Results 3,441-3,460 of 7,183 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: For all sizes and all applicants?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: Would there be a way of stating that smaller applications of a certain size could be done either way but all others "shall" be uploaded?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: I acknowledge the work done by the three Ministers and their officials on all of these issues we are discussing. In terms of the housing completion data, there is no question whatsoever about the credibility, integrity and professionalism of the CSO. It is of interest to me that in its recent statement the CSO pointed to the difference possibly being that one-off homes were not being...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: I did not refer to any private firm.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: I have just one follow-up question on that. I assume the Minister accepts the CSO methodology on new homes and ESB connections. It states there is an 83% level of accuracy and that in the deep dive it did into this area there were more false positives than false negatives. Does the Minister accept the CSO's statement on its methodology, which it says has a slight bias towards overcounting?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: Does the Minister accept the CSO's methodology statement which says it has a slight bias towards overcounting?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: I have two more questions. In terms of the spend in 2022, how much was returned to the Exchequer? I know €340 million was carried over into 2023.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: The Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform has stated that the figure for surrender will be in the region of €240 million. Is that correct?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: The level of surrender in 2019 was €6.5 million above the capital carryover. It was €12.5 million in 2020 and €116 million in 2021 and there are indications from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform that it could be €240 million for the year just gone. Is the Minister concerned about the growing amount being...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: The Minister said that approximately 1,000 cost-rental tenancies have been approved so far. How many affordable purchase units have been completed and sold so far?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: The use of the phrase "may publish" is significant because it also means the office may not publish something. That is where I see the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: I wish to follow on from an issue we raised with the Department a couple of days ago that concerned head 8 of this Bill and section 5 declarations. Does the board or the Office of the Planning Regulator have data on how many section 5 declarations, which have been appealed to An Bord Pleanála, are overturned? Is there a breakdown of who seeks the section 5 declarations that go to An...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: That would be useful. Head 420 concerns the annual reports by An Bord Pleanála and gives a timeline of "not later than the 30th day of June in each year." Is there current legislative requirements around that? There is. What is the situation with the 2021 report? Has it been published and, if not, when will it be published?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: Head 402 concerns the declaration of interests and provides for the small part-ownership of a site through shares. It refers to one hundredth part of a site or less, or €13,000 or less, whichever is the lesser. I understand the logic whereby if I own shares in some company I am not going to know what sites the company owns and so forth. Are those provisions robust enough not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: Yes, absolutely. I wonder in terms of this Bill if we are trying to create a culture of absolute avoidance of any doubt whatsoever or any questions. Technically, under that Bill, you could have shares in one of the large publicly listed developers in Ireland and as long as it is worth less than €13,000 or less than one hundredth of that company then one is fine. Does that mean it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: Recently there has been an issue, and it has been documented, of a problem of informal requests to inspectors to amend their reports by members of the board. Is that something that should or should not be covered by this legislation? Is that the detail that this Bill should get into or not?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: A counter view could be that it was not covered under legislation, there was ambiguity and the codes failed to capture it. Given the need for public confidence and the level of detail in the Bill, should these be captured?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: Earlier we talked about the growing complexity of decisions and appeals. Obviously there are staffing issues and the issues that were mentioned about getting enough expertise inhouse. My question relates somewhat to head 318. Is there a significant issue with the board being able to get enough technical expertise to assist with analysing submissions on complex planning or technical areas...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Planning and Development Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: Does that lead to delays in the decision-making process when trying to source expertise?

Ceisteanna - Questions: Constitutional Amendments (28 Feb 2023)

Cian O'Callaghan: 29. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his plans for constitutional amendments. [10247/23]