Results 6,021-6,040 of 6,045 for speaker:Thomas Gould

Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Revised)
Vote 23 - An Coimisiún Toghcháin (Revised)
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: The dereliction that is being allowed is unbelievable. It is not just in Dublin but in Cork, Limerick and everywhere. It is in towns and villages. Does the Minister have a plan to tackle that from a financial point of view?

Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Revised)
Vote 23 - An Coimisiún Toghcháin (Revised)
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: Sorry, I only have a few seconds left on the clock.

Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Revised)
Vote 23 - An Coimisiún Toghcháin (Revised)
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: We will have to agree to disagree.

Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Revised)
Vote 23 - An Coimisiún Toghcháin (Revised)
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: We will have to agree to disagree because my time is running out. The figures I have show there were 292 children homeless in Cork in the first six months of this year. The Minister cannot argue with that. To give some facts, in 2021, there were 224 children homeless in Cork, so there are an additional 49 homeless children in six months alone. The Minister might get a chance to come back...

Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Revised)
Vote 23 - An Coimisiún Toghcháin (Revised)
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: Will the Minister fund and resource local authorities to start building houses directly, including social, affordable and cost-rental houses? It is all being subcontracted out now. I think the local authorities need to start building houses. Even doing this on a small scale would help. Will the Minister also fund the local authorities to have the staff to turn around all these boarded-up...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: I thank the witnesses for being here; it is much appreciated. I wish to address Threshold on the gutting of the tenant in situ scheme and the limiting of funding. To me, that scheme was the best method the Government and the local authorities had for preventing homelessness. I have dealt with loads of landlords in Cork who were willing to sell and wanted to keep their tenants in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: I thank Ms O'Reilly for that. There are a lot of good, decent landlords out there who want to look after their tenants and who want to work with the council. Sometimes I do not agree with everything that happens with landlords but one must acknowledge that the vast majority of them are decent people. They have been left stranded in all of this for months. From the witnesses' point of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: I would like it on record that some landlords are actually still leaving the tenants in place hoping that the tenant in situ scheme will be reopened. They have to be thanked for that, and the local authorities who do unbelievable work. The is also one point on HAP. With rents now going up, would the witnesses recommend that rent rises must be matched? I have just had to step out to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: Threshold is trying to help renters and prevent people from becoming homeless. I have never seen homelessness at the level it is currently at. I have never seen the number of families and children affected. From the information supplied by Cork City Council, 46 families have been in emergency accommodation for more than a year. If we go back to 2021, there was none. There has been an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: I apologise for interrupting. It is just that time is against us. This may be something to put to the other two groups. I have a major issue with the number we are being given. There 146,000 vacant properties. I will tell a short story. I got a property put on Cork City Council's derelict sites list a number of years ago. I met the owner in the bar one night and he told me I was an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: No, he has loads of properties.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: Mr. Deverell is using the word "friend" very loosely there.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: We do not know.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: A notice to quit is an eviction; let us call a spade a spade. For the people I am dealing with, a notice to quit is an eviction all over-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: If it is a voluntary exit, they go into homeless emergency accommodation or they end up going into their parents' box room. That is homelessness by another name. I would like the RTB to collect more data because the data it is collecting is really good. When it comes to making Government policy, the more accurate and up-to-date the data, the better. I would also like to see a major...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: From my point of view, it is a double standard that local authority tenants do not have the same protections as private tenants. That is not fair. I recall that, when the RTB was here last year, we discussed a figure of 100 inspections a year. Those are inspections that the RTB takes on itself without complaints coming in. How many were carried out in 2024? I felt there should have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage: Issues Facing the Residential Rental Sector: Discussion (15 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: I thank the witnesses. I apologise; I have to run to the Chamber. I will be back and I hope I will get another opportunity.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Irish Aviation Authority: Engagement (16 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: I thank the Chair for allowing me in. I have a few points to make, one of which goes back to what other committee members have said regarding regional airports. We have a very successful airport in Cork, but we have no direct flight from Cork to Dublin or Cork to Belfast. To me that is a huge weakness in connectivity, especially for people travelling here as tourists or for business. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Irish Aviation Authority: Engagement (16 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: There was talk earlier about regional development and the counterbalance to Dublin, especially now with Cork Airport, Kerry Airport, Shannon Airport, Knock airport and right up to Donegal. I flew out of Dublin last year. Mother to God, the number of people there. I live 30 minutes from Cork Airport and I have to travel out of Dublin. We have Knock. I flew out of Shannon a few times. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport: Irish Aviation Authority: Engagement (16 Jul 2025)

Thomas Gould: What about the regional airports being supported as more of a counterbalance to Dublin?