decisions taken throughout the country is exemplary....

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Planning Issues (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I should point out that this is still potentially before the courts, so I am restricted in what I can say about the specifics of the case. I will reply with fact. In the first instance, my role of Minister of State with regard to the planning system is primarily to provide a policy and legislative framework under which planning authorities, the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR, and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Community Care (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank the Senator for his Commencement matter. I am standing in for the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, who cannot attend. Day care services for the town of Monasterevin were historically provided from an old GP surgery on Drogheda Street. The HSE had to restrict access to the building in 2014 due to health and safety issues. Services were moved to the Monasterevan GAA...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Community Care (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I acknowledge the case the Senator has put forward. I know and appreciate how hard groups like the committee he referred to work on the ground delivering vital services to vulnerable people. I acknowledge their hard work. The circumstances they operate under can be difficult. He has put forward a strong case. As stated in the reply, tender documentation is to be received in quarter 1 and...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: State Examinations (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank Senator Ward for raising this issue. I want to give the apologies of the Minister for Education, who cannot be present today. Languages Connect - Ireland's Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education 2017-2026 aims to increase and diversify the range of languages taught and learned in line with the European framework of key competences for lifelong learning of 2007, which recognises...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: State Examinations (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I again thank Senator Ward for his remarks and for the very strong case which he has put forward, backed up by evidence. I will revert to the Minister, Deputy Foley, with the content of the Senator's response. I will set out clearly the evidence he has put on the table here today in terms of the benefits to our State that this can potentially have, but also the accusations that the State...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Water Services (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: We will commit to doing that. We are establishing a programme early next year to support villages and towns that do not have public wastewater infrastructure to enable them to develop that through Irish Water. The senior Minister was down in Broadford and in a number of other parts of County Clare during the summer and I am very aware of the problem that if infrastructure is not there to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Water Services (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: We have a specific taking-in-charge initiative, underpinned by a budget, which has worked in taking 330 estates containing more than 14,900 homes in charge. As to what the Deputy has outlined in the context of the taking in charge by Irish Water of a treatment plant, that depends on the criteria and there should not be an issue with that. If he has an example of that he might revert to us...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authorities (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I hear the views that have been expressed and we will clarify it on foot of the examples the Deputy will give. I have highlighted that as we see it, the discretion should be carried forward through the local authority network if someone's circumstances have changed. It is beyond their control. The last thing we as a Government want to see is the vulnerable people that I meet every week in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Water Services (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputy for his question. The Department builds in strategic water policy and infrastructural delivery programmes around the National Planning Framework 2018-2040 and the National Development Plan 2018-2027. Investment is primarily delivered through Irish Water while the Department operates the rural water programme directly. The programme for Government supports the uptake of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authorities (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 17 together. The 2011 social housing assessment regulations prescribe maximum net income limits for each local authority, in different bands according to the area concerned, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard household means policy. The 2011 regulations do not provide local authorities with any discretion to exceed the limits...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authorities (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: Our ethos is to ensure that the most vulnerable families are protected and not taken off the list. That is why I have emphasised the point regarding discretion in my response to the Deputy. However, if he wants to get in touch with me and provide me with examples that he has raised in the House, we will try to clarify the situation. If that means sending out a clarification to the local...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Derelict Sites (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: I know exactly what I am talking about. I have been in Waterford, as I alluded to-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Derelict Sites (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: Let me finish. I saw derelict sites being brought into use through the utilisation of schemes of the Department. I ask the Deputy to engage with his local authority to ask it what it is doing regarding the 400 houses he mentioned. The support exists in the Department to bring them back into use. I ask the Deputy to take up the question of why they are not being brought back into use. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Wind Energy Generation (11 Nov 2021)

Peter Burke: My Department is currently undertaking a focused review of the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines. The review is addressing several key aspects, including noise, setback, shadow flicker, community obligation, community dividends and grid connections. Guidance on the noise aspect is currently being finalised by my Department in conjunction with the Department of the Environment,...