Results 2,761-2,780 of 32,837 for speaker:Catherine Connolly

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Is Galway City Council wrong when it tells us that the housing assistance payment scheme is really the only game in town? Is it wrong when it suggests that most of the money provided in the social housing area is going directly into the pockets of landlords through that scheme?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Sorry, I have asked whether the city council has given me a wrong interpretation.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: I thank Mr. McCarthy for that clarification. I do not mean to be parochial when I refer to Galway. We often talk about the crisis in Dublin, but the figures I have mentioned show that there is an absolute crisis in Galway. We will be lucky if 14 direct-build units are completed in Galway city this year. I refer to houses that are being built as part of a scheme of 69 houses in...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Good. I will complete my point. I will not cut Mr. McCarthy off when he responds to me. He accepts that no houses have been built since 2009.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: We will build 14 houses this year if we are lucky. Those are the up-to-date figures. In that context, does Mr. McCarthy think the Department is taking the direct construction of houses in Galway seriously?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Honestly, I have read the Orwellian jargon. I do not mean that personally. We have heard about the transfer of acres of land to a body in Dublin under the land aggregation scheme.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: A total of 247 ha of land have been transferred. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: I ask Mr. McCarthy to bear with me. I am not trying to catch him out. I am trying to use plain and simple English to elucidate the nature of the housing emergency. For a long time, the land aggregation scheme under which 247 ha of land have been transferred remained the third secret of Fatima. Nobody seemed to know about the land aggregation scheme after the decision to transfer land was...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Okay. No house has been completed. No house has been built on the small amount of land in Galway city that was transferred under the land aggregation scheme. Does Mr. McCarthy know how much land is zoned residential in Galway city?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Does Mr. McCarthy know how much land owned by the city council is zoned residential?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Okay. Does Mr. McCarthy know how much land has been frozen as a result of the proposed N6 project? The frozen residential land to which I refer was bought at similar prices to those mentioned by Deputy MacSharry in the context of another portion of land.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Okay. I have been told by the city manager that two thirds of an 18 ha parcel of land, which is owned by the city council and zoned residential, is frozen because of the proposed N6 project. We bought this land at the same prices mentioned by Deputy MacSharry, or perhaps higher. Is the Department aware of this?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: I am really just elucidating and trying to expose the difficulties. If we do not analyse the problem properly, we cannot possibly have a solution.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: There are between 10,000 and 15,000 people on the housing waiting list in Galway city. We will not build any houses this year. If we are lucky, we will complete 14, but I do not think we will. Two thirds of a parcel of land that is zoned residential is frozen and cannot be touched. This increases the intensity of the problem. I understand there are difficulties between the Department and...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: While I do not think there are any mala fides in this regard, I do not accept that there is ongoing proactive planning to address the housing crisis. A great deal of money is going to approved housing bodies. As far as I can see, no money is going to the city council in Galway. Mr. McCarthy can clarify this for me. I said earlier that the housing assistance payment is the only game in...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: There is absolutely nowhere in Galway city where a property can be rented for that price. In reality, €575 is paid directly into the landlord's pocket with a discretionary 20% extra going into his or her pocket. In addition, the tenant will pay the differential rent to the council. He or she will pay the difference between the sum of €575 and the market rent into the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: I am not arguing about the limits. I am arguing about the effect of the limits and what it actively and legally condones. The €575 plus 20% goes straight into the landlord's bank account. The person must pay the differential rent to the council, and rightly so. In addition, he or she must pay the extra to bring the figure up to the market rent, which is anything between...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Does the Secretary General accept that the scheme actively promotes the payment of cash to landlords?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Environment, Community and Local Government (2 Mar 2017)

Catherine Connolly: Okay.