Results 4,321-4,340 of 4,674 for speaker:Seán Canney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: I cannot give the Senator specific dates. At our meeting yesterday, he asked for dates but we did not have them. I will get them to the Senator as soon as I can. I can assure him it is being expedited.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: There is just one other point of reassurance. After the 2009 flood, the Office of Public Works allocated funding of €117,000 to then Limerick County Council to carry out minor works and that would have been informed by what happened in 2009-2010. To date, there was one allocation for Castleconnell and Montpelier of €54,000 and another €63,000 was allocated. There is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: I thank the Senator. I had the privilege of travelling to Limerick during the summer for the signing of the contract relating to Foynes, which is a €2.8 million project. The works have commenced there. The project is a defence against coastal flooding, which is to be welcomed. In Limerick city, funding of €1.3 million for advance work at Verdant Place, King's Island, which...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: The memorandum of understanding can and will be made available through the Chairman to all members. The memorandum of understanding is basically an understanding between the Office of Public Works and Insurance Ireland on the protocols by which information is given to Insurance Ireland when flood relief schemes are completed. It also provides information on when demountables are put in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: Floodgates are being piloted in Crossmolina. If people have floodgates put in, they are considered demountables, which would be something of which we would inform Insurance Ireland. Until the major scheme is complete and certified as such, I cannot say that the person in question will get insurance in the interim.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: It is, and I am very conscious of it. The length of time it takes to bring a project from inception, as I call it, to construction stage, to the point at which the machines come on the site, is one of the issues I considered when I came into the Department. The average time has been seven years. We are working on a protocol whereby we would reduce that by at least three and a half years....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: Absolutely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: Under the minor works applications, €189,270 has been made available this year to Mayo County Council to carry out works in Crossmolina. I understand - I hope - that those works are under way.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: The exhibition, which is the planning process, will happen early next year. The delay has been due to the options of building a bypass channel or reinforcing the bridge in the town. That issue has come up. The diversion channel seems to be the preferred option. What we call going to exhibition will happen in the first quarter of next year. As the Senator said, I have been to the area and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: The minor works applications include coastal erosion protection, so local authorities can make an application for funding that way. I believe that within CFRAM there is a number of coastal projects as well. I do not know how many off the top of my head, but there are a number involved. I read someplace yesterday about a number of projects in coastal areas relating to coastal protection....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: First of all, there is a carryover from last year of €7 million. The projection is to grow year-on-year the amount of money we are spending on capital works and flood relief rather than bring it down. My challenge is to get it spent. The OPW is working hard to ensure we spend the money, an unusual thing to say. I am hoping the local authorities will assist us in doing that through...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: That is a good question. At the moment the Office of Public Works is recruiting some 60 people to help with the roll-out of the catchment flood risk assessment and management programme. Local authorities are working hard under tough conditions where flooding has occurred. This year the roads engineers have carved out three separate roads programmes. Normally, they would only be carrying...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: There is a continuous review of what we have in unoccupied and what is being re-occupied. It is ongoing. The excess in 2016 was for Miesian Plaza. That would have been met by savings on the Vote. There were additional lease requirements for Miesian Plaza of €8.4 million. Leases are being surrendered as well. It is an ongoing process. We cannot say that we have it right at a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: While I am getting that answer, I will go back to some of the other things mentioned by Senator Conway-Walsh. She mentioned roads and flooding. A huge number of roads have been raised throughout the country to create better access. When I was down in Mayo I spoke to some of the engineers. They have got a huge amount of money for raising roads, but that comes from the Department of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: Senator Conway-Walsh asked about the conference centre performance. The conference centre has attracted something like 157,000 foreign delegations to Ireland, boosting the economy by approximately €210 million. International conference delegates attending conferences generally represent high-value business, with each delegate currently estimated to carry a tourism value of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: The process in which we are engaged with the catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, programme takes into account climate change projections with respect to the variations that will or are projected to happen in sea levels. Climate change and all the related issues are part of the CFRAM process; they are taken into account in the designs that will be done. Climate change is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: That is what I am saying. Between 2016 and 2021, some €430 million has been set aside and committed by Government for capital works programmes to address the issue of flooding. This year, our target is to spend €50 million, while in 2018 the target spend will increase to €100 million per annum. We are cranking it up year on year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: I gave figures for the number of houses that are being projected. I draw the Senator's attention to schemes that have been completed and their success. For example, a project was completed in Ballinasloe and it was shown despite the rise in the flood water levels that occurred in December 2015, the flood defence wall that was put in place protected the people there from flooding. That is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: No. The OPW is charged with the overall responsibility for flood risk management. In many cases, it is the contracting authority while in most other cases it is the local authority. With the CFRAM process, the consultation with the other agencies the Deputy spoke about has taken place, be it with Waterways Ireland, the ESB on the Shannon, Inland Fisheries Ireland or whatever. They are...