Results 541-560 of 2,834 for speaker:Paul Gogarty

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: This is about proper planning for the entire country. There are currently 300,000 empty houses in the country. There is retail infrastructure to cater for 14 million people because every county council was trying to beggar its neighbour and say it could do it better. They were getting a few quid left, right and centre to help that process. The Deputies know those people because they are...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: I also referred to legitimate donations. As long as they exist - thankfully they will not exist for long - politicians can hide behind saying things like we need more housing and jobs, but they put them in the wrong place. That is what is wrong. Deputies Tuffy and Sherlock spoke about trust. The trust that the people invested in local representatives was broken because councillors put...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: They did not represent their people, they represented their paymasters. We need a little bit of regulation and that is what the Minister will do. Deputy Hogan could be Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I am sure with the new clean politics Fine Gael has developed he will be keeping an eye on bad and dodgy planning decisions when he becomes Minister. He needs...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: A conference centre for Jim Mansfield.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: They are being bullied.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: Money from developers.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: If it is possible to insert the proposed provision in the Bill, I will support the amendment. I await the Minister of State's comments in that regard. For too long, the process of discussions between prospective applicants and unelected officials behind closed doors has cast an unwanted veil of suspicion. Despite the heated debates and discussions we have, I acknowledge that the vast...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: Hear, hear.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: Does the Deputy agree with the amendments before the House?

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: This specific and technical amendment proposes the inclusion of three additional points in an existing section of the Bill. It is part of a section that deals with new ways of looking at things, and not before time. Better construction standards have been voluntarily adopted by local authorities in places like Dún Laoghaire. Contrary to what Deputy Bannon has suggested, we are statutorily...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: There seems to be a general thrust from the Fine Gael benches that anything proposed as a guideline from the Minister or anything that has a planned strategy is somehow lacking. Deputy Crawford mentioned the issue of job creation in Monaghan. The idea of having a strategy is to make sure that the jobs are located where the people live. In the past, the houses have too often been zoned in...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: Unlike my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Cuffe, I would not get too hung up about disarray between Opposition parties because it is clear, for example, that the Labour Party and Fine Gael will have to negotiate a programme for Government. If the Labour Party were to go into government with the Green Party, we would have many more similarities than with Fine Gael but, as I have said...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: My party has a philosophical problem with democracy only in so far as there is not enough of it.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: Democracy should represent the wishes of the people rather than the wishes of banks, developers and trade unions. These provisions mean that the Minister of the day, who is elected by the people and by Dáil Éireann, can make a strategic decision in the best interests of all the people and not just a select few in a particular area. Councillors in different areas will generally make the...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: Who rezoned the land in question?

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: We have no vested interests.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: On what Deputy Hogan said on the national spatial strategy, while I do not agree with the amendment the Minister should take on board the issue of whether it needs to be reviewed. It has been in place for a considerable length of time. The anecdotal evidence suggests that the problem was not with the strategy but that it was not being implemented properly because of inappropriate decisions...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: I oppose the amendment and ask Deputy Hogan if the lessons have been learned. When the Minister, Deputy Gormley, had to intervene in County Mayo a letter of protest was sent by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil councillors.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: The local decision was to rezone for housing outside a town.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Paul Gogarty: The point I am making is that the Minister needs the power to intervene where a locally made decision is not in line with the best wishes of the people of this country. We cannot allow little cabals to make their own rules in their respective areas. This is why we have basic laws for human, civil and animal rights. Planning is no different. We must have a basic level of good planning and...