Results 24,161-24,180 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: This is a significant issue. I intend to oppose the section on Report Stage. This provision might be all right for a city centre where there is a great deal of activity, but significant issues will flow from it where there is a 100% liability for rates and no prospect of occupying a building.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: In any town or village in the country, the vacancy rates are significant. One cannot but notice them. People are not leaving premises vacant for any reason other than insufficient income. If it is a question of applying no rates remission for vacant properties, what would be the knock-on effect? There would be no loss of income, as the local authorities would be flat out going through the...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: Yes.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: This provision would be rarely used. Something similar was included in the 2000 Act and I do not believe it was ever used. It would most definitely come down to the judgment of the local authority members because in essence it would mean increasing the amount, which would probably be done very selectively. This section will be quite difficult anyway as it tries to align different rates...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: I have a problem with the word "consulted". They will be asked and may be ignored. Again, it will come down to culture.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: I know that, but we have all been there.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: On consultation, I have been there. We will see how it works. There is still always the control mechanism.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: Certain things cannot be put into legislation and I accept that. I accept this is about valuation and all the rest and cannot be accepted. However, it flags the very serious issue of the large commercial entities. It comes down to the planning decisions to position large commercial entities on the periphery of towns, which are displacing jobs and ruining the viability of town centres....

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: The proposed measure is draconian. I do not recognise the kind of behaviour the Minister has described, although perhaps it is just that the local authorities I was on were not like that. There certainly were robust exchanges but there was rarely a need to ask somebody to leave the meeting. If they were asked to leave, they generally did so. There may well be a perception that things are...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 30: In page 29, to delete lines 6 to 15 and substitute the following:“(a) paragraphs 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (other than in respect of a joint body) of Schedule 14 and Part 1 of Schedule 14A shall be performed by each municipal district council within the administrative area of the council concerned, (b) paragraph 7 of Schedule 14 and Part 2 of Schedule 14A, shall be...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: I appreciate that, because it could be used in a negative way. My essential point is that municipal districts are almost penalised in the legislation. While I do not believe that was the intention, it could be how it is applied. I accept completely that some things must be done at a county level if that is the primary unit, such as more strategic matters or combined policies that should be...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 31: In page 29, to delete lines 25 to 28 and substitute the following:“(b) A local authority may, by resolution and having received the prior consent of the municipal district council concerned, revoke the delegation by it under this subsection of a function, but the revocation is without prejudice to anything previously done by virtue of the delegated...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: While I will come back to this on Report Stage, I will withdraw the amendment on the basis that it is being examined.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 26: In page 27, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “Legal Personality 22B. (a) Each Municipal District Council established in accordance with this section shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and an official seal with a power to sue and be sued in its corporate name and to acquire, hold and dispose of land or an interest in land. (b)...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: We should not lose sight of the fact that democracy is a great leveller. That is one of the advantages of elected town councils, as opposed to voluntary fora, and it gives them a degree of authority. Having been a member of a community council prior to the establishment of the town council, I can say that there certainly was a noticeable difference between the two. Community councils are...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: The usefulness of this proposal is that everybody understands what the word "council" means, while some people might not be sure what is meant by "municipal". Adopting this change would help to confer a certain status on the municipals.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: The Minister is essentially saying that the successor authority to the town council will be the county council and not the municipal district. That is very clear.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: I have never argued for the retention of all town councils. In fact, I have stated clearly that some are very tiny and effectively unsustainable. Clearly, however, a district council, as most people understand it, is very different from what is being proposed here. A district council tier would be autonomous, first and foremost, and that is where I see the major flaw in this legislation -...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: Schedule 4 relates to the point that Deputy Cowen makes about assets being transferred to the successor authority. Is that successor authority the municipal district or is it the local authority? For example, the town council on which I sat for years was quite prudent and put money aside towards its future and in terms of securing a building, and had accumulated quite a substantial sum of...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 20: In page 25, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following: “19. (1) The Minister shall as soon as is practicable and in accordance with this part establish an Advisory Panel on the Future Development of Local Government (in this Part referred to as the Panel). (2) Membership of the Panel shall comprise three persons appointed by the Minister with the consent...