Results 1,581-1,600 of 20,057 for speaker:Brian Stanley
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Government Reform (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: 2. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government in view of the new municipal districts proposed by the Local Boundary Commission, noting that some of these cover large geographical areas and in view of his stated intention to devolve further powers and functions to councillors, his views on whether councillors in the new municipal districts will be able to properly...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Government Reform (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: This is a practical problem for councillors who are to be elected next year. Their electoral areas will be 50 km or 60 km in length with very large municipal districts. Sinn Féin supports reform, and certainly local government needs reform, but care needs to be taken with regard to the type of reform. We support the devolution of powers and functions but if the Minister carries this...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Government Reform (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: I include Fine Gael councillors, who have raised this concern with me.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Government Reform (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: The Minister should not mind that.
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Government Reform (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: We had to respond on the basis of the criteria and terms of reference of the committee. We were in a straitjacket in that regard. If the Northern model was followed there would be 1,180 councillors, 230 more councillors than the Minister is proposing. I welcome the fact that the Minister will examine the issue of resources, considering the number of meetings, the category of each council...
- Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Local Government Reform (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: It is in the book: two per council.
- Other Questions: Water Meters Installation (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: I wish to be positive, as the Minister wants us all to be in a positive frame of mind today. If the Minister wants to stop water leaks and reduce costs, why has he not looked at district or block metering? I checked the price of this since I last discussed it with the Minister here. A district meter catering for 1,000 households costs between €3,000 and €4,000 to install....
- Other Questions: Water Meters Installation (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: I always do.
- Other Questions: Water Meters Installation (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: The Minister did not know anything about it the last time I asked him.
- Other Questions: Water Meters Installation (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: I have been asking the Minister about it for some time now.
- Other Questions: Water Meters Installation (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: And down here too.
- Other Questions: Water Meters Installation (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: Block metering costs €4 per household.
- Finance (Local Property Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 [Private Members]: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: Hear, hear.
- Finance (Local Property Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 [Private Members]: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: Sinn Féin never advocated a no pay campaign. We were very scrupulous about that. It is another lie which needs to be nailed, along with others I heard in the past 15 minutes. Deputy Deering obviously has a problem with the truth. We have actively campaigned against the tax and offered costed, reasonable alternatives. If we fail in our endeavours today we will continue to campaign...
- Finance (Local Property Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 [Private Members]: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: The Minister stuck it to all those categories of people in this State. I am not here to defend the Six Counties.
- Finance (Local Property Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 [Private Members]: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: We want to see an end to the Six Counties state. Republicans in Sinn Féin are committed to abolishing it. If the Minister, Deputy Hogan, is talking to his British counterpart at one of their many meetings he should say that to him.
- Finance (Local Property Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 [Private Members]: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: The Minister for Finance failed to acknowledge that the rates in the North cover such services as education, including school books, transport and meals, fire services, emergency services, health care, social services, roads with no tolls, waste collection, water, sewerage, including septic tank desludging, and leisure and recreational facilities. In this State, on the other hand,...
- Finance (Local Property Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 [Private Members]: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: I assign that party the blame it is due. The family home tax is simply a tax too far. Yet people will also face bills for water next year, those charges being introduced, rather conveniently, after the local elections are out of the way. Is there no threshold below which the Government is not prepared to stoop in order to ensure the rich in our society do not have to pay? The Minister of...
- Finance (Local Property Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 [Private Members]: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: We put forward a host of suggestions for cutting the cost of local government, as the Minister, Deputy Hogan, is well aware. Reform in that area requires cutting out some of the deadwood and reducing the salaries of those at the top and the numbers of directors of services and other senior staff, while at the same time increasing the number of front-line staff. That will save money in both...
- Finance (Local Property Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 [Private Members]: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 Jun 2013)
Brian Stanley: The Minister is wrong.