Results 3,081-3,100 of 5,031 for speaker:Victor Boyhan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: That is great.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: Deputy Gould is on his feet in another venue. I will go back to Ms Doherty and Cork City Council. The witnesses' responses have been very impressive. I thank Deputy McAuliffe in particular for some of his questions because they elicited very quickly a lot of very positive responses. It is important to acknowledge that. I wish to recap on something. We talked about the derelict...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: There is also the extent of those fines and whether they are due or have been paid.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: I am talking about ones that the council did not acquire. I am just trying to zone in on-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: So the council is judge and jury in its own cause to a certain extent. The council administers fines or levies on derelict sites, but it does not pay them itself.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: Yet we know the council pays its own rates. Local authorities pay rates on properties they own. That is one of the anomalies in the local government finances. Is Mr. Reidy saying that for some reason local authorities do not levy themselves? I could see the logic in that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: But local authorities pay rates to themselves.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: What is the difference between the two? How do local authorities draw a line?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: Okay. We will park that for a moment although I am not convinced. I think Ms Doherty agreed when I asked that she would provide the committee with information on the plans for those particular sites.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: I am also interested in hearing about the units that could be maximised.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: I would very much appreciate that as I think it would be helpful. I want to go back to something I said earlier, that it was a bit like an inquisition here at a committee. I asked about it earlier, but we did not come back to it as we did not have time. I want to ask about the engagement of both Galway City Council and Cork County Council with the Department. How robust are the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: It is very proactive.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: That is grand. I thank Ms Doherty. In terms of Galway, we know the city council is not going to deliver its targets for 2022. The numbers are way down. I am not critical of that. There are reasons for it and Ms Philbin pointed them out very well. How was that taken up by the Department with the council directly? Mr. McGrath is the chief executive of Galway City Council. The numbers are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementing Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: That is great. I thank Mr. McGrath very much.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Flooding of Lough Funshinagh: Lough Funshinagh Group (26 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: I will second it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementation of Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: I thank the chief executives and to echo the comments of all members in acknowledging the enormous work that they do, along with their teams, in what is a very difficult time. I also point out that I am particularly glad to see Ms Egan and Mr. Burns, both of whom would have been in Dun Laoghaire when I was there. Ms Farrelly has clearly taken a lot of talent from there because I know she...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Implementation of Housing for All: Discussion (Resumed) (25 Oct 2022)

Victor Boyhan: That is great. I thank Ms Farrelly. The other issue is this Irish Water infrastructure deficit, which is preventing the council from developing some of the smaller sites for social housing. Is there anything Government can do there? What is the block?