Results 2,521-2,540 of 9,994 for speaker:John Gormley
- Water Pollution. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: The Deputy did not mention it but the judgment was very interesting with regard to the position in County Cavan. It specifically mentions the county in a good way because it points out that it is the only county that has by-laws relating to this issue. We must first put such by-laws in place. Notwithstanding this, it is clear that we must introduce specific legislation to deal with the...
- Local Authority Boundaries. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: To support the implementation of the 2007 report by Mr. John Fitzgerald entitled, Addressing Issues of Social Exclusion in Moyross and Other Disadvantaged Areas of Limerick City, I made an order extending the boundary of Limerick City Council in February 2008 which extended the city area by approximately one third. The new boundary became effective from 1 March 2008. The extension was...
- Local Authority Boundaries. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: Deputy Hogan is aware that I referred to that issue when I visited Kilkenny recently. These are sensitive issues, which is why it took so long to approve the boundary extension which I announced in March 2008. The Deputy's analysis is correct in that much of this comes down to the rates base. Cities are the driving force in developing local government and regions, as recognised in all the...
- Local Authority Boundaries. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: I had an opportunity to visit Cork last Friday and Saturday and speak to the city manager. No such request has been received in my office. It would be a difficult issue to resolve. The short answer is no.
- Local Authority Boundaries. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: The interim report of the mid-west task force made a number of recommendations, including the setting up of a committee to examine boundary extensions. I will examine that proposal in detail and hope I can make an announcement on it in the near future.
- Regional Authorities. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: The general function of regional authorities is to review the overall needs and development requirements of their respective regions and facilitate communication and co-operation between local authorities and other public authorities with regard to policies and services being delivered by these bodies. The role of regional authorities under the Planning and Development Act 2000 in drawing up...
- Regional Authorities. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: I will answer the last question first. It is our intention to have them. I have always been of the view that we need to have local government at all effective levels.
- Regional Authorities. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: The Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, has a view on all these matters. He has been in this role in the past but I am telling the Deputy what the situation is. In other jurisdictions, particularly on the Continent and in the United States, there is representation at local level, in even the smallest towns. That system operates very effectively but in Germany and elsewhere there is...
- Regional Authorities. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: -----that we are moving ahead with the Dublin mayoralty, with elections planned in the summer of 2010. We have to look at the system in London where there is also an assembly to which the mayor is answerable.
- Regional Authorities. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: That will be set out in the White Paper. The Government is considering all matters. As laid out in the programme for Government, we want to strengthen the strategic role and functions of regional authorities in planning, transport, water and waste management. Regional authorities should reflect the gateways in the national spatial strategy. There should also be democratic leadership in...
- Departmental Staff. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: The objective of Government policy on staffing and numbers is to ensure overall staffing levels in the public sector, including local government, are significantly reduced. With the existing recruitment moratorium, three further schemes have been implemented to support this objective: the special incentive career break scheme, the incentivised scheme of early retirement and the shorter...
- Departmental Staff. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: I am not aware of any such impact. I am looking at the number of applications approved in the areas affected by floods. In County Clare the number of applications under the special incentive scheme was eight; in Cork county there were 15 and in County Galway, four; therefore, they will not have an impact. The number of approvals under the career break scheme in Cork city was 16. The...
- Departmental Staff. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: This was not intended to be a question on floods. I record my thanks to local authority members and the emergency services, particularly the Defence Forces and Civil Defence, all of whom have done an outstanding job in the past few days. Those on the front line include members of the Army which filled 200 sandbags an hour in County Clare and Civil Defence, all of whom are voluntary and not...
- Departmental Staff. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: Access to clean drinking water is a priority. The plant on the Lee Road was submerged. It must function again as quickly as possible, which we hope will happen by the end of the week. Resources will be made available to the local authorities.
- Urban Renewal Schemes. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: The annual accounts of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority for 2008 have been finalised and arrangements will be made to have them laid before both Houses as soon as possible. The collapse in international financial and property markets in the past year has created serious challenges for the authority. The resulting impairment in the values of its property interests and delays in...
- Urban Renewal Schemes. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: No one has had to rely on media reports. Any questions put to me have been answered, including those on the Irish Glass Bottle site, the major issue.
- Urban Renewal Schemes. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: I have said there has been a reduction in value of 85%. The authority's accounts are audited by an independent external auditor, KPMG. Under existing legislation, the authority is specifically excluded from being audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General, as are many State and semi-State commercial bodies.
- Urban Renewal Schemes. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: Under existing arrangements, it is open to the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to have the authority appear before it and thus afford the Oireachtas an opportunity to question it. At the request of Deputy Hogan, the committee asked the authority to appear before it next week. There will be ample opportunity for the Deputy to question it at that point. I...
- Urban Renewal Schemes. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: I am saying the opposite - no stone will be left unturned. The new chairman is an extremely competent individual and has expertise in corporate governance. She is going through everything with a fine-tooth comb and has asked outsiders to provide objective analysis. Two reports are pending, one on finance and the other on planning.
- Urban Renewal Schemes. (24 Nov 2009)
John Gormley: Of course.