Results 10,121-10,140 of 14,706 for speaker:Phil Hogan

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: Perhaps the Deputy may have to review the situation with the local authority. Perhaps she is entitled to a refund based on this information. I hope she is. Every little helps. Deputy Healy mentioned the rural transport service and I am very conscious of the good service provided in Tipperary, Kilkenny and surrounding counties where the rural transport programme is administered by Pobal...

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: The Deputy is reading too much into it, and reading too much in the local newspaper.

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: If the Deputy listens he might learn a little bit. He is making a statement in the absence of information. We have established a national committee to examine this. I am very conscious of what the Deputy said. It is an important service and people in rural areas should expect a basic level of service in transport in the absence of even a good road from Clonmel to Kilkenny.

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: There is the potential for local government to have a positive role in its involvement in many local services and I do not think Deputy Healy would disagree with this, unless he is going to abandon his support for Clonmel Borough Council.

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: What direction?

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: We are making up for lost time.

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: Many Deputies want more finance, which is understandable, and perhaps more ways of raising money, but they do not like the one we are discussing now. I suppose this is understandable in politics. Protecting and providing the funds we have to make the necessary improvements in the service or maintain the level of service we have is exactly what the Bill is about. If we did not have this...

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: I know Deputies Murphy and Healy advocate increases in income tax and putting more on the working person to get the level of finance necessary to run our services.

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: We know where the so-called socialist parties stand on these issues.

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: I know Deputy Healy is against property tax, but I am surprised that socialists are against such a tax. I have not come across any easy way of raising revenue to provide services.

Motor Vehicles (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Second Stage (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: I have not come across any suggestions either from Deputy Healy or anyone else, except to increase income tax. If Deputies are against everything, including property tax and motor tax, I suppose that is life in politics, but they will not provide services for citizens which is what this measure seeks to do. I commend the Bill to the House.

Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2013: Referral to Committee (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: I move:That the Bill be referred to the Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government pursuant to Standing Order 82A(3)(a) and (6)(a) and 126(1).

Topical Issue Debate: Regeneration Projects (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: I know that Deputy Catherine Byrne has taken a great interest in this issue and has raised it on many previous occasions. I want to assure her that my Department also has a great interest in seeing this commenced and completed to the satisfaction of the residents. The national regeneration programme targets the country's most disadvantaged communities. My Department supports the ambitious...

Topical Issue Debate: Regeneration Projects (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: I am giving Deputy Byrne an undertaking to make representations on her behalf to the relevant officials in the Department's housing and planning unit, as well as to Dublin City Council, to express the community's concerns on the need to accelerate the regeneration project for St. Teresa's Gardens. I wish to reiterate the commitment by the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, and myself...

Topical Issue Debate: Rights of the Child (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: I thank Deputy Troy for raising this issue and I am pleased to respond on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald. The Minister, who is the first such Minister at Cabinet level, is returning from Russia following discussions on the possibility of a bilateral agreement on inter-country adoption with the Russian Federation. I am disappointed with...

Topical Issue Debate: Rights of the Child (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: The Minister has asked me to convey a number of points to the House on this matter. I refer to her activities since assuming responsibility for the children detention system in January 2012. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has worked with her colleagues in Government on a range of actions to improve conditions for children in detention and in particular, to end the practice of...

Topical Issue Debate: Rights of the Child (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: As the Deputy will be aware, the most effective way to get any individual out of poverty is to provide employment. The pattern of difficult decisions the Government has had to make arising from the legacy we inherited from his party has made it enormously difficult to ensure we have an expanding domestic economy because of the measures that have had to be take to deal with our public...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Rural Development Programme (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: Mayo North East Leader Partnership is the Local Action Group contracted by my Department to deliver both the Rural Development Programme and the Local Community Development Programme to the North Mayo area. On foot of correspondence received in 2011 regarding a possible governance issue at Mayo North East LEADER Partnership Company, a comprehensive investigation into the issues outlined was...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Meters (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: The Government has decided that Irish Water, a new State-owned water company to be established as an independent subsidiary within the Bord Gáis Éireann Group, will be responsible for the domestic water metering programme. It will be a matter for Irish Water, and any contractors employed by it, to recruit suitable qualified personnel for the relevant works. The approach being...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Building Energy Rating Compliance (21 Feb 2013)

Phil Hogan: Firstly I acknowledge the distressing and stressful situations which individuals face when building works are not completed to the required acceptable standard. The Building Control Act 1990 clearly places responsibility for compliance with the Building Regulations on the owner of the building concerned and on the builder or developer who carries out the works. The Building Regulations...