Results 5,641-5,660 of 11,292 for speaker:Colm Burke

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Home Building Finance Ireland - Financial Statements 2020 (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: Is the person drawing down the funding already the owner of the property or is some of the funding going towards the purchase of the property?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Home Building Finance Ireland - Financial Statements 2020 (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: Mr. Alger would accept that one of the problems that occurred when the crash came in 2008 was the exposure of the banks that had inadequate security. Have any particular problems been highlighted in that regard? Have alarm bells been set off because of issues that occurred previously?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Home Building Finance Ireland - Financial Statements 2020 (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: When money is drawn down, what is the structure for repayment? What time period is normally granted?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Home Building Finance Ireland - Financial Statements 2020 (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: I will ask about projections of dates of sales, etc. I know construction was closed for part of the pandemic. Are our guests satisfied that the targets and timelines set are being reached or are the timeframes now longer for the delivery of the end product?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Home Building Finance Ireland - Financial Statements 2020 (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: The HBFI lends money to developers who must show they have had difficulty in getting the required borrowing from the financial institutions. What is the difficulty about the financial institutions providing lending at this stage? Never before has there been so much money on deposit in the main banks in this country. Why is there a reluctance in the financial sector to provide funding?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Home Building Finance Ireland - Financial Statements 2020 (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: That is right.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Home Building Finance Ireland - Financial Statements 2020 (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: What does Ms Deering mean by "too small for the main banks"? The State has a shareholding in the main banks. Is Ms Deering saying that an entity in which the State has a shareholding is refusing to talk to developers unless they are building 50 houses?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Home Building Finance Ireland - Financial Statements 2020 (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: Given the shape of the housing market, the growth of population and the demand for housing that will be there, does Ms Deering not think it is now time for the Government to talk to the banks and ask why they will only lend 65% of the cost of a new development and not 80%, as is the case with the HBFI? Those banks have adequate moneys on deposit. In fact, they are now penalising people for...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Home Building Finance Ireland - Financial Statements 2020 (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: Does Ms Deering accept that the banks are now being unreasonable in saying to small builders that five houses amount to €1.5 million? That is not a small loan. Where a builder is already putting €300,000 or €400,000 into a development, the risk to the bank is very small. Is it not now time that the banks came back to the market and helped deal with the housing shortage?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Home Building Finance Ireland - Financial Statements 2020 (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: In all of the HBFI’s cases, it has not seen a risk, even where it has given 80%. It has indicated that while there is a risk, it does not see that as a major challenge. If it does not see it as a major challenge, what is the problem with the main financial institutions? They have enough people with expertise to adjudicate on projects.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: 148. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount that was granted for housing adaptation grants for older persons and persons with a disability from 2020 to January 2022; the number who availed of the grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12051/22]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (3 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: 152. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if a review of the management and criteria of the housing adaptation grants will be undertaken with a view to ensuring a greater uptake in the programme from those in the construction industry to carry out the works in view of reducing applications for grants for older persons and persons with a disability; and if he will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: I am concerned about the figure that states that we have moved from 23% to 37%. We are also moving in that the number of young people smoking has gone up again. There is a connection between the two. While Mr. Dunne is talking about legislation, something is still driving it in terms of making it attractive for young people to move to electronic cigarettes. As well as not being able to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: As for warnings regarding e-cigarettes, does Mr. Dunne accept, for instance, there are now studies from the United States showing that a far higher number of those who use e-cigarettes suffer from asthma than people who have never smoked or who have never used e-cigarettes? My point is there also health risks in using e-cigarettes. While I accept it is a step down from smoking, health risks...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: In relation to health risks, there is a study that shows a raft of warnings over the use of e-cigarettes. There was a recent finding that electronic cigarettes might increase the odds of erectile dysfunction and of stroke at middle age. That is now showing up in studies. There is also a study on eye conditions, which looks at people who suffer from eye problems. There are a higher number...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: The eye study shows that there is a substantial difference and that there is a greater risk. There are a greater number of people who have eye difficulties as a result of electronic cigarettes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Mar 2022)

Colm Burke: I thank our guests for their contributions. Let me start with the figure they have given for the number of deaths as a direct result of smoking. Obviously, this is spread over a period of time. Is there any indication the level of smoking has reduced in this country and that the number of deaths will come down likewise? I ask this because most recent studies show the greater the number of...