Results 4,021-4,040 of 4,344 for speaker:Seán Canney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: That was money allocated to repair the coastal damage caused by Hurricane Desmond. It was a specific allocation and also resulted in a spike at the time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: I agree with the Senator. It is the way it is being reported.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: I will respond firstly to what the Senator said about accessibility to our sites. I have visited places where the accessibility is not there yet. I do not have figures for the cost of doing it at a number of sites where we do not have it properly in place. I will try to gather those figures and come back to the Deputy. It is important that we have total accessibility. It is something we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: Absolutely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: It is something we will be taking up with the interdepartmental group, at which the local authorities are represented. Senator Horkan mentioned voluntary property relocation. I am acutely aware that we need to do something for people when there are no other engineering solutions to their problems. We need to work closely with them to get relocation schemes in place. The Senator also...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: Yes. We may not have a fully factored-in number of units that would be involved. The important thing is that we need to put a scheme in place for people who have already been identified through the local authorities. I refer to those who cannot benefit from any other solution.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: We have to be careful here. In many cases, people would be better served by individual property protection than by relocation. All these schemes would be voluntary. What other issues were mentioned by the Senator?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: The emergency plan, which is a response to the flooding emergencies of winter 2015-16, is being led by the Department of Defence in conjunction with the local authority, the OPW, the Civil Defence, the Irish Red Cross, etc. This group will meet on 9 November to review what happened last year and to prepare for the coming winter. It is important that we ensure we have enough sandbags...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: The one in one in a hundred year event is now to be noted with inverted commas. That concept of a flood has been blown out of the water with the two incidents of flooding in 2009 and 2015. That has been a reality check for everybody. We had thought that we had the flood in 2009 and we would not see such an event again for another hundred years. Last December put paid to that notion. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: In all my discussions with the members of the interdepartmental group and with the agencies such as the National Parks and Wildlife, I have never heard anybody say that rivers should not be cleared. There is a case for the flow of water. We must get water from A to Z. We start at the outfall, be it the sea, and we work our way back. We must have flow and how we achieve that flow is by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: Deputy Burke raised the concerns expressed about the cost benefit analysis. It is important to state at the outset that if we spend public money we need to show that we are getting a benefit. Where there is a major scheme, one cannot say that one will spend €20 million to save a house. We must ensure that we are getting the optimum benefit for the money we spend. We must remember...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: I acknowledge the Chairman's words on Durrow Abbey House. The OPW will arrange a meeting shortly with the people involved and when they meet, if they jointly feel that mediation is the way to go, they can set out the ground rules by which it will work. I will speak to my officials about the other issue raised, which was about bullying. I do not think we should discuss personnel disputes...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: The last matter refers to insurance. The Chairman is probably referring to the humanitarian aid available under a scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection. We have to be careful here. There might be a limited number of individual cases with a particular set of circumstances where there is a lot more involved. We could examine them. The problem, however, is that we have to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: It is a problem to determine who owns them at times, but Waterways Ireland is-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: I will make one comment in that regard.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: There are different standards. The ISO standards would be used. Also, take flood relief projects for example, a programme is set up and that is all fed into the outputs. They are all standard key performance indicators and an analysis is carried out.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2016: Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: There is one comment I wish to make. The Chairman mentioned the flooding in Kilkenny and reviewing the video or the pictures of how the work was done. That reminded me of the work being carried out in Claregalway at the moment. Work is being carried out on the bridge and the channels underneath are being deepened. These are fantastic engineering projects and future engineers will look at...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works Properties (29 Sep 2016)

Seán Canney: I have been advised by the Commissioners of Public Works that they have been in discussion with Louth County Council in relation to the condition of Westgate House. The Council has agreed to redecorate the façade of the building. The future use of the property is currently being considered in line with OPW stated policy and, upon completion of this review, the issue of the restoration...