Results 13,021-13,040 of 13,339 for speaker:Pat Gallagher

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (1 Jul 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The common thread running through these amendments is that they are based on the misconception that the Bill either does or should contain provisions on water charges. As this issue arose on several occasions during the Committee Stage debate and again this morning I thought the matter had been comprehensively dealt with. However, I will reiterate the position. The Bill is primarily designed...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (1 Jul 2004)

Pat Gallagher: I promised on Committee Stage to consider technical and drafting amendments put forward by Senators regarding the deletion of section 31(19) and its substitution by way of a new section later in the Bill in order to avoid non-textual amendment of the 1885 Act. The suggested amendments are in keeping with current drafting practice and I am happy to take them on board. However, for...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Report and Final Stages. (1 Jul 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The Senator will appreciate, from his experience in the House, that it is not possible for me to accept both amendments. I am including the spirit of his amendment in the new text.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: I am somewhat confused and I ask the Senator to clarify his question. No charges will be imposed on non-domestic users. Perhaps the Senator is referring to works or maintenance to be carried out. I do not understand his question. If he repeats it, I will try to answer it.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: It will be funded in a somewhat similar manner to the local government fund. The Senator is aware that the Government has substantially increased allocations to local authorities in recent years. An important part of the authority's income will come from charges for non-domestic use.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: Is Senator Bannon talking about capital or current funding? I am proud of the Government's commitment to the development programme between 2000 and 2006. It has invested €4.4 billion in water schemes throughout the country. I am certain that the six schemes to which the Senator referred have not been delayed because of shortfalls in funding. Senators are aware that schemes have to pass...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: Development charges have always been in place. It was a matter of streamlining them. The Government has not insisted on any development charges. Members can decide whether they want development charges. Senator Bannon knows, just as I do, that there is a multiplier effect if counties have additional development charges. It helps them, in no small way, to draw down additional funding. It is...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This technical amendment removes a possible ambiguity from the text of the Bill. The current wording of section 93(1) provides that the extension to water service authorities of the powers under section 182 and Part XIV of the Planning and Development Act 2000 is only, in effect, for the purpose of acquiring land. While Part XIV of the 2000 Act deals specifically with the acquisition of land,...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The proposed amendment to insert a provision in section 96 to the effect that the determination of compensation by a duly appointed arbitrator in regard to compulsory acquisition of a waterworks or waste water works shall be binding is unnecessary as such provision is already included in the relevant legislation governing the appointment of arbitrators. The purpose of section 96 is to itemise...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: It is necessary to first outline the general background to the section in order to set the context in which it has come about. The purpose of section 99 is to ensure that the legislation is not at any stage an impediment to the implementation of responses to situations of an emergency nature affecting the national interest. Such provision may be needed from time to time, for example, in...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: Section 100 provides that a provision of a pre-1922 statute will no longer have force of law where its application could frustrate the application of this Bill. Given the number, diversity and, in some cases, obscurity of pre-1922 legislation dating back to the middle of the 19th century, it is not possible to identify every individual element of the water services legislative code, despite...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This amendment to the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act 1977 enables the Minister to make regulations governing appeals to An Bord Pleanála under the Act in respect of decisions by a local authority on the licensing of trade effluent or sewerage discharges to waters under section 4. Section 6 of the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act 1977 already provides for making regulations for...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: It is not an additional charge as those regulations are already in place. This amendment simply addresses procedural matters.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The purpose of this group of similar technical amendments to section 104 is to synchronise increased penalty provisions under the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act 1977 with interim increases to those provisions, which have previously been provided for under section 24 of the Local Government (Water Pollution) (Amendment) Act 1990. These amendments insert reference to the previous 1990...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: While this is a technical amendment it is important, being designed to avoid the inadvertent removal of the authority to charge for waste water services once the water services Bill is enacted. If this amendment were not accepted there would be no water charges at all for non-domestic users.

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This group of amendments adds section 15 of the Public Health (Ireland) Act 1878 to the list of repeals and also provides for the repeal of paragraph 1 of section 29 of that Act. Section 15 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act of 1878 provided in effect that all existing and future sewers and related waste water works in the functional area of a sanitary authority would vest in and be under...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: On amendment No. 132, section 68 enables a water services authority to provide pump-out facilities for boats, tour buses and caravans, to mention but a few. The provision is intended to facilitate the involvement of local authorities in the development of leisure and amenity facilities in their areas. The section is based on section 27(2) of the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act 1997...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: This amendment inserts an additional paragraph (a) into subsection (1) to provide that any reference to a drain in section 69 shall be construed as meaning both a drain and a service connection. Its purpose is to ensure that any pipe draining a premises into a sewer comes within the scope of this section and can thus be declared to be a sewer, with a view to requiring any person discharging...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: Section 69 enables a water services authority to declare that a particular drain shall in future be regarded as a sewer under its control. This amendment substitutes subsection (2) with a revised provision restricting its operation to applying only for the purposes of section 63. The revised provision also stipulates that the drain will be regarded as a sewer under the control of a water...

Seanad: Water Services Bill 2003: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jun 2004)

Pat Gallagher: The purpose of this set of amendments is to replace references to obligations on occupiers of a premises under section 69 with references to such obligations applying to persons making or causing a discharge from a premises. A similar amendment has already been inserted into section 66 via amendments Nos. 122 and 123. Section 69 enables a water services authority to declare a drain to be a...