Results 361-380 of 1,352 for speaker:Mary Fitzpatrick

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (25 Jun 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Jun 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I ask the Leader to raise, on behalf of the Seanad, the proposal of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to review the planning process for strategic developments, specifically strategic housing developments. It has been reported, and I welcome the fact that the Minister has acknowledged through the proposal to undertake the review, that the strategic planning process is...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank the Minister of State for accepting the amendment and moving his own amendments. It is very important that we as a House copper-fasten the superior authority of the elected members of each local authority. I am very conscious that local authority members, especially here in Dublin, are undertaking marathon meetings, most of which have been virtual due to Covid, and it is most...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I move amendment No. 5: In page 4, line 31, to delete “not less than three quarters” and substitute “a simple majority”.

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Very briefly-----

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire for returning again to the House and bringing forward these amendments. I thank him for taking on board the feedback he has received from my party and obviously from others as well. This is the fourth or fifth time he has legislated to protect renters in the year he has been in office. I think it has been a year...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I will be very brief. I thank the Minister and Senators. This is an urgent Bill which we needed to pass and that has now passed. The linking of rent increases to the consumer price index is long overdue. I thank the Minister. He is correct in saying that this is a very constructive House. He is welcome to bring a Bill, that will address our housing crisis, before this House any day of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank the Minister of State and all in the Department for the work they have done on bringing forward the electoral reform Bill. Everyone has said how important and long overdue it is. I commend the Minister of State and the Government on having moved forward so swiftly with this. It is really important. Our democracy depends on free and fair elections, and at a time when our democracy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I do not know if the Minister of State is aware, but as part of our pre-legislative scrutiny, we invited all the political parties to appear. Some of them did come and meet with us, whereas others did not even acknowledge the invitation, which was hugely disappointing. A basic political activity, particularly for a political organisation receiving funding from the public purse, would be to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: My other question was about the fact that there is a political organisation that has managed, for less that €500 and in less than 12 months, to create a database that incorporates all of the registers of electors. I mean it quite sincerely that I believe we should consult with it. We should consult with the political organisation about the technology that is being used.

Seanad: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Second Stage (9 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House with the Land Development Agency Bill 2021, which the Fianna Fáil Party is obviously supporting. It reflects the result of the general election in 2020 when people voted for change, and particularly for change in the Government's and State's role in the provision of housing. The electorate then quite legitimately asked why we have...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: This sounds like a technical amendment, which sounds boring, irrelevant and maybe unimportant, but it is critically important to the work the Minister and the Government are doing around changing housing policy. Affordable cost rental is a brand new model of housing in Ireland that will provide both affordability and security of tenure for renters. That is critically important and nowhere...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I welcome the amendments. As I said when I was talking about affordable cost rental, the two benefits it will bring to renters are security of tenure and affordability. In order for that to be delivered to every renter in an affordable cost rental, it has to be uniform and standardised and there cannot be local vagaries and variations. This is all about trying to improve the security of...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: We support the amendment. We opposed the removal of affordable housing from Part V when it occurred. We are delighted to see that this legislation is going to ensure that in every new development there will be a minimum of 10% social housing and with a potential of up to another 10% affordable housing. It is critically important to support would-be homeowners in securing their home, a home...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (12 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Now.

Seanad: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (12 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: It is an important point. When we are talking about housing, we are talking about people's homes. We are also talking about the provision of homes and the State taking a lead in the provision of social and affordable homes for our citizens. We are doing so in the context of a crisis. We are coming out of a decade of undersupply of housing. We are also doing it in the context of Covid,...

Seanad: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (12 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I look forward to the Minister's response to this and to a confirmation that neither the LDA nor the Government have any intention of building homes in the Phoenix Park. I wish that the Office of Public Works would renovate some of the vacant homes in the park and make them available to be inhabited. A good number of the park lodges have been lying empty for far too long. As Senator Casey...

Seanad: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (12 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I concur with Senators Boyhan and Higgins on the need for the highest standards of accountability and transparency in any State agency or organisation. However, the provisions made in respect of the LDA mean that it will be accountable not only to the Minister and the Government, but to the Oireachtas. It will be accountable to all Oireachtas joint committees, the Committee of Public...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I offer my condolences to the family and friends of Dr. Seán McCarthy. I also congratulate Deputy Ivana Bacik. I wish her well in her new role. She will be missed in the Seanad, but I am sure she will make an enormous contribution to the Dáil. I am delighted also to co-sponsor the Bill being proposed by Senator Chambers to make harassment a crime. The Bill is worthy of support...

Seanad: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (15 Jul 2021)

Mary Fitzpatrick: This issue is close to my heart as a former local authority member. I am proud to have been elected and re-elected to the largest local authority in the country, Dublin City Council. I also speak on behalf of the Fianna Fáil Seanad group. All Fianna Fáil Senators are close to the local authority members and many of them had the honour of being elected to their local authority and...