Results 701-720 of 3,623 for speaker:Ulick Burke

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: On the issue of planning in County Galway and elsewhere, will the Minister indicate whether any guidelines which are to be implemented will take immediate effect? We are sick and tired of equivocation on the matter.

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: I have read it twice and will read it for the third time. In his address the Minister says that he will postpone implementation of the guidelines until 30 April, after consultation.

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: On the statutory planning order, the Minister states, "comments are to be submitted to my Department by 30 April and I will carefully consider any suggestions for improving the guidelines before they are finalised". Are they finalised or not?

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: Are they to be implemented now? The Minister cannot have it both ways. If we are to have improved possibilities for people in rural Ireland to live in areas where they have connections, it is important for the people to have ownership of the planning process and that ownership is not on a political basis as has been adopted by some people. The Minister has taken on this issue as if it...

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: We had too much of that ownership in Fianna Fáil and the result is inquiry after inquiry. The Minister knows this and is part of the situation. How can he extricate himself? He now has the opportunity to do something better but he still wants to own the planning process.

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: The Minister still wants to own the planning process. Unless people make representations to a Fianna Fáil Minister, Deputy, Senator, local representative or whatever, they will not get planning permission. That is the mentality and culture that exists. Let the Minister bring about change on this issue.

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: It is the reality, the truth and the reason we have such costly inquiries associated with abuse in the area of planning.

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: The Minister released ownership to the public bodies, yet day after day we hear criticism here of the work of An Bord Pleanála, an independent body which interprets the planning decisions coming before it and upholds the decisions of local planners.

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: We, and the Minister, in particular, should not undermine confidence in local planners by issuing further guidelines. These people are charged at local authority level with bringing forward and implementing the local authority members' plan. The issuing of guidelines suggests there is a difficulty. The local planners have a difficult task and we, as local authority members, support them and...

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: That is a rich statement from the Minister. When he was a member of the Progressive Democrats he criticised Fianna Fáil, but he is now a member of that party. Let him look in the mirror.

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: One third of the population lives in rural Ireland and the greater proportion of them are on the western seaboard. It is in these areas that we have our greatest problems with regard to planning. Can the Minister stand over what he has presented as other than a pre-election gimmick and say that these guidelines will make a change and make it easier for people in rural Ireland to get planning...

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: If the Minister can tell us there is something in the guidelines which is not already in the county plans, we will say it is a job well done. The Minister has failed. This reminds me of what has happened with regard to the smoking ban. Last Thursday the Minister said his guidelines would have immediate effect but now it has changed to 30 April. We will then have the final draft and...

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: When the Minister thought the demise of the Progressive Democrats was on the way, he jumped ship.

Seanad: Draft Guidelines on Rural Housing: Statements. (10 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: If they apply for planning permission, they will be confused.

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: Is the Senator accepting there is confusion?

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: Is this for real?

Seanad: Order of Business. (11 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: On 1 March the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government introduced a worthwhile service in the form of on-line motor vehicle taxation. Unfortunately, this service is open to abuse. Will the Leader make immediate contact with the Minister and his Department urging them to close off the loophole whereby a person who wants to enter bogus details of their insurance can do so...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Second Stage. (23 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: It is republicanism gone wrong.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Second Stage. (23 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: That was the policy only when Fianna Fáil was in opposition.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Second Stage. (23 Mar 2004)

Ulick Burke: I welcome the Minister, Deputy Coughlan. She said in her statement she is proud of the commitment to fostering an inclusive society. If this particular Social Welfare Bill is her contribution to an inclusive society, what about the 16 cutbacks included in it? Considering any one of them, or all together, if this is what inclusiveness amounts to in the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats...