Results 5,661-5,680 of 10,577 for speaker:Barry Cowen

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Waste Disposal (19 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: 111. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his Department or any body under its aegis has assessed the impact of the introduction of new pay-by-weight bin charges on smaller waste collection providers; if he is concerned that their introduction in July 2016 will impose an excessive burden on smaller waste collectors in rural and lower density areas and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: UK Referendum on EU Membership (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: A half a million votes as well.

Priority Questions: Building Regulations (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: 29. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the additional regulatory costs of construction that have been imposed since the introduction of the new Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014; how he will reduce the regulatory costs of building new single-unit and multi-unit housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11809/16]

Priority Questions: Building Regulations (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: I thank the Ceann Comhairle-----

Priority Questions: Building Regulations (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: We are back to the old regime. The Deputy was right; it is the old politics.

Priority Questions: Building Regulations (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: I thank the Minister for his response. I note that it contains information he has received from his departmental officials that would seem to indicate that the costs are not excessive and do not in any way affect the potential for the construction sector to do more. Unfortunately, I do not agree with the Minister's response. We do agree, of course, that there have to be regulatory...

Priority Questions: Building Regulations (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: I acknowledge the Minister's commitment to examine the potential that may exist for a different certification and licensing system. I will forward that proposal to him. In that context, I ask him to consider a pilot scheme in certain local authority areas, which might bear fruit for other authorities thereafter.

Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: 32. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to speed-up the construction and acquisition of new housing units to meet the delivery of social housing targets under the Social Housing Strategy; and his views on the relatively low level of approvals for new social housing projects that his Department has made since January 2015. [11810/16]

Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: I know it is difficult for the Minister to bring forward meaningful plans and strategies and efforts to address this crisis. The first thing he could do is to declare an emergency, because that is what it is and has been. That is what this Government needs to recognise in the first instance. An all-party committee has been meeting for the last number of weeks and has another few weeks to...

Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: I will be brief. The response has to be as great as it was in the 1930s and have the same effect. The Minister talks about there being no funding, but funding was never an issue for this purpose. The national Housing Finance Agency can borrow at very reduced rates. The credit unions-----

Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: The credit unions are champing at the bit to have a role in a model similar to the one in Canada, for example, whereby funding can go into a central pot to be taken out by local authorities and housing associations. Housing associations should be allowed to access private finance. There is an issue with the Government partaking in a funding mechanism for the private sector at exorbitant...

Priority Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: -----pivotal too and on which a radical overhaul needs to take place.

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: 34. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for building 1,000 new modular homes; the value for money, business case analyses and delivery feasibility studies on the provision of these social homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11568/16]

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: I ask this question against the background of a couple of issues that must be stated. NAMA has sold Project Arrow in recent months, with supposedly 50% as residential units that could have been acquired for the guts of €100,000 per unit. We have seen Dublin City Council refuse many units from NAMA in Ballymun because of the tenure mix. I cannot imagine why it did not allow an...

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: I thank the Minister for his response. I will specifically put a question to him on the SDZ he mentioned, the Irish Glass Bottle site. I welcome the potential that exists there for development in the short and medium term. He mentioned the pivotal role that NAMA will have in delivering 20,000 units and he spoke about the mix that should exist throughout the country, let alone on one site....

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: That is irrelevant.

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: Yes.

Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: That means it is 5%.

Domestic Water Charges: Motion [Private Members] (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: It was his baby.

Domestic Water Charges: Motion [Private Members] (24 May 2016)

Barry Cowen: Fianna Fáil has tabled amendment No. 1 to the motion. The new arithmetic of the Thirty-second Dáil allows those of us on the Opposition benches an unprecedented opportunity to have a real impact on Government policy. Last week, Fianna Fáil proved that with a Bill to address the exorbitant interest rates thousands of struggling mortgage holders throughout the country are...