Results 4,421-4,440 of 4,750 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: Just to answer the question, there are a number of projects which are included in the CFRAM programme. The Senator's particular question concerns an area in an SAC which, if it is not protected, will fall into the sea. That we allow that to happen, rather than protect a house in it, is unique and an anomaly. I invite the Deputy to meet me and my officials to look at the particular problem...

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 can assure the Senator that he will receive an answer much quicker than that. I will take up his invitation to visit the area with him.

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: A sum of €3 million has been allocated.

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 clarify the matter. The figure the Senator has given is for the amount expended up to the end of June. Local authorities are allocated the money, carry out the work and draw down the money from the OPW. A lot of work is happening and the draw-down will increase.

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: A funding allocation of €3 million has so far been approved for local authorities and up to the end of June, they had drawn down €178,000. I am sure that figure has since increased since. By the way, local authorities do not have to draw down funding for minor works within the calendar year. Approval may be given this week and the local authorities concerned will have until...

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 am being informed that the Government gave a special allocation of €15 million to deal specifically with storm damage. That resulted in a spike last year.

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...