Results 6,781-6,800 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: Okay. I thank Mr. Jacobs for answering those questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: On the matter of An Bord Pleanála, I accept that in general people interpret planning conditions. That is why we end up with court cases much of the time, which is fine. In 2018, an application was made under section 146 to amend condition No. 3 relating to these origin destination passengers, as they were referred to. The response from Fingal County Council – I think the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: Most of the questioning today has been on whether Dublin Airport is in compliance with the planning conditions. Mr. Jacobs is strongly of the opinion that it is. However, we have strong indications from experts in the planning system, the local authority planning system and An Bord Pleanála that exceeding 32 million passengers goes beyond the DAA’s planning conditions and those...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: Planning decisions in this country are made in the interests of proper planning and sustainable development and are generally in the common good. I would suggest very strongly that Mr. Jacobs' interpretation of planning here is to suit the business model and not to suit the principles of planning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: Why does Mr Jacobs want the cap lifted? If he feels that going beyond 32 million passengers does not go beyond the planning conditions, why not just keep passenger numbers growing? Why does he feel he has to apply for planning permission to go to 40 million?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: Is the business complying with the law at the moment?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Management of Passenger Numbers at Dublin Airport: Discussion (22 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: Okay. I thank Mr. Jacobs.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Deputy McAuliffe. I will take my question slot now. I thank the Minister for presenting the Supplementary Estimates. One of the things we always try to get across is how many houses we have built in a year. It is not like we start every single house in January and have to finish it by December. Of course this is a rolling process and depends on when we start. Will the Minister...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: Is the figure for this year so far 26,600?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: I just want them for my own notes.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: I have visited some of those sites. I am sure we have all visited some of the new housing estates that are being built. I see hundreds and hundreds of houses being built. Every time I go to my constituency, there are more houses being built in it. I know from previous work experiences I have had that the quality of houses being built these days is incomparable to what was built in...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: I want to move on to some other parts of it. The Minister mentioned the firefighters. It is an issue that is very pertinent in my constituency. The first phase of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, recommendations has an €8 million allocation to it. I did not catch what the Minister said after that about the secondary, further phase. Will the Minister give me the detail of that?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: I absolutely agree with that. There is a mention of voids in this briefing paper. There are 2,500 voids in 2023. What will be the total number of voids? I think the last time we were talking about it, there was a figure of something more than 6,000 over the past two or three years.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: Where a long-term void that has been boarded up is brought back into use, is it counted as social housing?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: To me, it would make sense if it is a house that has been out of use for a long time. It is almost like a Croí Cónaithe type thing, a house that was not lived in and it is now back as a dwelling.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: That is why I asked about the long-term voids.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: I am sorry but we have to move on. Deputy O'Callaghan is next.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: I will be brief because I know the Minister has to leave shortly. There are three issues which are not mentioned in the documentation, so the Minister can come back to me on them later. First, we talked about the serviced sites fund previously. Five good town-centre sites were advertised in Wicklow recently. I would be interested in hearing the Minister's response at some point on the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: I am talking about the serviced sites initiative, where there is departmental support to purchase serviced sites through the local authority. It can create that attention for people who want to live in a rural area but within that kind of rural town centre as well. It is a good scheme. We referred to community-led housing in the Act in 2021.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary Estimate) (23 Nov 2023)

Steven Matthews: Has there ever been a budgetary allocation or support? Have we advanced that? I met with a community-led housing group and, again, it is quite a small impact on housing. It is quite important as well. The Minister might respond to me when he has time to research that. We did quite a significant report here on modern methods, low carbon technologies and volumetric and modular housing....