Results 9,121-9,140 of 10,600 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: No, that is not the case. In 2017, this was a much smaller scheme. It was a scheme with €17 million worth of funding, which was to protect a much smaller area. The sources of flooding at the time were not the sources of flooding. We are now designing defences to protect against a once-in-100-years event, where there is flooding in Midleton from four sources. I do not know if the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Members of Cork County Council would tell the Deputy, if he met them, that there is flooding from four sources. It is unique. There is flooding from an underground source, like a turlough, flooding from the tide, flooding from the rain and flooding from insufficient capacity in the river. It is a totally different comparison now, with a €50 million scheme in 2024. That is the stage...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am not going to answer that question because I do not know how long it is going to take to get planning permission. Going back to the point raised by Deputy Durkan, I have purposely stated, at this committee and in replies to parliamentary questions from other Deputies, that I am not going to put a timeline on it. We are working with Cork County Council to get the planning process finished...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The people in Midleton want to hear the facts rather than the politicisation of the issue, which is unfortunately what is happening here. I know that part of Cork very well and have a lot of family connections there. The people there want to know that there is a commitment in terms of finance, which there is. They also want to know that the scheme that is proposed to be developed will...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is a charge, not a question. I do not know how the Deputy could deduce the charge based on what I said. He has decided to politicise this issue for the benefit of his local election candidate. The best of luck to them. Most of the TDs and councillors in Cork East have decided not to play politics with this. Most of them are more concerned with making sure we get to a situation where...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am not defensive.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is not true. This is the second time the Deputy has said it and it is not true.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: It is a totally different scheme. The Deputy can say what he is saying as often as he wants, and maybe 96FM or C103 will pick up on it. We are not talking about the same scheme.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I agree with the Deputy on that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: If the Deputy had met with people in Cork County Council, he would know they are currently working up a series of proposals with the Office of Public Works, like we do in most towns, such as Bantry, where there is a large flood relief scheme that will take a long time to deliver. The council is working with the consulting engineers and our engineers on interim measures, which might include...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Cork County Council is the lead authority on this and it is working up a proposal for the Office of Public Works. I understand it will be with us within weeks. Once it is done, we certainly will respond to it on the basis of interim measures.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: A total of 62 were built there. The other completed projects are: Doorly Park in Sligo, a Sligo County Council site, with 22 units; 28 units in Claremorris, County Mayo, completed last August; 42 units in Rathdowney, County Laois, which is an LDA site; and 64 units in Clonminch, County Offaly. We are now into the second phase of delivery. These projects include Charleville, County Cork,...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: No, the original provision was 500, which was increased thereafter to 700. We have substantially completed almost 450 of those units.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I listed the developments in which people are living. In the case of the remaining developments, in Charleville, Ballinasloe and Backweston, we hope to have people living there in the first quarter.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I cannot answer for accommodation issues that are within the remit of the Department of children.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: It does, and we are building a substantial amount of accommodation for the Department of children under the Ukrainian directive.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As I have said on a number of occasions at this committee, in the case of a lot of the buildings we have, there are huge title issues. They include old Garda stations that, once upon a time, were RIC stations that might not have title. They might have been taken off an estate or whatever. There is one such building in my constituency, the tile of which needs to be established before it can...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: No. The Deputy is right that on 17 November we issued a report to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform which addressed the issues of supplementary information it required under environmental impact assessment. It would not be appropriate or the norm for us to query that Department as it is the planning authority. The Minister at the Department...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Deputy will appreciate, it is a matter for the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform as the planning authority here with regard to the significance or otherwise of the information that is submitted. If it, as the planning authority, deems it to be significant beyond what would normally be submitted by way of further information, there may be a...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: It is based on the significance. There have been cases in the past where significant further information was required to go on public display and a period of public consultation.