Results 4,501-4,520 of 4,726 for speaker:Malcolm Noonan

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Parks and Wildlife Service (27 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: The carrying out of screening for appropriate assessment for this scheme is a matter for the local authority concerned. The National Parks and Wildlife Section of my Department has no function in this regard at this time.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Departmental Programmes (27 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: The Collaborative Town Centre Health Check is an initiative of the Heritage Council which is funded by my Department. Arrangements have been put in place by all bodies under the aegis of my Department to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas. This provides a speedy, efficient and cost effective system to address queries directly to the relevant...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: National Parks (27 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: The property in question is in Killarney National Park and is part of the Bourne Vincent Memorial Estate. Given that legal proceedings are underway in this matter, I am precluded from comment at this time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, and good morning, everyone. I apologise for the technical hitches, but it is great to be here with the committee, and I thank the committee for inviting me to appear before it to discuss the general scheme of the electoral reform Bill, which was approved by the Government on 15 December 2020. Today is my first time to appear before this committee, and I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: I might defer to Mr. Barry Ryan from the franchise section. Certainly, it is in terms of the expected population growth. I think it is the number of Deputies per head of population. Perhaps Mr. Ryan might come in on that issue as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: My understanding is that the local authority will still have a central role to play in terms of the management of the register with one lead authority that would manage the overall national register. I ask Ms Woods to come in on that issue specifically as it is her area of expertise.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: I again thank the Deputy for his positive comments. I will take the research element and defer to Mr. Ryan and Ms Woods on the register. It is anticipated that the commission will have a very strong research, advisory and voter education function. We will see that evolve over time. We all know we need to engage with hard to reach communities in electoral processes for referendums. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: I thank Senator Cummins for his positive comments. The general scheme does provide for data sharing for the purposes of obtaining and maintaining the electoral register. That would include sharing data between local authorities and enabling data to be matched against other public sector data, for example, the public services identity data held by the Department of Social Protection. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: My connection dropped out for a moment. I think the first point the Senator raised was on the publication of research.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: The commission will report directly to the Houses of the Oireachtas. It will have to produce a three-year strategy. It is absolutely vital to have the data and quantitative and qualitative research element there. It is a well-made point. On the issue of local elections and pre-registration for those aged 16 and 17, it is my understanding that voting for 16-year-olds could be introduced...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: Regarding available resources, as Mr. Ryan has outlined, the commission will be funded by its own Vote. A chief executive is responsible for implementing the policies and decisions of the commission. I ask Mr. Ryan to address that, the other amendment that the Chairman proposes and the electoral areas.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: The voter participation element is absolutely critical. The commission will have the ability to look at other jurisdictions that are good examples, such as New Zealand. That will certainly be in its remit and it is a vital part of it. This is about getting young people, other hard to reach groups and minorities, including the Traveller community, and everyone else involved in our electoral...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: I will take the first issue. As far as I am aware, the area around online advertising is really around transparency in regard to who is paying for the advertisement. In a sense, we are probably the first jurisdiction to legislate for this, which is important. Mr. Ryan alluded to the issue around freedom of expression and the content of such advertisements, but what this is really about is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: The first-year costs came in at between €2.25 million and €2.7 million. These are start-up costs, salaries and ongoing costs. There have been subsequent costs of approximately €1.5 million to €1.7 million per annum. It is quite modest. Additional costs could be anticipated as the commission would ramp up its activities over the years and be in the mix for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: I thank Deputy Gould. I might let Ms Woods take the issues of the voter registration. I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy on voting in disadvantaged areas. There is a significant job of work to be done, not only by the commission but other actors, in terms of community development projects in public participation networks, PPNs, or local community development committees, LCDCs, at local...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: It is a good point. We will certainly take note of those points about those hard-to-reach groups.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: I thank the Deputy for those impassioned and important points. To be clear, in respect of the regulation of online political advertising, the Bill relates strictly to electoral events and the intention is to have transparency in regard to who is paying for the advertisements. The Deputy mentioned EU level, where there are policy areas relating to the content of online advertising. This...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: It is an excellent point. It is perhaps something the commission could look into. It is certainly not dealt with here but it is a valid point. We will take it on board.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: I thank the Deputy and I will allow Ms Woods to come in on the issue of the postal vote, which has been raised by a number of Oireachtas Members. The issue of resources for local authorities has been raised on a number of occasions, so it is something we have to give consideration to. Regarding electoral boundaries, I am aware of the area the Deputy referred to in Carlow. The commission...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Treatment (Abstractions) Bill 2020 and Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Malcolm Noonan: The Senator made excellent points. Mr. Ryan might come in on this but generally our ambition with the electoral commission is to start with a specific set of functions and that will be ramped up over time. There is a risk in trying to load too heavy a workload onto it. The Senator makes a really good point in relation to this space. On the issue of digital ad boards, perhaps they could be...