Results 7,161-7,180 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: I will try to speak slowly but speak less, if that helps. If the Chair allows, I may call on some of my colleagues to contribute as I am not an expert in all of these areas. I will bring them in if that is okay. I believe it is a good way to do business. The Senator is right, this is about ambition. That is what we are trying to set out here. What is our ambition for this country? Do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: If we then asked the NRA if it would be able to talk to somebody whose concern it was and if we could have the same conversation to build the motorway together, perhaps, we would be told that it could not do that, that the thinking pertaining to both areas was different. Those planning the motorway were two or three years ahead in their research than the others were with their railway line...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: Senator Grace O'Sullivan spoke of intercity transport and joining the towns and villages but I want to stress once more that we do the same within the towns and cities in order to make transport easier. If we merely join them together people will move from one to the other. We want to grow and develop jobs within these towns and villages also. That is what we are trying to do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: I will try to shorten my answers. I might bring in Mr. Niall Cussen on the planning and transport around Galway because he is familiar with and is working closely with it, and has been corresponding with the Deputy on it as well. We have visited Galway on this plan as well and we have held local consultation there. We met the local authorities, both city and county. I have not met the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: Deputy Hildegarde Naughton also asked about the high-speed rail. The Deputy will have heard a reference in conversation. Both the former Minister, Deputy Coveney, and the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, have repeatedly talked about those options. In our sustainable mobility section, we talk about investing in rail, and that connection, and public transport. That is what we mean there. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: It is. The reason Galway developed as a med-tech sector of the world is because of that connection between our education system and our enterprise system. I saw that collaboration in my time as Minister of State with responsibility for research. We have done a lot in Galway, both in the university and in GMIT, around that connection and collaboration across all the stakeholders. It has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: I understand the frustration that Deputy Eamon Ryan is bringing to the table, but he is probably slightly wrong in what he is saying. We had a conversation about this plan but Deputy Ryan was out of the room for most of the discussion we have had thus far. This plan is about setting out the plan, ambition and business case. If we do not do that, we will not win any investment. It is not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: Deputy Ryan is right to say that from budget 2019 onwards there will be an opportunity to invest more money in the future of the country and that we have to get back to a sustainable position. However, we are not going to see the step-change Deputy Ryan requires in one budget – I have made that clear. That is why the ten-year investment strategy will be the backup to this. We will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: The time for this segment is nearly up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: One could not possibly forget Carlow.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: Will I answer the first round of questions?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: I shall work backwards through the questions. The final day for submissions is 3 November. We will spend most of November reviewing all of the submissions. We will take on board any suggestions and, if necessary, will make changes. We hope to publish the plan in December.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: The lads around me might have a lot more grey hair by then but that is our plan. We will have the regional strategies from that in 2018 and they will be published. Also, local area plans will be adopted by 2019 and we will take account of the strategy in those. The earlier we can align all of our thinking and processes the better success we will have in delivering the strategy. As will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: I am just saying this strategy is about making sure-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: We have mentioned Carlow, Wicklow, Mayo, Galway, Cork and Waterford. I will not name all of them. The idea of the plan is not to limit ambition but to plan it in a co-ordinated way. There is great potential for towns. The larger towns, in particular, have massive potential to grow in a more sustainable way with more job creation and through winning investment. That is not limited in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: The decision making on the composition of that is not a matter for this plan. It is key that the decisions on local democracy, democracy in general and the arms of the State buy into, and work with, this process, but the plan will not dictate whether one has a town council, municipal area or the like. That is not its function. There is an ongoing discussion in that regard in our Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: Yes, but I am referring to the decision making-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: That is fine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: I accept the point the Deputy makes. In the debate last night in the House which was started by Deputy Mattie McGrath we discussed this and its importance. In that case I cited my town as different. In my case we have a municipal area that covers the town and it is in a very strong position. That is something I would encourage people to examine, but it is not a matter for today's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: National Planning Framework: Discussion (18 Oct 2017)

Damien English: The Deputy is correct. That is the reason for bringing State agencies and Departments around the table. We have not had that joined-up thinking among our agencies over the years but we must have it, in one way or another, or we will not achieve our ambitions here. There is more than one way to skin a cat but we have to find ways to do this joint decision making for the benefit of the...