Results 2,281-2,300 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Financial Resolutions 2019 - Financial Resolution No. 9: General (Resumed) (9 Oct 2019)

Damien English: I commend the budget to the House. It is a prudent and wise budget and is the right budget at the right time. We have made real progress in recent years, and it is important that our country makes the right decisions to protect that progress for the future. As a Fine Gael-led Government, we are concerned with protecting that future. The plans we have been investing in for the past couple...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Emergency Services (9 Oct 2019)

Damien English: The provision of fire services is a statutory function of fire authorities under the provisions of the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003. The receipt of calls from the public for assistance by the fire service is provided on a 'shared service' basis by three Regional Communications Centres (RCCs) at Limerick, Castlebar and Dublin. I have no role in relation to legislation, policy,...

Financial Resolutions - Budget Statement 2020 (8 Oct 2019)

Damien English: BusConnects. Is that not a big project?

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Fire Stations Upgrade (8 Oct 2019)

Damien English: The provision of a fire service in its functional area, including the establishment and maintenance of a fire brigade, the assessment of fire cover needs and the provision of fire station premises, is a statutory function of individual fire authorities under the Fire Service Act, 1981. My Department supports fire authorities through setting general policy, providing a central training...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Oct 2019)

Damien English: I sent a letter to Deputy McConalogue today on this matter so I will give him a short answer now. We agreed last year to allocate money in order to show our commitment to addressing this issue, to be fair to all of the homeowners affected. We did that, even though the scheme was not fully worked out at that stage. That work has been ongoing since then. As the Deputy knows, there have been...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Foreshore Issues (1 Oct 2019)

Damien English: There is no record of an application by the local authority in question along the lines detailed in the question. 

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Health and Safety (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: I thank Senator Buttimer for raising this matter. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, who could not be here but who welcomes the discussion on this important area. We continue to discuss issues of mental health in the workplace and training for people involved in that area. It is an area of high priority for the Government for many reasons, including those put...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Health and Safety (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: On behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, I thank Senator Buttimer for raising this important matter. I will bring back to the Minister of State the points the Senator has made on considering more ways to encourage best practice by employers and the need for training and discussion on this issue. I am not sure that legislation is the way forward, but I will mention that to the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Autism Support Services (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: I thank Senator Gavan for providing this opportunity to have this debate on a very important area. I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, as he could not make it here to take part in the debate. The Government is determined to ensure every child is allocated a school place, including through the use of the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 to...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Autism Support Services (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: I should be clear that the Government is determined to ensure every child is allocated a school place and to use the legislation when it must, when it is appropriate and when it is advised to do so by the NCSE. I forget the history of the various amendments to the legislation but it is great if this House contributed to making the necessary changes and that Act is now working. It is what...

Seanad: Housing: Statements (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: I thank Seanad Éireann for the opportunity to update the House on measures to reduce homelessness and accelerate social, affordable and private housing delivery, as well as on the work of the Land Development Agency, LDA, cost rental projects and the affordable dwelling arrangements. We have been working tirelessly for the past three years to rebuild sufficient capacity in the housing...

Seanad: Housing: Statements (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: I did not think I would be speaking first. I apologise for that. We can get copies and if there is a specific problem, I can go back over the relevant issue. Under the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, low to moderate income families drew down over 1,000 fixed interest loans through local authorities by the end of June 2019. There are a number of applications in the system and funding has...

Seanad: Housing: Statements (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: The money is there.

Seanad: Housing: Statements (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: There is nothing to stop that being used.

Seanad: Housing: Statements (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: The last page was on that issue, about putting through legislation in July. I presume the Senator is up to date on that.

Seanad: Housing: Statements (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: I will try to answer most of the questions I have been asked, but I will have to come back to the Senators on some of them. If I miss any, I ask the Senators please to flag me and I will try to come back to them. Senator Murnane O'Connor raised many issues relating to Carlow. At one stage she campaigned for a rent pressure zone, but I agree with her in that I suspect that, for most people,...

Seanad: Housing: Statements (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: I am conscious that Carlow is a difficult area as well. To be clear: the guidelines were set in 2011. It is not the case that they were reviewed in 2011; that is the last time they were changed. No review was planned for the following year, but two years ago we said we would carry out a review and that is currently being done. At the time, when the guidelines were set by the then Minister...

Seanad: Housing: Statements (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: I am not going into that. I am just saying there are benefits in having it, which people can see now. Most people I talk to agree with paying a reasonable level of property tax. No one likes paying any kind of tax, but when they see some benefits to it, there is some buy-in. There is a perception by some that it does not deliver the goods.

Seanad: Housing: Statements (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: I did not single anybody out. I am saying I disagree with people who reduce it. The impression is given that the response to the housing crisis is only happening in Dublin but that is not the case. The entire country is impacted upon by the housing difficulties. Different counties are affected in different ways. The major pressure and the greatest number of homeless families are both in...

Seanad: Housing: Statements (26 Sep 2019)

Damien English: It was confirmed that the money was there. The figure is more than €350 million. It was discussed at the housing committee a few weeks ago. There is no issue of people not being able to get a loan, if they qualify for it. More than 1,000 people have been successful in qualifying for that loan. More people will need it. I think it is a very good product and it is working well....