Results 421-440 of 1,352 for speaker:Mary Fitzpatrick

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Exempted Development) (No. 4) Regulations 2023: Discussion
Planning and Development (Fees for Certain Applications) Regulations 2023: Discussion
Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. XX) Regulations 2023: Discussion (11 Jul 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank an tAire Stáit and everyone from the Department. With regard to the first regulations, I appreciate that the Minister of State is responding to the request made by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on behalf of the Government's committee on humanitarian response. Has that committee assessed how effective the existing regulations have been?...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Exempted Development) (No. 4) Regulations 2023: Discussion
Planning and Development (Fees for Certain Applications) Regulations 2023: Discussion
Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. XX) Regulations 2023: Discussion (11 Jul 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: We need that review but we also need a plan. Where are these people going to be in six months? There has to be some sort of path for six, 12 and 18 months down the road. We are looking to January 2029 here, so this is not a short-term emergency response anymore.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Exempted Development) (No. 4) Regulations 2023: Discussion
Planning and Development (Fees for Certain Applications) Regulations 2023: Discussion
Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. XX) Regulations 2023: Discussion (11 Jul 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Absolutely. I believe we have done the right thing. The State has done the right thing and we need to continue to do the right thing. However, my real concern is that the commercial private operators will now be given leases up until January 2029 and will buy bunk beds next month that will still be in use in January 2029. That is not good enough. Those leases and contracts are very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Exempted Development) (No. 4) Regulations 2023: Discussion
Planning and Development (Fees for Certain Applications) Regulations 2023: Discussion
Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. XX) Regulations 2023: Discussion (11 Jul 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Members are unanimous in our concern about this issue. I would go so far as to say that we object to extending these exemptions at this point. We recognise the ask and it is based on humanitarian grounds but we need the Departments to come back to us very swiftly. We need them to be very conservative in their use of these exemptions until such time as they can demonstrate the quality of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development (Exempted Development) (No. 4) Regulations 2023: Discussion
Planning and Development (Fees for Certain Applications) Regulations 2023: Discussion
Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. XX) Regulations 2023: Discussion (11 Jul 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I appreciate that. I have the advantage of being in Dublin Central on the northside of the city. We have already provided a very significant amount of emergency homeless accommodation. I believe we provide approximately 70% of such accommodation in the greater Dublin region covered by the four Dublin local authority areas. We have also provided a very significant proportion of the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: A happy, safe and free Pride to everybody in Dublin, throughout the country and around the world this weekend, this month and every single day of the year. Last week, I spoke about the Bloomsday festival that took place in Dublin Central. It was a fantastic celebration of James Joyce's work and life. Most of the celebration was spent in the north inner city and in my constituency of Dublin...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Go raibh maith agat, a Chathoirligh. This morning, I wanted to talk about tomorrow, 16 June or Bloomsday, which is the day we celebrate the hero of the James Joyce novel,Ulysses, Leopold Bloom. It was written in 1922, and Bloomsday was first celebrated in 1954, and it has been celebrated every year in Dublin. It is interesting to reflect on the fact that James Joyce was an Irish immigrant...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I thank our guests for their presentations and for the work they are all doing in the area of housing generally. The fastest and most sustainable way to address the crisis by increasing supply and affordability is to use existing vacant properties. The initiatives being undertaken by the Department and local authorities are welcome. I know from speaking to members of local authorities...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I understand what Mr. Kehoe is referring to and support it. I can see why there would be a need. When will there be a request from the CCMA members, the local authorities, or a statement, let us say, of what the local authorities see as their need?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I presume the CCMA is having the same recruitment challenges as every other sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: The agency has not exhausted the fund that was originally made available.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: At that point, the CCMA will be able to move on. That is great. I will turn to the Department to talk about Dublin. I appreciate there is nobody here from Dublin City Council. When we talk about the housing crisis, we always talk about it nationally. I am not suggesting there is no housing need outside Dublin because there absolutely is. However, the need is greatest, and the supply...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: It is a good conversation. What I would like to see, and what we need to see, is more urgency around that conversation. Delivery of new builds in the city is always going to be constrained, for all the obvious reasons. It is more difficult and expensive, and there are more objections and all of that sort of stuff. However, the buildings I have in mind are built properties. They are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: I will continue with the same theme. It takes Dublin City Council the best part of 20 years to CPO a property. That is my bitter experience with it. I commend the other local authorities. I appreciate Dublin City Council has a much more complex and challenging job in terms of size, scale, and all of that, but it also has very significant resources. If it needs more resources, then we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: There are not many of them in the city. This is the problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: To be honest, the real issue is that the city is constrained in respect of the amount of available land. There are valid reasons that affordable homes schemes are not being brought forward. We need to recognise that and adjust our approach.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: Can I intervene? The complaint we have from a Dublin city perspective is that the percentage of the overall properties in the area is reported. It is a small percentage relative to the number of properties. However, the number of properties that are vacant is quite large. For example, 1 % in Longford is a very different proposition from 1 % in Dublin city, as regards actual numbers. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Dereliction and Vacancy: Discussion (15 Jun 2023)

Mary Fitzpatrick: My concern is that there is no mystery about where they are. It is not that nothing is being done about them. That is not fair. However, the opportunity is not being exploited. It is perhaps seen as a problem to address and deal with and it gets dealt with, later, in Dublin city but it is not seen as an opportunity. It is not being pursued by the local authority as an opportunity to...