Results 12,341-12,360 of 26,624 for speaker:John McGuinness

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: My information, from dealing with councillors and officials at local level, and councillors of every political party, is that it is proving to be a bit of a disaster. Foremen within the county councils will say that they have still not sorted out their boundaries. There is a row over budgets. The urban centres that are associated, for example, Kilkenny city versus county, are not...

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: On what Deputy Perry said, nobody will support bad housekeeping by local authorities. They are expected to collect their rates, to do their business and get sorted out. We have had many other Departments in here, for example, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which did not collect their debt for years on end. They did not issue invoices and they had no leases. A focused...

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: A solution should be born out of the Department's statement about improving the lives of people in the community.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: I ask that both Departments consider the issues being raised by Deputy Perry and consider what further efforts can be made to resolve the issue.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: Mr. Heffernan and Mr. McCarthy should be aware that all I am hearing about from all over the country is the death knell for local democracy, transparency and accountability. It is outrageous and if it was a business, they would step in immediately and attempt to rescue it. We have abandoned not just transparency and accountability but also our traditions, our heritage and all that local...

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: We are being sent around the houses on this and I am anxious to ensure that somebody comes back to us, either from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport or the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. A transcript of today's meeting will be forwarded to both Departments and I ask that someone decides who will be the lead problem solver.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: I put a query to my own local authority recently regarding the employment of private contractors for the purpose of traffic management, that is, traffic wardens. I was told that the authority could not tell me about the procurement process and how much it cost because of commercial sensitivity. I find that strange because when we are at this committee, after the event, we can get the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: It relates to the procurement of traffic wardens in Kilkenny city and I want to find out how much it costs. It is a simple query-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: I should not have to raise it here but unfortunately that is the way business is being done locally now. Nobody wants to answer anyone and they feel they can get away with it, which is worse, because of the strange structure of local authorities now. I raised the issue of the Tipperary Hostel Project with the Department and I understand that the county council is now considering taking...

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: I presume after the council takes back the lease that it will give life to the project.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: Deputy Perry raised the issue of costs to Sligo County Council. Kilkenny County Council incurred costs on the central axis scheme and the case went all the way to the High Court. Considerable investment in the site in Kilkenny has been promised by the National Treasury Management Agency. How stands the Department on these costs? Are they to be borne solely by the local authority? On...

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: On national funding for the brewery site-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: That body should be alerted to the fact that it is an historic site and that it, therefore, needs to know what is involved.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: We should bring it to its attention.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: I wish to raise two other items. Deputy Sean Fleming raised the issue of homelessness in the context of the work done in refurbishing houses. I am always taken aback by the number of local authority houses that continue to remain unoccupied. I know from my constituency which covers two counties, Carlow and Kilkenny, that there is an unacceptably high number of local authority houses that...

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: Therefore, the hold-up is not in the Department but elsewhere?

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: Can Mr. McCarthy give me any idea of what is happening in respect of houses that need to be refurbished?

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: It is fair to say there is funding available and that a concerted effort is being made to do the work?

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: Could the same effort be made in the provision of wetrooms and making houses accessible for people who are disabled or the elderly who have fallen ill? There is a list, but according to my information many local authorities do not have any money to proceed in 2015. They are dealing with applications made in 2014.

Public Accounts Committee: 2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 25: Environment, Community and Local Government
Chapter 5: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Special Report No 84: Transhipment of Waste (25 Jun 2015)

John McGuinness: Is that funding matched by the local authorities?