Results 1,421-1,440 of 2,438 for speaker:Caít Keane

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: I ask the Minister of State to correct the record of the House. Senator Barrett said the National Consumer Agency is debarred from this, but it is not. Any citizen in the country can take up an issue with regard to water, whether it concerns the provision of water, the type of water or whatever, with the National Consumer Agency, just as he or she can with any other consumer goods....

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: I though Senator Ó Domhnaill would welcome the section because it provides a facility for persons who are not satisfied with the charge set out in the water charges plan. The Bill clearly sets out that there is a method of calculation of charges in section 16 in respect of a customer to whom the approved water charges apply. Therefore, the section recognises that not everybody will...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: No.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: This section does exactly what the Senators sought.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: Not everybody will come under the same category. Not everybody will be charged the same and this section provides for that. We dealt with the issue in section 16 of how Irish Water will decide what it will do if someone does not pay. It states clearly that when a customer fails to pay a charge under the section it shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt in any court or competent...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: The water-----

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: Senator Ó Domhnaill has been repeating himself since he came to the House. I have only spoken twice. The water authority must give a reason for the charge, the basis for the fairness of the charge and how it came to make the decision. That is a fact. If people are not satisfied with that the matter can then be referred to the courts.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: That is why I thought Senator Ó Domhnaill would have welcomed the section. I could not believe it when I read that different charges were to be made available for different people.

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage (16 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: I welcome the Minister to the House. I am delighted to debate with the Minister one of the most radical changes in local government since the foundation of the State. It is historic, as the Minister stated. I am sorry the Minister began his contribution on a bad note by criticising centralised control because I was 20 years working in local government and this Bill sees decentralisation...

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage (16 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: The reference I made was to a directly elected mayor for Dublin.

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage (16 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: We are nearly there.

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Second Stage (16 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: That is a good endorsement.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: This issue was discussed on Second Stage, so I will not dwell on it now other than to say that this is an important amendment. I raised this issue when we met recently with departmental officials and the impression I got was that they were very favourably disposed to the idea that the right of councillors and public representatives to make representations on behalf of the public might be...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: The Senator is not elected to the bank.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: I have listened to everything that has been said, but it is such a rounded question. It was when Senator Cullinane referred to a vision and policy for the management of water that I felt I had to say something about this. This is a planned and programmed vision for water. As the Minister of State said, we are the only country in Europe without water charges, so we are not reinventing the wheel.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: Members have heard this before about 40 times.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: The Senator keeps repeating himself.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: I made that point.

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (17 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: This is quite a good amendment because it is open and transparent and concerns the transfer of assets. In respect of assets, there are many leaky, rusty and lead pipes. I do not know whether one would call them an asset or a liability. One would be hard pressed to look for pipes in assets in the old Dublin city water works as they look. This amendment is quite a good one and the...

Seanad: Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report Stage (17 Dec 2013)

Caít Keane: I have confidence in how it is being done.