Results 3,781-3,800 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: Is it that its standing charges on electricity supplies go back into the network?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: This is fairly important. The ESB charges customers for its service and people pay for their electricity every week. That allows the ESB to forward plan its investment. Irish Water does not have that facility. It has to wait on each programme for Government to decide how much we will prioritise investment in water, and there are annual budgetary constraints as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: And say that he or she is ready for it now, not-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: What would the stranded assets be? I do not understand the point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: That would fall under the zoned lands tax now because it is serviced land.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: Senator Cummins is next.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: We are into our third round of questions. I advise witnesses to reiterate if there are areas within the planning process or the procedural processes - and I believe the ESB referred to recruitment from outside of the EEA - or areas the witnesses believe the committee can engage with the relevant Departments on delivery.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Deputy Ó Broin. It is just me and Senator Cummins to go. We are talking about a concept whereby the State or an entity like HISCo supplies the infrastructure to the site. If the argument is then that we should zone much more land, do those things not counter each other? Which land would we decide to prioritise? If professional planners, with input from all the agencies,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: I am sorry, but what blockage would that be? The contiguous growth model is what we should be looking at in our settlements. If Mr. Kelleher has tier 2 he can say it has now become contiguous because this zone was built on.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: That then gets dezoned.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: Again, I am of the view that if we have so much zoned land out there, it is hard to control where gets developed. It is hard for the infrastructure deliverers to see where development is going to happen. I appreciate the point about ten-year plans and the ability to indicate lands to be developed at the next stage, because that is the capacity utility providers need to know about as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: I am going to skip on to something completely different now. The Uisce Éireann representatives spoke about their planning application process. A person must apply for something and then go for licensing. What is required in the licensing may need the applicant to go back and amend the planning process. What if Uisce Éireann had a design envelope for the planning process? It is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: Most planning is fairly prescribed like that, through the objectives set out in a plan. However, what if Uisce Éireann was able to apply for something and say what it was equivalent to, but that it might have to change some aspects of it depending on the licensing requirements. Would that help or would it make it more complex?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: It is about getting the processes to run in tandem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: Okay. I move to ESB Networks. The representatives gave figures for costs for connection fees. I think it was said the customer pays 50% and the ESB supplies the rest. I am estimating the cost of supply to one-off rural houses is slightly over €6,000 if we include the 50% and the scheme house is around €2,000. Is that right? It is about a 3:1 extra cost for a one-off rural...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: That is fine. Following on from Senator Cummins's point about the connection costs on brownfield sites, with the supply of infrastructure we can get more out of it by higher density infill development and compact growth than with the continuous sprawl, because the ESB is not expanding the network out. Is that something it takes into consideration? Compact growth is one of the objectives of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: With compact growth, the ESB would be upgrading an existing network infrastructure rather than having to go further with new greenfield infrastructure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: I will come back to the infrastructure in a moment. We have seen energy efficiencies introduced in houses over the last five, ten, 15 years. There are A-rated appliances, LED lighting and so on. Added to that we are going have electric vehicle chargers and heat pumps. When it comes to how the ESB rates what needs to go to a house now, are we looking at a 20% increase in capacity to each...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: Okay, so that is the supply cables in, the fuse boards and all of that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Infrastructure Provision and Residential Developments: Discussion (13 Jun 2023)

Steven Matthews: That is about 20%.