Results 2,961-2,980 of 7,404 for speaker:Mick Wallace

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: As the Minister of State knows, I disagree with the criteria, which is the reason for this amendment.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: This amendment also relates to the timeline. It should be brought forward by a year. I will give my tuppence-ha'penny worth in the House.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: Am I right in thinking this amendment relates to whether the site is fully occupied? I have made those points already, so I will just press the amendment.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: I disagree with that. Buying development land with hard cash is unusual. It does not really happen. Most sites that are bought for land-banking will be mortgaged. This legislation gives them a way out by saying they only have to pay half of the levy if there is a 50% mortgage on it, or three quarters if 75% of it is mortgaged. That is a ridiculous idea. All this stuff is mortgaged to...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: I agree. It makes sense. If the tax on a site is confined to that site for ten years, one is only hoarding money. It is a good idea to spend the tax in the area.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: Naturally, we are not going to get a large amount of social housing unless the State builds it. If the State ring-fenced 10% of property as social and affordable housing and there was zero chance of a developer getting out of that obligation, I would agree with the 10% level. Currently, one cannot get financing from a bank if one owns a site but has to cough up 20% of it. Part V was a...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: I agree with reducing the obligation from 20% to 10%, provided it is written in stone and it is impossible to get out of the obligation. The Minister of State said that if Deputy Boyd Barrett were appointed Minister with responsibility for housing, he would not be able to build all the houses-----

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: I will struggle to find the reference now but I will raise it on Report Stage.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: I did not invent it but perhaps I have misinterpreted the Bill. I hope I have but I will raise my interpretation of it on Report Stage. The Minister of State said that if Deputy Boyd Barrett was Minister with responsibility for housing, he would not be building all these houses. The Minister of State is dead right but there is a good reason for it. The Government would not give him the...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: He would not.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: The Minister of State will not even let me talk now. It beggars belief that the EU does not allow states to borrow money off the books at the 1.7% interest rate to invest in infrastructure because it is a no-brainer. We are pushed into the hands of PPPs where the money costs about 15%. That is just lunacy. I think the Government would have more of an appetite for building more State...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: First, I have to disagree with Deputy Stanley for giving Fianna Fáil credit for the provision of affordable housing.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: The Fianna Fáil Government did not deliver 1% of it. If 10% of the land zoned for residential and-or residential and other uses is ring-fenced for social and affordable housing, there will be less pressure to deal with it. There was a major flaw in the old system. If a builder bought a site to build 50 units and paid €100,000 a unit, under the current Part V provisions, he...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Mick Wallace: Some of my points have already been made. Whether it is one house in four or five or one in nine or ten will depend on whether the requirement is for 20% or 10% social housing. As I said already, if I were guaranteed that the 10% requirement was ring-fenced and could never be got out of by anybody, I would agree to the ability of the local authority to acquire one house in nine or ten being...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Plant Protection Products (1 Jul 2015)

Mick Wallace: 3. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will prohibit the use of glyphosate herbicide in view of the World Health Organization's finding that the substance is probably carcinogenic to humans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26373/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Plant Protection Products (1 Jul 2015)

Mick Wallace: In November last year the Minister defended the use of glyphosate, more commonly known as the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup pesticide, on the grounds that it had passed a 2002 EU safety evaluation. He said the comprehensive health assessments conducted by public authorities in the past 40 years had consistently concluded that glyphosate did not pose an unacceptable risk to human...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Plant Protection Products (1 Jul 2015)

Mick Wallace: A German NGO research group, called Testbiotech, strongly criticised the German report the Minister is talking about and stated that the report failed to evaluate several peer review studies which were omitted for unknown reasons. To frighten us a bit more, they told us that Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment's pesticide committee has employees from pesticide giants that profit...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Plant Protection Products (1 Jul 2015)

Mick Wallace: The Minister referred to the World Health Organization but the body that I referred to, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, is a WHO body. The Minister will probably be familiar as well with the fact the Corporate Europe Observatory has shown that the current authorisation of glyphosate relies on old out-dated testing protocols and, almost exclusive, on industry studies. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Plant Protection Products (1 Jul 2015)

Mick Wallace: It is outrageous that the Minister would argue that there are not persons lobbying on behalf of large corporate profits.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Plant Protection Products (1 Jul 2015)

Mick Wallace: Look at what is going on with the TTIP. I refer to most of those trying to water down the regulations in Europe at present. The pressure is coming from lobbyists for big industry that has a profit motive and profits are being put before the health of the people. The Government should put the health of the Irish people before the profits of large chemical corporations making crazy money.