Results 22,821-22,840 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I propose to take Questions Nos. 119 to 121, inclusive, together. Ireland is a Party to both the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which together provide the international legal framework for addressing climate change at a global level. Ireland has demonstrated compliance with its greenhouse gas emission reduction target for the purposes of...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Air Quality (29 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Air quality monitoring in Ireland is carried out to meet the requirements of EU Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe, also known as the CAFE Directive. The Directive requires that certain minimum levels of monitoring are conducted for the purpose of assessment and management of air quality. The EPA has responsibility for the monitoring of air quality in...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Motor Tax (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: While I have overall policy responsibility for motor tax policy, I have no role in relation to individual applications for motor tax. Responsibility for the administration of motor tax rests with the relevant licensing authority (motor tax offices and, in the case of online motor tax, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport). Licensing authorities have an obligation under Article 3...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Private Residential Tenancies Board (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented residential sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Act to operate a national tenancy registration system and to facilitate the resolution of disputes between...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Motor Tax Collection (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I have no plans currently to introduce a system of regular direct debit payments for motor tax. Any such proposal would require to be underpinned by robust legislation to ensure that there is a system in place to recoup income lost to the taxpayer where there are insufficient funds in personal accounts to meet the payment or where a direct debit or standing order option is cancelled by...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Motor Tax Collection (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Motor tax is payable on an annual, half-yearly or quarterly basis. The rates applicable for the half-yearly and quarterly options are 55.5% and 28.25% of the annual charge, respectively. These relativities have remained generally consistent since the 1960s. The differential takes account of the extra workload for staff in motor tax offices and the Driver and Vehicle Computer Services...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Tenant Purchase Scheme (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: The Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2016, which completed second stage debate in the Dáil on 28 June 2016, seeks to implement water elements of the ‘Confidence and Supply Arrangement’ agreed with Fianna Fáil in the context of supporting a minority Government. The Arrangement document also affirms the parties’ position that those who have paid their water bills...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Fire Stations Provision (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: The provision of fire services in local authority areas, including the establishment and maintenance of fire brigades, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of premises, is a statutory function of the individual fire authorities under the provisions of the Fire Services Act 1981. My Department supports the fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Charges (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Under Section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, a household is ineligible for social housing support where the household is in arrears of rent, rent contributions, charges, fees or loan repayments, or any other moneysowing to a housing authority in the previous three years for an accumulated period of 12 weeks or more, and has not entered into a repayment arrangement with...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Motor Tax (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: There are no plans at present to replace the current system of motor tax with additional taxation on motor fuel or with any other mechanism. Gross motor tax receipts for 2015 were in the order of €1.124 billion. Maintenance of the tax base would require an increase in fuel excise rates of at least 20 cent per litre, with direct negative impacts on the rate of inflation and...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Waste Disposal Charges (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: My Department intend to meet with the waste industry next week to discuss the details of the agreement referred to, including how new customers will be dealt with under the agreement. Notwithstanding the difficulties associated with trying to accommodate customers of whom the collector has no record, I am confident that a reasonable and fair solution will be found to address this issue.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Departmental Legal Costs (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: As the Deputy will be aware, the settlement in this High Court case has only recently been agreed between the two parties. Accordingly, the legal fees have not yet been agreed and settled by the Chief State’s Solicitors Office (CSSO). Once the fees have been agreed and settled by the CSSO, I will bring this information to the attention of the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Graduate Support Schemes (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: Launched in 2015, the Local Authority Graduate Programme is designed to provide recently qualified graduates with the opportunity to acquire significant experience through working in a local authority and to benefit local authorities with the knowledge they have acquired in the course of their studies. The selection process for the 2015 Programme was by competition, open to candidates...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: UK Referendum on EU Membership (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: The outcome of the recent United Kingdom EU referendum clearly has very significant implications for Ireland, as well as for Britain and for the European Union. However, as the United Kingdom has not yet formally withdrawn from the Union, it currently remains a full EU Member, with all of its existing rights and obligations. Contingency planning in that context is challenging because...

Seanad: Waste Disposal Charges: Statements (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I did not expect to be back in the House discussing waste collection matters so soon but I am happy to hear people's views, share details on what I understand is happening and outline plans to address some of the issues. In an open market, it is a matter for waste collectors to set charges at the level they consider to be competitive and in compliance with the requirements of environmental...

Seanad: Waste Disposal Charges: Statements (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: That will be in place from next January.

Seanad: Waste Disposal Charges: Statements (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Senators for raising these issues. I thank them also for the tone of the debate. This seems much better than the last time we had a discussion on these issues when it was much more adversarial. It becomes difficult to get to the root of things in that kind of environment. When we made an agreement with the industry we had a conversation around how new customers would be...

Seanad: Waste Disposal Charges: Statements (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: That is the point of having a competitive market.

Seanad: Waste Disposal Charges: Statements (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: If someone does not like the price package they are being offered by one service provider, they can go to another one. The thinking behind having an open, competitive market is that we would encourage companies to compete with each other and offer different solutions, collection rotas and pricing models. We were trying to layer on top of that a requirement that everybody would have to...

Seanad: Waste Disposal Charges: Statements (30 Jun 2016)

Simon Coveney: -----but there is no requirement on them not to offer pay-by-weight either. Many companies have been collecting on the basis of pay-by-weight for years. Approximately 20% of households pay by weight. They are happy to do it, and it works very well. They segregate their waste and so on. We are not asking those companies to offer some kind of standing charge system without pay-by-weight in...