Results 5,121-5,140 of 7,278 for speaker:Dick Roche

Written Answers — Property Management Companies: Property Management Companies (7 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: I propose to take Questions Nos. 182 and 183 together. My Department has already informed planning authorities that they should not attach planning conditions relating to management companies in the case of traditional housing estates, unless in very specific exceptional circumstances, e.g. holiday home developments, or to maintain a specific private shared facility. My Department has set up...

Written Answers — Water and Sewerage Schemes: Water and Sewerage Schemes (7 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: I refer to the reply to Questions Nos. 441 and 442 of 22 November 2006.

Written Answers — Water and Sewerage Schemes: Water and Sewerage Schemes (7 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: I refer to the reply to Question No. 438 of 22 November 2006.

Written Answers — Water and Sewerage Schemes: Water and Sewerage Schemes (7 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: I refer to the reply to Question No. 440 of 22 November 2006.

Written Answers — Waste Disposal: Waste Disposal (7 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: I am advised that local authorities do not have the statutory power to provide a subsidy to private waste collectors to fund the operation of a waiver scheme in areas where the authority is not itself the service provider. However, in such areas, certain local authorities have, within the powers available to them, made arrangements to have waste collected from specific households.

Written Answers — Planning Issues: Planning Issues (7 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: All development requires planning permission unless specifically exempted under the Planning and Development Acts and Regulations. Section 4(1)(h) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, provides that development consisting of the carrying out of works for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of any structure is exempted development if the works affect only the interior of the...

Nuclear Plants. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: In reply to Question No. 65 of 8 November 2006, I advised that my meeting with the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Mr. Alistair Darling MP, is due to take place on 9 January 2007. This follows my earlier meeting with Mr. Darling's predecessor, Mr. Alan Johnson MP, as well as contacts with my UK counterpart Mr. David Milliband MP, and with the chairman and chief...

Nuclear Plants. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: The Deputy would be very welcome.

Nuclear Plants. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: I share the Deputy's view that the planning process about to be embarked upon in the United Kingdom is less than satisfactory. It is certainly less open, transparent and democratically acceptable than the Irish system. I have made clear, particularly in my meeting with Mr. Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Education and Skills and the predecessors of Mr. David Miliband, Secretary of...

Nuclear Plants. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: I am very sympathetic to the views expressed by the Deputy. These are views I have long shared. As a long-term reality we should all unite to make it abundantly clear to politicians of whatever persuasion in the UK that we do not believe this is acceptable, and neither is it a good solution for them.

Local Authority Funding. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: This question from Deputy McCormack touches on both capital and current expenditure so I shall deal with both. The Exchequer capital provision for mainstream capital programmes funded through my Department and administered by local authorities will amount to €1,976 million in 2007 representing a year on year increase of 7%. There will be some upward adjustment, when I mention non-national...

Local Authority Funding. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: I am grateful to the Deputy for that. If he wants to let me have particular details of any local authority which is operating in the manner he has outlined, I shall have the matter investigated. I am sure the Deputy is sincere in his assertion. The increased funding for local authorities is five times higher than the rate of inflation over the past ten years, and that is a very significant...

Local Authority Funding. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: The Deputy is aware that last year saw relatively moderate rate increases nationwide and one local authority — Limerick City Council if I recall correctly — cut its rates for the first time for a long period. The circular letter I will issue this week to local authorities will ask them to exercise caution regarding rate increases. However, the gross rates figures achieved by local...

Local Authority Funding. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: This issue touches on the point raised by Deputy McCormack's supplementary question. Prior to the enactment of the Planning and Development Act 2000, planning authorities could require payment of a development contribution as a condition of a planning permission on a discretionary basis. From 2004, in order to introduce transparency and openness to the system, each local authority was...

Local Authority Funding. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: At the outset, the Deputy noted she had voted for development contributions in County Kildare. She was correct in so doing because development contributions are meant to deliver value on the ground. She also mentioned the idea they should be ring-fenced, which is also appropriate. I have no issues in this regard. However, I wish to see greater transparency in order that councillors who...

Local Authority Funding. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: The relevance is that many of the activities for which local authorities now return the excuse to Deputy Murphy, me and every other public representative that they do not have funds are by their nature capital activities. Deputy Murphy correctly stated that local authorities cannot use the development levies. She mentioned that they are ring-fenced in Kildare, and properly so. They cannot...

Water and Sewerage Schemes. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: There are no proposals for a new countrywide consolidated charge for water services. Each of the 34 city and county local authorities have financial and management autonomy in their functional areas, and will continue to operate individually, in the setting of water charges for non-domestic users. The Government's water pricing policy envisages full and transparent cost recovery of water...

Water and Sewerage Schemes. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: Individual councils control these matters. The current system of volume charges can be very unjust to individual users. One will find people paying higher charges than necessary if they are charged simply on the volume of water that enters their system. Some councils have also made a single charge for "water in and waste out". The installation of meters is the only way to achieve equitable...

Water and Sewerage Schemes. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: I am not aware of the specific case the Deputy has mentioned.

Water and Sewerage Schemes. (12 Dec 2006)

Dick Roche: If the Deputy wishes to send me a note, I will look into it. It sounds like a perverse effect. It is, of course, more equitable that everyone pays on the same basis.