Results 1,161-1,180 of 2,414 for speaker:Fintan Warfield

Joint Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I wish to return to Saorview which was mentioned in the last discussion in terms of how viewers might receive terrestrial stations and content in the future. For now, the number of television homes with Saorview or Saorview combined with a British terrestrial service is growing. I know a lack of resources is at play here but my concern is that it is not the only issue. The Commission for...

Joint Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: Is a significant State investment needed to ensure that the people who pay their television licence get a high definition, HD, TG4 on terrestrial, rather than having to pay for Sky, where they will get a HD TG4? Would it be a significant State investment to ensure that for the next decade we have a fully HD range of channels, including a kids' TG4, for example?

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I understand that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, has informed the House that he will be here at some point today. I also look forward to that but in the meantime, I welcome the Minister of State and look forward to positive engagement with him. Good ideas come from this side of the House....

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I move amendment No. 3: In page 8, to delete line 4. This amendment relates to the reference in this section to the open market. I addressed this aspect in my earlier contribution, when I spoke about how this proposed affordable housing scheme could be used to help people purchase houses at massively inflated prices. I identified a case earlier involving friends that I spoke to...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: One of my colleagues stated that Sinn Féin opposed developments on lands in Donabate and Fingal. We fully support the development of homes on the site in Fingal. We do not support sweetheart deals for developers and the sale of public land for private developments that are far beyond the reach of ordinary working people. The Government should fund the council to develop that site.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: Sixty per cent.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: Again, Donabate was mentioned. A total of 60% of the new homes that will be sold on the site there will be sold at unaffordable prices way above €400,000. That is the deal we are getting in respect of houses built on public land.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: That is a bad deal.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: It is a good deal for private developers and a bad on for working people. The Minister of State mentioned the LDA. It runs the risk of making matters even more difficult for the working people that we have mentioned to access genuinely affordable homes. I will be pressing amendment No. 3.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I move amendment No. 4: In page 8, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following: “(b) arrangements with co-operatives, community housing trusts and other not for profit bodies.”. Section 6 is about the provision of dwellings by housing authorities. It states: A housing authority may make dwellings available for the purpose of sale to eligible applicants under...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I would like to push the amendment.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I think I have provided a very good amendment that I might push to a vote.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I move amendment No. 5: In page 8, to delete line 13. My amendment relates to the Land Development Agency, LDA. As members will be aware, Sinn Féin is opposed to the involvement of the agency. We do not accept the need for a new State agency for public housing delivery; rather, and I have mentioned this in the debate on previous amendments, we remain convinced that resourcing local...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: The ideological point, if there is one, is that I am opposed to public land - the people's land and the land that everyone owns regardless of how much money they have - being used for unaffordable housing on the open market, being sold off cheaply and being used for houses that will cost well above what people who already own that land will be able to afford. That is the pattern I am opposed to.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: For the purpose of the debate, I wish to reflect on a parliamentary question submitted in August 2020, the response to which indicated that €256.9 million was spent on public private partnerships in 2019. The public private partnership model has been criticised by numerous bodies, including the European Court of Auditors, for not delivering for taxpayers' money, not being efficient...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I move amendment No. 10: In page 8, lines 25 and 26, to delete “counteract undue segregation in housing between persons of different social backgrounds” and substitute “promote sustainable mixed income communities”. If there is an amendment on which we might find consensus on today, it is this one. I think I am right in saying that Senator Higgins has a...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I apologise that I am only returning to the debate now. I welcome the fact that consensus has been found on this amendment.

Seanad: Search and Rescue System: Motion (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: Senator Buttimer should speak through the Chair.

Seanad: Search and Rescue System: Motion (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: Senator Buttimer is saying "you".

Seanad: Search and Rescue System: Motion (28 May 2021)

Fintan Warfield: I welcome this opportunity and commend Senator Craughwell on tabling the motion. I commend all those who work in search and rescue, SAR, services and in the Defence Forces on their bravery and service. The service is literally life-saving. It involves a multi-year, multimillion euro contract. The current contract is worth between €50 million and €60 million per year so it is...