Results 2,941-2,960 of 5,587 for speaker:Kevin Humphreys

Topical Issue Debate: Local Government Reform (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I welcome the Minister's statement that he proposes to invite the mayors and chairpersons to a meeting in the Custom House in July to discuss how this issue can be taken forward. I believe it is fundamentally important to Dublin city that a directly elected mayor role be developed. That was the view of the citizens' forum, which included elected councillors, held in the Mansion House by...

Topical Issue Debate: Local Government Reform (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I thank the Minister for taking this issue. The local elections are over and the political landscape has changed. However, the need for a directly elected mayor for Dublin city has not gone away. I know the Minister is strongly committed to this idea. The people of Dublin should be allowed have their say in a plebiscite next year at the same time as the marriage equality referendum. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: Is that after the pension liability has been accounted for?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: It is my understanding that pension liabilities will not fall due until after ten years. Most of the pension liabilities concern people at quite a young age and any substantial draw-down on pension liability will not come for approximately ten years.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: When representatives of the DDDA gave evidence here, they indicated that the liabilities would not fall due until after ten years.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: Those liabilities do not fall due in the form of dividends until after ten years.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: There is a short-term need for investment in the local communities so perhaps the liability would be better placed somewhere else rather than with the DDDA. There was a change in the structures of the authority and, especially in latter years, the lack of delivery on the social regeneration element meant there is still a need to identify a pot of money to be invested in the local communities...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: Do the witnesses have anything further to add?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I thank the witnesses for attending the meeting this evening. The committee intends to develop a report on this issue and perhaps the witnesses will review the evidence given by a number of bodies over the two or three days we have met. I ask them to remember that there is a thriving community in the docklands area and although we are dissolving the DDDA, we must ensure that the community...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: Currently, a master plan and a set of policies have been agreed between the local community and the DDDA. However, head 6 basically proposes a consultative forum without a policy implementation element. Can the consultative forum be strengthened to allow it to devise development policies that must be adhered to within the docklands area? I am not necessarily referring to the strategic...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The community groups that presented referred to a one-stop-shop for businesses looking to set up in the docklands. There would be an identifiable community gain in such an initiative. The consultative forum would set down terms and policies in this regard, allowing companies entering the area to know immediately what was expected of them. Could this proposal to strengthen the legislation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: Mr. Dunne is correct, in that it is a balanced approach, but consider what is happening in the city. Obviously, Dublin is important to the national recovery, but the docklands area is important to Dublin's regeneration. The majority of brownfield sites are in that area and it has an indigenous community. I support the democratic element represented by the councillors as well as the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The local and business communities in the docklands area are concerned that levies can only be spent on specific sites in the SDZ. To allow for social regeneration, however, a pot of money must be invested in education, community services or capital programmes. A fund was available under the DDDA. Under the Bill, however, no such funding is allowed. Some of the witnesses are involved in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I thank Mr. Dunne for his presentation. There is a legacy issue with regard to affordable housing and a complicated clawback. This clawback is measured as an asset of the DDDA because of complicated structures. Will the Department consider allowing an out clause for people with this legacy problem so the affordable housing can be dealt with in a similar way to how it is dealt with under...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: For clarity, later affordable housing schemes were much more complicated than those of the local authorities. It was never expected that property prices would drop. Will Mr. Dunne give further consideration to tidying up this matter, whereby the affordable housing scheme could mirror those of local authorities?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The issue is with regard to the clawback. To give an example, if a unit was valued at €500,000 and sold as part of an affordable housing scheme for €250,000 the asset is the differential of €250,000. This has reduced over 20 years but is counted as an asset of the authority. Will Mr. Dunne examine this and see whether a provision can be inserted in the Bill? I would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I do not want Mr. Lambe to misunderstand me. In the voluntary housing sector, one needs momentum and a certain number of units for sustainability. Some of the smaller voluntary housing agencies, especially in rural Ireland, that set up with 50, 60 or 70 units, ran into serious financial trouble because they needed to spread their costs over a large number of units and structures which, as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: I thank everybody for their attendance today and their contributions. The record of this session will go on the website and will be built into the final report.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The meeting is resuming. We are in public session. We are considering the General Scheme of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014 with representatives of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. I welcome the following witnesses to the meeting: Mr Paul Dunne, principal officer, local government HR; Mr. Francis Walsh, local government...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: General Scheme of Dublin Docklands Development Authority (Dissolution) Bill 2014: Discussion (10 Jun 2014)

Kevin Humphreys: The 20% local employment social clause has been a minor success. I have lived in the docklands all my life and there has always been an emphasis in the communities, rather than on the part of community representatives, on trying to secure short-term construction jobs, which I always questioned. We had some successes through the business forum of the DDDA. Should there be a greater emphasis...