Results 221-240 of 2,500 for speaker:Ciarán Cuffe

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: The water supply for houses in counties around Ireland is so contaminated that we have to put hundreds of millions into upgrading water investment because of contamination from septic tanks. We can say we put the investment and the proper planning guidelines in place; I and my colleagues can genuinely say we did the right thing and had a proper planning process. When we get to a situation...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: We have addressed flooding, water contamination, roads, traffics and bicycles. Every child in this country should have the opportunity when he or she is of a certain age in primary school to walk or cycle to school, rather than be driven off the side of the road because the roads are no longer safe for children. That is part of-----

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: -----what proper planning is about. That is what a decent planning system is about. It is about a plan-led system rather than letting the developers call the shots.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: The effect of the proposed amendment, as I understand it, is to give the Minister a specific power to make regulations on a standard process for pre-application consultations. In this regard, section 33 of the Act already provides that the Minster may "by regulations provide for such matters of procedure and administration as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient in respect of...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: I move amendment No. 31: In page 42, to delete lines 1 and 2 and substitute the following: "(b) in subsection (8)— (i) by the substitution of the following for paragraphs (b) and (c):".

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: I move amendment No. 32: In page 42, line 46, to delete "authority."," and substitute the following: "authority,", and (ii) by the substitution of the following for paragraph (f): "(f) (i) Where a planning authority has failed to make a decision in relation to an application within the period specified in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d) or (e) as appropriate (referred to in this paragraph as the...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: I empathise with the Deputy on the concerns regarding the time limits today. We have had many hours of robust debate on Committee Stage, which was very useful. I rebut the assertion that this legislation diminishes local democracy; I believe it reinforces it. It puts people ahead of developers in the making of the development plan.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: It brings a balance back into the system where for far too long the loudest voices won the argument when it came to making development plans at local level.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: If one goes out the Strokestown Road and finds a cottage up on a rise, and if one speaks to the fellow who has lived in that cottage all his life, I am sure he will tell one, and could have told one ten years ago, that there was always flooding under the railway bridge on the Strokestown Road. I want this Bill to make sure the planner and the county manager know there is always flooding...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: The regional planning guidelines, the flooding guidelines and the national spatial strategy concentrate on putting the right kind of development in the right places. I am making it clear that regional authorities should participate in the public consultation process and in the development of planning, given that they adopt the regional planning guidelines. It is a question of co-ordination...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: I am still reeling from Deputy Bannon's assault on planners. He suggested that planners do not want people to build on the tops of mountains and that they are forcing everyone to live in the lowlands. I suggest that proper planning would pay greater attention to building halfway up the hill - not at the top of the hill where one's roof would be blown off and-----

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: -----not at the bottom of the hill, where one's house would be flooded. If one takes all the relevant factors into account, one can find the perfect combination. In fairness, Deputy Bannon should withdraw his insult to the planning profession. Amendment No. 9 proposes that the phrase "and have due regard to development plan guidelines" be included in the core strategy provision that will be...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: I move amendment No. 10: In page 12, to delete lines 18 to 23 and substitute the following: "(n) the promotion of sustainable settlement and transportation strategies in urban and rural areas including the promotion of measures to— (i) reduce energy demand in response to the likelihood of increases in energy and other costs due to long-term decline in non-renewable resources, (ii) reduce...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: I do not want to get bogged down in a top versus bottom of the hill argument. Where there are existing buildings is often a good place to consider construction. Those who built 50, 100 or 200 years ago had to think long, hard and carefully about where to build because they did not have JCBs or oil. Deferring to our ancestors makes a lot of sense. Deputy Tuffy spoke about the adaptation...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: I would like to go further in the publication of rights of way and their incorporation in the plan. I am conscious of the debate between land owners and worthy NGOs, such as that with which Mr. Garland is associated. In fairness, I must speak to the amendments in front of me, which deal with sustainable development. They are important and are a step in the right direction. I would be...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: I move amendment No. 13: In page 15, to delete lines 44 to 47 and in page 16, to delete lines 1 to 3 and substitute the following: "(bb) indicate that children, or groups or associations representing the interests of children, are entitled to make submissions or observations under paragraph (b), (bc) state that the planning authority intends to review the zoning of the area of the development...

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: I move amendment No. 15: In page 24, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following: "(ii) in paragraph (b), by the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (iii): "(iv) that children, or groups or associations representing the interests of children, are entitled to make submissions or observations under subparagraph (iii).",".

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: We do not often get a chance to discuss the town of Rooskey on the national stage but I am always delighted to discuss the needs of and challenges for smaller towns throughout the country and to point out the seminal importance of the national spatial strategy in providing a hierarchy and a framework that will allow larger towns such as Mullingar and smaller ones such as Rooskey to thrive....

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: I agree with the Deputy's suggestion that planning permission is required for the Galway tent, if not a strategic environmental assessment.

Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill [Seanad] 2009: Report and Final Stages (1 Jul 2010)

Ciarán Cuffe: The structure is no longer in place. That was then and this is now. Time has moved on and this Bill is cleaning up the kind of decisions that may have been made in the past.