Results 5,981-6,000 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Motion to Recommit (1 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: As a teller, under Standing Order 69 I propose that the vote be taken by other than electronic means, because of the critical nature of bypassing a whole section of the process.

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (1 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I have tabled amendment No. 3 to amendment No. 20, and it is very similar to some of the other ones. Amendment No. 20 would allow the Minister for Finance to take up to €540 million from the local government fund and transfer it to Irish Water. The provision changes section 6 of the Local Government Act 1998, which established the local government fund. It achieves this by altering...

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (1 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: During the years I had concerns about the way in which the money was distributed, but at least it offered certainty. Subsequently, however, the household charge was introduced, with promises that it would pay for grass cutting or libraries. It was mis-sold on the basis that it would cover a range of additional services to which people were not accustomed. The household charge was succeeded...

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (1 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: Normally after a Bill is published, on Second Stage we get an explanatory memorandum. It would have been very interesting to see the explanatory memorandum for these amendments. It is not just the water-related amendments, but also the other amendments relating to waste, some of which are quite good. Perhaps others could have been added and there may have been a number of missed...

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (1 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: The Government said that last year and the year before.

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (1 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I will focus on the €540 million. I have a copy of the Local Government Reform Act 2014. Part 13, which is entitled, "Local Government Fund and Irish Water", amends section 6 of Local Government Act 1998 by substituting a number of sections, and by inserting the following subsection:(2CA) The Minister may make payments out of the Fund to Irish Water in respect of water services...

One-Parent Family Payment Scheme: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (1 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I want to tell the Minister of State what a real person wrote to me and many other Deputies. This person says she is a lone parent. The cuts that come into force this week will seriously affect her financially. She has worked part-time since her son was born nine years ago. These cuts will mean that from this week she will be down €62. She has a mortgage of over €600 on a...

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: There is a range of elements to the amendments and some of the contributions have focused on rental properties. Amendment No. 21 requires all households to register as customers of Irish Water. This is the only utility of which I am aware for which registration is a mandatory obligation. For electricity, telephone services and other utilities there is a choice. I understand why there is...

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I wanted to ask a number of things about this amendment. This is clearly an industry in which there has been a history of problems. I see Deputy Lawlor is leaving the Chamber, and if one takes Naas, for example, a mountain of waste was allowed to develop and it burned for weeks before the fire brigade was called in. Remediation costs were somewhere in the region of €40 million. Are...

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I apologise. I was speaking to amendment No. 11.

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: There are really three Bills in one. There is probably no difficulty with some of the provisions, but it would have been very helpful to have had a decent Second Stage debate to discuss some of the issues being addressed by way of amendments. The waste industry has left a trail of destruction in its wake in some parts of the country and some of the problems have been very expensive to...

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: I wish to come back in on a few issues relating to enforcement. The Minister spoke about learning lessons and we have to do that. In the Naas experience it was the community, through Clean Air Naas, that demanded intervention and it came at a very late stage. Regarding the organisations that would have had responsibility, it is one thing to have good legislation, but, obviously, it needs...

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: One of the concerns about the process is that the major focus of attention was on the amendments that were related to water. This area required a great deal of scrutiny and I cannot overstress how frustrating the inadequacy of the process is. People have changed their habits. I know people who have reluctantly ended up with an ordinary bin and the benefit was that they received a recycling...

Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: The Minister of State noted there is evidence that the pay by weight system removes a significant amount of waste away from landfill. The point I was making is that if a person has a municipal bin and is paying for it and is getting a bin for the other, non-compost, waste, the person will separate it out. If a person has a compost bin, he or she will separate out that waste. The household...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Reform Implementation (2 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: 16. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the criteria his Department utilises to anticipate and prepare for future human resource trends in the public service, including how the need to respond to imbalances in staffing resources per capita across different geographical regions is measured and how this data is incorporated into policy; what he considers to be, based on...

Civil Debt (Procedures) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: The Law Reform Commission presented its proposals on this issue in 2010, long before Irish Water was even conceived and before the last general election. What was proposed was not the same as that being presented which is being presented in tandem with other legislation this week to create a connection between the two. I am in favour of jailing people who are a threat to society. There must...

Civil Debt (Procedures) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: This is connected to it. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, made sure it was connected to it.

Civil Debt (Procedures) Bill 2015: Second Stage (3 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: Absolutely, I know that. The campaign of civil disobedience is about more than water. It is about concerns about not having enough money to live on and about being pushed too far. We have seen what the credit unions have to say about the level of disposable monthly income. This must be factored in when considering the debt issue. The Government may not want to be seen to backtrack...

Topical Issue Debate: Swimming Pool Projects (7 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: There are only two municipal swimming pools in County Kildare, in Athy and Naas, serving a population of 210,000. The north Kildare towns of Leixlip, Celbridge, Maynooth and Kilcock have a combined population of some 60,000 and have become dependent on the very old pool on the NUI Maynooth campus. Some 800 children will be directly affected by the closure, having been told their classes...

Topical Issue Debate: Swimming Pool Projects (7 Jul 2015)

Catherine Murphy: The reason this very old pool is being discussed is the absence of what should have been provided given the population involved. No other county in the country has a population of more than 200,000 without a city in the middle. As the population grows, it is supposed to be provided with services. It may be a great idea to provide energy upgrades to other pools around the country, but that...