Results 541-560 of 6,287 for in 'Committee meetings' speaker:Catherine Murphy

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 34 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (3 Mar 2015)

Catherine Murphy: Is the 20% distribution of the local property tax to the local authorities based on the needs and resources model or is it related to a lower property tax? Very often, what happens is that local authorities are deemed to be quite well off because, for example, they have a staffing complement they have to pay and they have a number of swimming pools, libraries and so on. However, very often,...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 34 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (3 Mar 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I have been critical for donkey's years about a historical model being used to calculate these issues. For example, there were wide variations with regard to staffing ratios of local authorities, and that is factored into their baseline. A local authority in Meath has half the staff of Kerry but it has more people living in the county. Kerry is a net contributor, as it happens, so I am not...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 34 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (3 Mar 2015)

Catherine Murphy: There was a specific question about changing mid-stream. We got less but we had to contribute less. What is the approach in that regard?

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 34 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (3 Mar 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I asked about development contributions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Electoral Commission: Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (10 Mar 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I am very supportive of the establishment of an electoral commission. I take the point as to whether we should be seeking evolution or revolution. It is true that one may achieve revolution by doing things by degrees and producing a revolutionary change over time. That is possibly the way it will go in practical terms. An electoral commission will be an important part of political and...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (26 May 2015)

Catherine Murphy: We have been told that this is a technical Bill. I am often watching for Bills to which I can table amendments. When I tabled amendments to a transport Bill not that long ago, I was told that certain things could not be raised because it was a particular type of Bill. I would like to ask about the amendments that are coming to us. I have to tell the Minister of State that I do not like...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (26 May 2015)

Catherine Murphy: Are we looking at technical amendments to existing waste legislation? The legislation in question is pretty significant in its own right. Indeed, anything to do with water services legislation tends to be controversial.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (26 May 2015)

Catherine Murphy: Is the Minister of State telling us that these changes are essentially technical and that the Bill is not going to be amended significantly?

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015: Committee Stage (9 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 1:In page 4, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following:“ “baseline” means the aggregate amount of—(a) net emissions of carbon dioxide for 1990, and (b) net emissions of each of the greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide for the year that is the baseline year for that gas;“baseline years” for greenhouse gases other than...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Electoral Commission in Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (23 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I do not believe there is any danger of a big bang approach, considering the fact that this debate is happening at this stage in the electoral cycle and that the Minister has stated that getting the commission up and running is the main issue. I would completely echo the points that have been made. However, this does not mean that the process must continue as it is indefinitely. We must...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I am open to persuasion on this but I cannot get my head around it. The levy would be applied by, and paid to, the local authority, so it would have to go through a regime to do that. Local authorities do not have huge independent means for the development of these sites. Could the Minister of State envisage a situation in which the local authority is forced to develop one particular site...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I am not against the vacant site levy. It is a good idea, if it is applied correctly. Under the provisions of amendment No. 1, however, the local authority will be levying itself. It is placing an administrative burden on one department to levy another department. I understand it is a reserved function, so one could have a situation in which councillors decide that a particular area can...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 2:In page 6, to delete line 34. The thinking behind the amendment is that the provision in this respect should not be so confined The Minister of State is right about the assets in our towns and city centres. If we are to develop our facilities in towns and villages, and perhaps take some of the pressure off in terms of urban-generated housing in the countryside,...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: The assets mentioned by the Minister of State, including public transport or a clinic, for example, will be in areas that would probably be doing all right. I accept Deputy Mulherin's point that it is not a one size fits all approach. The local authorities will have the responsibility to designate, and that is not something that will be imposed. I am quite sure people around the country...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 3:In page 7, to delete line 1 and substitute the following:"(iii) an area of the site greater than 0.08 hectares is vacant or idle,".

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I would not be sure.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: Unfortunately, Article 43 tends to be interpreted according to the first part of the provision. In fact, there is a second part of it that refers to the common good. It is not in the common good if there are a lot of vacant properties around the place while there are people without homes. It is interesting to note that one of the locations where this is done is the USA where foreclosures...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 8:In page 7, line 18, to delete “1 January 2017” and substitute “1 January 2016”. These amendments deal with the register of vacant sites. The dates for the completion of this have been pushed out into the future, however. Given the urgency of actually getting this up and running, I do not understand why the timeline has been pushed out as...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 9:In page 7, to delete lines 27 to 38. Most local authorities will have to prepare a register on housing need. Essentially, this amendment seeks to remove the requirement for a planning authority to determine a housing need for the purposes of preparing this register. It may well be the case where a local authority has not prepared a housing need, it could drag this...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Urban Regeneration and Housing Bill 2015: Committee Stage (30 Jun 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 10:In page 8, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following:“7. (1) Owners of sites greater than 0.08 hectares that are vacant or idle have a responsibility to register their interests with the local authority before 1 January 2016 or face a fine of 3 per cent of the site market value for the year 2016.”. This amendment introduces a deadline date, 1...