Results 3,941-3,960 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Review of Part B (Fire Safety) of Building Regulations: Dublin Fire Brigade (23 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: That is great. I am following along so far. There was a conference in Avondale recently that Deputy Duffy and I attended. It was about building with timber, including CLT. It was the opening of the Avondale Coillte construction project. Clause 3.2.5.2 seemed to be referred to as inhibiting building higher than 10 m in timber construction. Does it need to be changed? What I gathered...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Review of Part B (Fire Safety) of Building Regulations: Dublin Fire Brigade (23 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I was just reading it. It applies to compartment floors, which I presume are timber floors in this instance, that require 60 minutes or more of resistance. It reads: "should be constructed of non-combustible materials". Is that compulsory? The word "should" is used, but is that just the way the clause was written at the time and it has travelled through each iteration of the guidance?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Review of Part B (Fire Safety) of Building Regulations: Dublin Fire Brigade (23 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: That is one of the problematic clauses. Actually, perhaps it is not problematic. It may have suited its purposes at the time, but perhaps we have moved on since then and now need to address it. We have discussed the issue of two staircases, one staircase with sprinklers, etc. When carrying out a risk assessment, one considers the likelihoods and impacts. If we were to remove...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Review of Part B (Fire Safety) of Building Regulations: Dublin Fire Brigade (23 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: We had architects in about two weeks ago who talked about the regulations in Germany and said we should transpose those regulations in the Irish regulations. What I gather from what Ms O'Brien has said is that it is the technical guidance we need to change. The regulations are okay because they are just there to make sure we have the safe functioning buildings, and it is the guidance on how...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Review of Part B (Fire Safety) of Building Regulations: Dublin Fire Brigade (23 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: Fire escapes have been an issue, especially where there are terraced commercial buildings and fire escapes have to be put in at the rear. The witnesses have said there are pros and cons to external fire escapes. Is security one of the things that comes up there, in that there is external staircase access to second and third floors?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Review of Part B (Fire Safety) of Building Regulations: Dublin Fire Brigade (23 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: That is very helpful. I thank the witnesses for that. I will let Deputy Gould in for the last slot.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Review of Part B (Fire Safety) of Building Regulations: Dublin Fire Brigade (23 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: We really do appreciate Ms O'Brien and Mr. Keeley taking the time out of their busy day to assist us. It is an area of work that the committee is concentrating on because we want to see these changes in construction methods in use. On behalf of the entire committee, I thank our guests and all members of the fire services, not just in Dublin but across the country, for the incredibly...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Transport (23 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: 203. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to delays in the transfer of Leap card top-up stations to An Post; if the knock-on impact for those who choose only to use cash or do not have access to a smartphone have been considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24362/23]

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Employment Rights (17 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: 57. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the planned amendment to the rostering system for a company (details supplied) which has been criticised by trade unions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23267/23]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (16 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I welcome everybody to this meeting, the purpose of which is to recommence our pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the land value sharing and urban development zones Bill 2022. I welcome the representatives from the Irish Planning Institute, IPI, and thank them for giving of their time. With us are: Dr. Seán O'Leary, senior planner; Mr. Philip Jones, chair of the policy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (16 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I will take the next slot. It has been confirmed to us that sections 48 and 49 will be going back into the new planning Bill and that this measure is likely to form part of the planning Bill as well. We are doing separate pre-legislative scrutiny on that. Dr. O'Leary mentioned resources and said we would be sick of talking about resources. The committee has come to the conclusion in a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (16 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: Earlier we discussed that the SDZs were on a larger scale. We are not sure about the UDZs, whether they are smaller. There is talk about urban and suburban underutilised sites. That is the description that is used. We discussed previously the idea of a reduced timeframe for less complex cases. Without knowing how complex a UDZ is compared to an SDZ, I accept Mr. Jones's point about 26...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (16 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: One of the things was to engage the public earlier in these processes and have a more meaningful public consultation process rather than just coming in to look at a map on the wall and trying to figure out what might be there. In the planning Bill, nor in this one, I cannot really see what measures would be put in place to try to improve that public consultation process. That would take a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (16 May 2023)

Steven Matthews: I thank Mr. Jones. I had a question on the land value sharing but I will move on to Deputy O'Callaghan.