Results 5,461-5,480 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Written Answers — Department of An Taoiseach: Ministerial Travel (27 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 164. To ask the Taoiseach if he will itemise the exact cost of the Irish delegation's attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in each of the past three years and the estimated cost for 2015; if all such costs will be broken down by admittance-ticket price per attendee, accommodation costs, travel costs, including use of the Government jet, food and entertainment costs,...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Change Policy (27 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 538. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the reason his Department views it appropriate to include a timeframe of up to 2017 for the preparation and implementation of the national and sectoral mitigation plans under the proposed climate action and low carbon development Bill 2015; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Environmental Protection...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Legislative Programme (27 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 539. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when he anticipates publishing planning legislation that will introduce greater certainty and obligations with regard to where bonds and securities are required by a planning authority as part of a permission; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are many cases where a bond has expired or cannot be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Planning and Development (No. 1) Bill 2014: (Resumed) Discussion (27 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I am sorry that I missed most of the meeting but I have not quite mastered the art of bi-location yet. Pre-legislative scrutiny is very useful in that it gives us the opportunity to put together legislation that has a practical effect. Those of us who were members of local authorities for many years often came across actions that were possible in theory but not in practice. Some of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Irish Water Funding (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 3. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the details of the funding model of Irish Water; the net income from the model annually broken down by category; the estimation of households in the State that Irish Water is relying on to determine the full cost of the €100 allowance and the cost in each year up to 2019; the plans of Irish Water to engage any...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Irish Water Funding (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: The Department has made the assumption that 35,000 households - customers of Irish Water - will not apply for the water conservation grant. This goes to the heart of the viability of Irish Water as it raises questions over the costs of the quango itself and the billing system. The grant itself, in turn, will use up moneys intended for investment. These are the issues I have raised in this...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Irish Water Funding (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: The Minister claimed it will lead to lower costs in the future. For whom? Essentially, the whole idea of establishing Irish Water was to ensure corresponding funding could be raised off balance sheet. There will be difficulties if it does not pass the EUROSTAT market corporation test. Essentially, much of what has been estimated as the income for Irish Water with the new regime is going to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Irish Water Funding (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: The point is that there will be no money to invest. The Minister is talking about the need to invest, but there will be no money. He has not made a convincing argument about where this money is going to come from. He talks about people in group water schemes investing - and yes, they did - but equally, people in public schemes and commercial enterprise made an investment in water and waste...

Other Questions: Unfinished Housing Developments (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 9. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to initiate any legislative reforms to address the continued difficulties which exist to the taking in charge of estates where outstanding issues have not been addressed; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that with construction activity increasing the need for these measures has never been greater; if...

Other Questions: Unfinished Housing Developments (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: We are constantly told that the biggest investment people individually will make will be the purchase of a home, yet there is very little consumer protection for purchasers. Construction is beginning to ramp up again, yet many of the defects and deficiencies in the planning system in regard to taking estates in change, bonds and matters such as that, have not been addressed and are not...

Other Questions: Unfinished Housing Developments (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I welcome the fact that the Minister of State is open to changing section 180. I had sought that in a provision in legislation that was not opposed and I had hoped to see it included in the planning and development (No. 2) Bill. For a person who lives in a housing estate who wants to petition to have the estate taken in charge, the extension of duration means that it cannot happen before 17...

Other Questions: Unfinished Housing Developments (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: The last time I checked, 19,000 houses in County Kildare had not been taken in charge. Some of the cases in housing estates went back 20 years. There is an issue, on which I hope we can all be at one. There are issues relating to bonds and bonds expiring. Bonds have a seven year duration and are not in perpetuity. When a local authority can take an estate in charge, it will take in...

Housing Affordability: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I support the motion. I welcome the opportunity to contribute on it although it falls way short given the wide range of measures that are required. One reason there is such a desire to own a home is because there is little choice. The choice is between going on the housing waiting list and trying to buy a house. One has security of tenure with a purchase unless one is in negative equity....

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 18. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the progress of the planning review of the performance of planning functions reopened by his Department in July 2013; when it is likely to report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3611/15]

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing Data (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 27. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government further to the annual planning statistics produced by his Department, the reason the number of planning decisions taken nationally where the decision differs from the recommendation of the planner officer jumped from an average of just 400 per year between 2003 and 2007 to an average of 5,600 per year between 2010 and...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Homelessness Strategy (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 29. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide an update on the objectives agreed at the homelessness conference which took place in his Department in December 2014; the progress on each of the agreed points to emerge from that conference; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3612/15]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Parliamentary Party Allowances Expenditure (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 56. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide, in tabular format, the total amounts paid to each qualifying political party in respect of annual Exchequer payments under the Electoral Acts in each of the years 2012, 2013 and 2014; the fixed payment amount each year; the variable amount in each case and the way this was calculated; and if he will make a statement...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (28 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 118. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his Department has allocated the planned expansion of social housing across each local authority in the State; the criteria being used to determine the greatest need and to ensure a fair demographic spread of the extra investment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3676/15]

Order of Business (29 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: Very reluctantly.

Redress for Women Resident in Certain Institutions Bill 2014: Second Stage (Resumed) (29 Jan 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I welcome this opportunity to speak on the Bill. One of the frustrations about it is that it should include other issues, on which people are generally supportive, but it does not. These gaps will be the problem. For many of the women, a small number of whom I know, there is a sense of frustration about one particular aspect, which is being believed. I made this point when we were...