Results 6,221-6,240 of 7,082 for speaker:John Paul Phelan
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: No. What I am saying is that this provision is about the Minister having control over the range, generally speaking, of rate variation that a council may implement. It is not designed for a scenario in which the manager does not like what the councillors have done in a budget and can therefore overrule the budget they have passed. It is about placing on a statutory footing a limitation to...
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: It is not. What the Senator outlined was essentially that if the management of the council did not like the budget that was passed, it could write to the Minister to seek to have it overturned. That is not what this provision will enable the Minister to do. It concerns merely the annual rate struck by the local authority. It ensures that local authorities do not pass on their entire net...
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: I agree wholeheartedly with Senators Mulherin and Murnane O'Connor about the small shops. One of the centrepieces in this Bill is the alleviation scheme that is provided for under section 15. I spoke to the officials, when we were drafting this Bill originally, specifically with reference to rural towns and villages where the main street has suffered. There is now online shopping and...
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: It will. At present, out-of-town shops that have been built, whether some of the German multiples or others, can detract from the town centres. If the local area plan has a particular segment of the town of Kilkenny, the city of Kilkenny-----
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: -----where it wants to see targeted development, the councillors will be able to say there will be a reduced rate in that part of the town because there might be a lot of dereliction on that street or in that quarter. That freedom is in the section. On Senator Paddy Burke's point about linking it to something, the issue is that there is such a variation. Over 50% of the income of Dublin...
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: It is an abatement.
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: It is a new reserve function and it should rightly be given. I thank the Senators for the good and practical questions. I will start on Senator Lawlor's point. Senator Kieran O'Donnell said something similar at the start. I hope to have the regulations in place for the next budgetary cycle that is coming for local authorities in the fall of this year. However, I am unsure, because there...
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: That would be more a matter of abatement.
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: As I understand it, the point that Senator Kieran O'Donnell was making was whether it would still be a requirement on the new occupier to seek a revaluation. If a new occupier was taking possession or occupation of a portion of a building, then it would have to be revalued for that portion. I cannot really get into the nitty-gritty referred to by Senator Murnane O'Connor about whether the...
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: In practical terms, it is a write-off and not a refund. Let us consider an example where a person pays €10,000 and gets it refunded. That would not be such a case.
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: Yes.
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: Yes, effectively.
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: Yes.
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: It was for a good cause.
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: Senator Ruane emailed me to inform me of her amendment. I must confess that I put forward a similar proposal when I was a finance spokesperson in this House in a previous life. Senator Norris said he did likewise. All those who spoke on the amendment are in favour of it. I support what it is trying to achieve, but I wish to get into some of the detail referred to by Senator O'Donnell....
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: The best way to achieve the Senator's aims is through section 15 because if the amendment were to be introduced, it would allow the bigger charitable shops competing with existing smaller retailers, particularly in smaller towns, to get through a gap. The requirements she outlined could easily be stitched into the local area plan in Tallaght, for example, such that organisations involved in...
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: Yes.
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: We accepted an amendment to section 15 in the Dáil to allow for public consultation in this regard, through which the likes of the organisations that the Senator mentioned would be in a position to highlight to the elected councillors, who will be making the decision, and the council's executive the unique position that they occupy. That is different from the position of some of the...
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: The Senator might give me the details. This situation most likely pertains to the Valuation Office, but I see the point the Senator is trying to make. Anything that can be done to avoid what she described will be done.
- Seanad: Local Government Rates and Other Matters Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2019)
John Paul Phelan: I was hoping he would walk away.