Results 23,741-23,760 of 26,610 for speaker:David Cullinane

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: We will support that element of it. I should have said to the Minister yesterday that I have supported estimates on Waterford City Council in the past and personally voted for them, but we will not go back to that argument. We have seen where rates have been doubled and trebled and even if there is a 15% or 20% reduction in the overall rate, it will still be a significant burden on those...

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: If the Minister considers what was called the Tesco tax in the North where there was a shifting of the burden away from the small retailers to the big multinationals where they would pay more proportionately than the smaller retailers, that is what we need to do in this State. We need to fundamentally review the whole issue of commercial rates and consider a progressive rate system that is...

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: -----he would give them the ability to set the rate which is what he should do. I will be supporting all the amendments which have been tabled by Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil on this issue because we need to fundamentally examine the rate system in this State.

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: It is unfortunately those of us on this side of the House who are listening to the nonsense from the Minister. He has done a very poor job of selling a very poor Bill. His pretence that this Bill is radical reforming legislation that will give powers to local government, is fiction-----

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: -----and absolute nonsense-----

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: Some might still agree we have the most centralised system of governance in Europe, if not the world. Our problem is that we have never given local government the power, functions and responsibilities it needs. Central government never gave local government real power. The Minister referred to all the great powers that the Bill will give to local authorities-----

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: I ask him to show me where in the Bill power has been devolved from any Department to local government. The answer is none, yet the Minister is abolishing town councils without giving them any power whatsoever. It is very interesting to listen to the Minister's exchange with Fianna Fáil Senators and his quoting from what Senator Wilson called the fiction document, the Fianna Fáil...

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: It goes back to something Senator Walsh or someone else from Fianna Fáil said, that this is being driven by officials, by civil servants and not by the Government nor the Minister. The same language, the same logic that was contained in the Fianna Fáil document from a former Fianna Fáil Minister, cited by the Minister, is exactly what he is implementing today. He is...

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: I can tell him we will not be in government with his party nor with Fianna Fáil. My preference is to go into government with the Labour Party-----

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: -----or progressive parties but certainly not with the Minister's party-----

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: In all seriousness, the Minister cannot come into this House and try to sell a Bill that is clearly weak, that fails local government, that missed the point. He had the opportunity to seize the initiative and he failed to do so by telling us that the Bill gives power to local government. He has rammed the Bill through the Dáil by use of the guillotine. That House had a couple of hours...

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: -----and put them into a quango, as he said himself, that he planned to fatten up in order to privatise. He has taken one of the local government core services from local government and given it to a quango. It was rammed through the Dáil with no proper discussion nor scrutiny because the Minister was afraid to have a real debate on the issue. He has taken one of the core functions of...

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: He is trying to pretend that his plan is to give power to local government. It is a nonsense and it is difficult for us to listen to the nonsense which is fiction. What the Minister is doing is every bit a fiction as what was in the Fianna Fáil document. The Minister is implementing exactly what the officials had advised Fianna Fáil to do when they wrote that document.

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: The Minister is the real Taoiseach.

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: Irish Water is the new quango.

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: Twelve years before it is privatised.

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: I support Senator Wilson on this. I agree it is a mistake to abolish the town councils. It would have been better to put the question to the people by way of a referendum on whether they wished to see town councils abolished. My concern in regard to all town councils being abolished is that we are throwing the baby out with the bath water. There is no doubt the system needed reform and...

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: In Dungarvan in particular, there has been a very good relationship between the elected representatives of the town council, the county council and local organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce. The town has come on in leaps and bounds because of that association and because of that local democracy and the synergy that existed between the town council and the people who live in the...

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: Section 10 deals with the boundaries of the new local government areas of Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford. I would like to revisit our earlier discussion on the natural expansion of Waterford city. Does the Minister agree with the strong case that has been made consistently by Waterford City Council for the natural extension of Waterford city into parts of the south Kilkenny area? Why...

Seanad: Local Government Reform Bill 2013: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Dec 2013)

David Cullinane: Yes. Did the Minister consider the matter? Did he study the report? Did he not agree with some of the recommendations in the report? Can he not see the sense and the logic underpinning those recommendations? Does he agree that these changes would be positive and good for the development of Waterford city?