Results 13,801-13,820 of 14,706 for speaker:Phil Hogan

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Water Quality Issues (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: Approximately 19,000 people are affected by the legitimate complaints people have about water quality in Roscommon. These have been serious matters for many years and nothing was done about it.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Water Quality Issues (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: I have initiated action and got the necessary contracts in place. I am told the Boyle-Ardcarne scheme will be finished by the end of this year and the Killeglan scheme will be finished early next year. These will resolve 64% of the problems in the area which is under a boil water notice. I advise the Deputy - and I will do the same - to make a submission to the regulator to take account of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Water Quality Issues (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: The Deputy has outlined the precise reasons why we are reforming the water sector, to ensure we have quantity and quality of water in the future. We have a very rickety system due to historic under-investment. That is why we must establish a new way of doing things, to deal with the issues the Deputy rightly points out. I will examine the issues he raised and speak to Irish Water about the...

Other Questions: Building Regulations Application (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: I am surprised that Deputy Pringle has taken upon himself to support the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland. Every effort has been made to ensure that arrangements have been in place for a successful transition to the new building control arrangements on and from 1 March 2014. The new on-line Building Control Management System, BCMS, has been developed to provide a common...

Other Questions: Building Regulations Application (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: Under the Building Control Act 1990, the professionals were self-regulated and were supposed to do the job for which they signed up, to satisfy everybody, particularly the customer, that everything had been done according to the specifications laid down and the plans lodged.

Other Questions: Building Regulations Application (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: We have changed the regulations because that was not working. We have plenty of examples of no regulation or enforcement. Professional bodies in particular have not stood up to the test of signing off on projects and verifying the job had been done properly on behalf of the customer, rather than just giving an opinion. We will establish a clear chain of responsibility from before the work...

Other Questions: Building Regulations Application (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: We did not have this before.

Other Questions: Building Regulations Application (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: I know Deputy Pringle has a very keen interest in these matters of oversight and inspection. I am sure he has some knowledge of it from his previous employment. I will get the building control authorities on a risk-based approach to inspect the work. I expect the regulations will dramatically improve the end result for many customers. The people in Priory Hall and similar buildings around...

Other Questions: Radon Control Strategy (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: The National Radon Control Strategy, which I published on 17 February last, was developed by an inter-agency group and sets out some 48 recommendations, under six thematic areas, with the ultimate aim of reducing the number of radon-related lung cancer cases of which there have been 250 in the past number of years. While it is envisaged that the recommendations set out in the strategy will...

Other Questions: Radon Control Strategy (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: Residents will not shy away from €56 if they think they will save their lives. We can include it as part of the home renovation scheme, perhaps, in terms of some of the remediation measures required in dwellings. That is some help. I am not making a big deal of it but it certainly needs to be included because it is a serious issue. There was no work done on this until I became...

Other Questions: Water Charges Introduction (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 51 together. With effect from 1 January 2014, Irish Water is responsible for public water services. As the House knows, the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 provides that Irish Water can collect charges from its customers in receipt of water services.  The Act also provides that responsibility for the independent economic regulation of the water...

Other Questions: Water Charges Introduction (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: All of those factors in regard to affordability and the free allowance will be taken into account when the final decisions are made by CER, but equally when the decisions are being made by Government, in particular in regard to people with medical need who have a higher consumption, for example, those using kidney dialysis, as well as children and elderly people who are living alone.

Other Questions: Water Charges Introduction (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: The Deputy's assessment is correct. I will publish it in the context of the Government decision in due course.

Other Questions: Water Charges Introduction (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: I only go out of the country when I am doing my job, and I am sure it was the same with my predecessors. As I have said to the Deputy, in the next couple of weeks he will get all the information regarding the free allowance, affordability measures and all of the submissions we made, including the interdepartmental working group document to which he referred. That is what I have just said.

Gateway Scheme: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: I never heard such political hypocrisy in all my life than from the Deputies opposite in Sinn Féin.

Gateway Scheme: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: Sinn Féin speaks against a scheme in the Republic of Ireland, but as an all-Ireland party one would imagine it would be consistent and not hypocritical about what it does in Northern Ireland, where jobseeker's allowance is available for only six months and those aged over 25 receive €85.73. The youth employment scheme in Northern Ireland is a voluntary scheme to get people active...

Gateway Scheme: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: -----by the end of this year and this is a significant change. I know the politics of failure of Sinn Féin are what makes Deputy McLellan's constituency grow, but it certainly does not make the country grow.

Gateway Scheme: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: In Pathways to Work we set out a number of strategies to ensure people who find themselves out of work, particularly the long-term unemployed, do not become permanently disenfranchised in our society. This is what Sinn Féin wants. The aim is to ensure Ireland's greatest resource, its people, will no longer remain on the live register for lengthy periods without an appropriate offer of...

Gateway Scheme: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: Abolish them in Northern Ireland then.

Gateway Scheme: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (12 Mar 2014)

Phil Hogan: Then abolish the schemes in Navan.