Results 6,421-6,440 of 25,799 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Maybe I will wait. Is Deputy Bacik moving amendment No. 3?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: We have not got to amendment No. 3 yet. I have a lot of sympathy for the point Deputies O'Callaghan and Bacik raised. There are other issues. If one goes to Google Maps one will see a pin with pretty much every TD or Senator on the Internet. I have seen it. People know where we live and I get that, but some elements of society exploit this. We have seen more protests at the houses of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Yes. I will be very brief on it. Obviously, Deputies Smith, Farrell and I share a constituency. I am also acutely aware I am the Minister responsible for this legislation and since boundary reports were published and brought forward as proposals, since 1980 there have been no changes to the report itself, while recognising the points the Deputies have made. There may have been amendments...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I do remember that being mentioned. The name was not changed at the time while it was debated but my officials will double-check in advance of Report Stage. Obviously Deputies retain the right to submit further amendments but I want to be very open with the committee that I am not inclined to accept any on the changing of names even be that a name and it might put the onus on the three of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Speaking as a TD in a constituency that has gone now from a five-seater to a three-seater I understand what has been said by the Deputy. Leaving my own views aside, I am not proposing to accept the amendment but appreciate what has been put forward. There is a difference between this amendment versus the previous one because the commission has clearly detailed that this is an area that it...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I welcome, particularly as, thankfully, the population of the country is growing and will see future changes. We got to look at how many TDs and do we continue to grow that with the ratio, and that is set out in Bunreacht na hÉireann, how do we do that and manage an ever growing population. This is something that I know all of us in this room welcome. It is trying to provide certainty...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The commission has set out specifically that it intends to carry out research into the issue of representation and the manner in which the overall number of TDs is determined, as I have mentioned, in the context of a rising population. For next week, with the commission coming in, I am certain this will be a matter that members of this committee and the TDs who are coming in to speak at it...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The Deputy has asked a good question. The commission has issued its draft research programme for people to feed into. We are not restricting the commission. It has set out its work programme. A view has been articulated here and in the House as to what people's views are, particularly in light of an ever growing population. The commission is going to look at this specific matter. Its...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Yes. The commission published its draft research programme completely independent of me or of input from ourselves. The commission is going to undertake that. That is the importance of having it.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: No.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: No, they do not.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: To clarify, they do not have to. If one looks at the other areas the commission is looking at, the Electoral Act is not prescriptive in the other areas that they are looking at either. So we are not restricting them in any way. This is an area that does need to be looked at, in my view, and I say that as a Minister and as a Teachta Dála in the House. This matter needs to be looked...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Members for their engagement today. The Electoral (Amendment) Bill gives effect to recommendations of the Electoral Commission in respect of the total membership of the next Dáil. The Bill does not provide, at this stage, for revisions to the European Parliament constituencies. During the Second Stage debate in the Dáil, I indicated that amendments to the Bill would be...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I will keep my contribution relatively brief, particularly as quite a lot is happening today. I welcome the opportunity to be with the select committee to discuss the Supplementary Estimate for 2023. I am joined by Marguerite Ryan, assistant secretary, corporate and business support, and Sinead Kehoe, finance officer. They will be assisting us this afternoon. In February, I met with the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: There are additional moneys of about €146 million.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I am just putting my answer in context. It is important that the committee knows that there is additional funding coming into the Department and that the vast bulk of that will be for homeless services. If we look, for argument’s sake, at the reallocation to the capital acquisitions scheme, CAS, we can provide the exact amounts and they are detailed in the capital amounts here. We...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I have the list here myself.