Results 3,821-3,840 of 15,009 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation Expert Review: Discussion. (13 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: A new round of Traveller accommodation programmes has been agreed. If legislation was in train, the Minister and Oireachtas should say that local authorities have a choice to do this in the way the legislation originally set out, that they should start to process their plans appropriately through Part 8 applications. If local authorities do not do so, and there is clear evidence that they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation Expert Review: Discussion. (13 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: For clarity, there would still be a Part 8 process and an opportunity for elected members and the public to be consulted. The only change proposed is for the decision on a Part 8 application to be an executive decision.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation Expert Review: Discussion. (13 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: Apart from that crucial change, the process will remain the same.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation Expert Review: Discussion. (13 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: We are not removing it but transferring it from the elected members to the executive.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation Expert Review: Discussion. (13 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is a very significant change.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation Expert Review: Discussion. (13 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: This is an important point and we are engaging in important dialogue. With his significant experience in local authorities, the Deputy will know as well as I do that a manager is not going to bring forward a Part 8 application if he or she knows a majority of the elected members will not support it. That is the way Part 8 provisions work. In many local authorities managers often decided to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation Expert Review: Discussion. (13 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: But there were Part 8 proposals that were never put in front of the Deputy because management knew that they would not succeed.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Wastewater Treatment (14 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: As the Minister is aware, the Environmental Protection Agency published its urban wastewater treatment report for 2018 earlier this week. As with its predecessor reports in 2017 and 2016, it makes for very depressing reading. While there has been a marginal level of improvement in both the number and volume of untreated wastewater that is going into our rivers, lakes and seas, progress is...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Wastewater Treatment (14 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Minister for the reply. It is important to acknowledge in the figures in the report that while there has been progress, if one scratches beneath the surface it shows that although a number of urban areas are coming off the list of those in breach of the urban wastewater directive and therefore subject to the European Commission's legal action, the volume of the waste that is...

Overcrowded Housing Bill 2018: Second Stage [Private Members] (14 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank Deputy Casey for introducing the Bill. I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy English. I accept that his commitment to introduce amendments to deal with this issue is genuine. The issue of overcrowding in our housing stock is very significant. It is important to acknowledge that it is now two years since the documentary "RTÉ Investigates - Nightmare to Let" showed some of...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Direct Provision System (19 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: 255. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the completion of the upgrade works and signing of the contract by an organisation (details supplied) for a direct provision centre; when the contract will be signed; when the upgrade works will be completed; and the other tenders in place for the Dublin region for the provision of accommodation services for...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Members (19 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: 653. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the Moorhead report will be published; and when he plans to address the issue of the remuneration of councillors. [47353/19]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Traveller Accommodation (19 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: 660. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the Traveller accommodation allocations for each local authority for 2019; and the drawdown to date by each local authority in tabular form. [47471/19]

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: We had a good discussion about this section and the issue of applying fees for registration. A number of us who had supported the Minister on previous legislation that applied fees to AHBs for accessing services from the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, felt it was appropriate to apply fees when getting a service but that there should not be a registration fee. I understood from the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: I agree with Deputy O'Brien. If we can agree to that, we can proceed.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 8: In page 14, line 36, after "Minister" to insert "from a short list approved by the Public Appointments Service". It is straightforward. We raised the issue of various appointments, whether it is the chief executive officer, CEO, or board members, and the need to go through the Public Appointments Service, PAS. The officials indicated that is the intention anyway...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: My concern is that while it is intended to use PAS, if that is not a cast-iron provision in the legislation, it could be possible for a future CEO to be appointed by a Minister outside of that process. Is the Minister saying there is no set of circumstances within the Bill where a Minister could act outside of the PAS process in the appointment of a CEO? As he will be aware, the previous...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: Sure, but there have been occasions in a previous Administration where Ministers have acted outside of that process because the legislation they were operating under did not make it mandatory. That is all I am seeking to avoid.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am happy to withdraw the amendment on that basis.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (19 Nov 2019)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 9: In page 15, lines 18 and 19, to delete "without the consent of the Regulator given with the prior approval of the Minister". This is a related issue about people having additional employment. I am trying to remove the possibility of secondary employment. Does the Minister want to make the case as to why secondary employment should be permissible, albeit with the...