Results 3,181-3,200 of 9,994 for speaker:John Gormley
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: I said I received amendments at the last minute.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: I shall deal with Senator Cummins's last point. Section 11 deals with it clearly, stating: Notwithstanding any enactment or rule of law, a relevant person shall, upon a request from a local authority, provide the local authority with information in the possession or control of the relevant person or its subsidiary as the local authority may reasonably require for the purpose of enabling the...
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: That is stated very clearly in the legislation. It is dealt with in section 11, on data sharing and exchange, and is clear. I must disagree with some of the comments made by Senator Coffey. I tried to be as clear as I could and we tried to offer clarity. The Senator raised the issue of the granny flat and I stated very clearly in my reply that it would not be liable for the charge if it is...
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: Under this legislation, such people are subject to the â¬200 charge. That is the situation and I tried to make it as clear as possible. I see other Senators indicating and I am happy to take questions or points.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: The Senator referred to the final arbiter. Obviously, if there is a dispute the matter will go to the courts and the final arbiter in such cases will be the courts. Before that, it is a matter for the local authority.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: I thought he disappeared.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: I heard the Senator make that point this morning, so I got information on it. It is not the case as laid out. I would be more than happy to consider the legitimate questions being asked by the Senators and I do not want to proceed until they are happy with my answers. I will happily remain for as long as it takes to tease out the issues. With any legislation, there are issues that are not...
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: Of course. What I want to do is-----
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: I will put it another way. If it is what the Senators want, then I can take some time to provide them with long and deliberate answers to their questions before proceeding. I will happily co-operate.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: I would happily do so.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: I did not address the Lord Lucan issue, by the way.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: It is in the legislation.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: Committee Stage.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: I thank the Labour Party for tabling amendment No. 2 and Senator Pearse Doherty for tabling amendment No. 2a. While I accept the principles behind amendments Nos. 2 and 2a, I am satisfied amendment No. 1 achieves the same purpose but in a more definitive manner. Both amendments seek to exclude mobile homes from the scope of the new change to which the Bill generally gives effect....
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: This amendment provides certainty. We examined all the definitions. We examined the phrase "de-mountable" and other issues. The Senator is quite right. There are instances, which I referred to in my contribution, where there are so-called mobile homes where wheels, etc. have been removed. We are examining situations where mobile homes are in caravan parks and it is quite clear they are...
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: I thank Senator Coffey for his amendments and appreciate the sincerity of his motives. I acknowledge a number of the points made by Senator Glynn on the collection of moneys. He suggested town councils should be allowed to collect the moneys. The local authorities have assured us they have the capacity to collect the moneys and that they will distribute those moneys to the town councils...
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: Section 15 will deal with this. It states clearly a county council shall make a payment each year to each town council within the county and such payment shall be calculated having regard to various matters. I do not want to go through the entire Bill but it is clear. Also, in discussions with the managers we made it clear we want to see the moneys distributed proportionately and fairly.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: It is referred to in the legislation.
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: To deal with the Senator's point, it would be wrong of me, as Minister, to give him a commitment that the local authorities will be allowed to employ more people - I cannot do that. In these very difficult economic circumstances local authorities are redeploying their staff in different ways to try to achieve efficiencies. Given that there is an incentive for them to raise this money, they...
- Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Jul 2009)
John Gormley: Senator Doherty has given some very coherent arguments against the amendment and I understand fully the thinking behind it. It is seen to improve the efficiency of the collection system but I assure the Senator that local authorities have assured me very clearly that they wish to collect the rates themselves. As Senator Doherty stated, a centralised collection system in Dublin would not go...