Results 4,961-4,980 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (resumed) (31 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: Does the Deputy wish to expand on his question on existing authorisations? I do not think we covered that entirely. I have one more question to ask then.

Forestry Strategy: Statements (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: I join the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, in acknowledging the massive investment secured by the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, in our forestry plan and thank them for it. Some of the facts and figures that have gone out on the investment opportunity with the Gresham House fund have been misleading. It is important to put it in context. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Sports Funding (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: 12. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when the next round of sports capital funding will be announced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3062/23]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Sports Funding (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: There is always great excitement and anticipation on the announcement of the sports capital grants. The Minister of State will know well how much these grants mean to the sports clubs up and down the country. I think every Member in the House is aware of it. The volunteers who keep those clubs running extract huge value out of every euro that comes in those grants. When can we expect the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Sports Funding (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: That is considerable funding that we put into it. It shows that we all acknowledge the value of sports for well-being in our community and what it does for communities. I have had the opportunity to work with a number of the clubs that did receive funding in the last year or two and to assist in the appeals process, which is an important thing to stress. Lacken-Kilbride GAA Club got...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Sports Funding (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: I agree. I think that sports capital grant schemes is one of the best grant schemes that we have through government. A great many clubs have benefited from it across the country. It is a very fair and equitable scheme. Clubs benefit where we get to engage with them, advise them and we learn the lessons from applications that were not successful. I am working on a particular one in west...

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Swimming Pools (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: 22. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to the campaign to have a permanent public pool constructed in Blessington, County Wicklow following the success of a temporary pop-up pool installation; if she will consider meeting the campaign team to discuss the project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3061/23]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Electoral Process (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: 106. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the way that the Government plans to encourage 16-to-18-year-olds to pre-register for the electoral register; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3197/23]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: 169. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the position regarding the new regulations that will require a changing places toilet to be included in certain buildings as signed by him (details supplied); if these regulations are now in operation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3193/23]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: I welcome everybody to the meeting. Today we commence pre-legislative scrutiny on the general scheme of the marine protected areas Bill and we are joined by Mr. Richard Cronin, principal adviser on the marine environment; Dr. Oliver Ó Cadhla and Dr. Tim O’Higgins, scientific policy advisers; and Mr. Conall O'Connor, assistant principal officer, Department of Housing, Local...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: This is important legislation and I am delighted to see it come forward. We have two more sessions after this on next Tuesday and Thursday when we will meet with fishers and look at community engagement. We will also bring in some industry representatives and will then meet the Irish Environmental Network and the environmental NGOs. This has been well overdue. As Mr. Cronin mentioned, we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: We have two more sessions on the subject anyway. I will allow the officials to answer all these questions. Deputy O'Callaghan has to be in the Chamber, but we will at least get the answers on the record. We will facilitate Deputy Gould on another occasion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: I remind members to mute themselves when not speaking. I ask Mr. Cronin to continue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: I will take the next slot. I will follow on from something Deputy O'Callaghan said. I am conscious that people with a great interest in our marine environment - people in our coastal communities - will be watching this. Could Mr. Cronin describe a carbon-rich ecosystem of the kind described by Deputy O'Callaghan? What features such as coral, kelp or seagrass would it have?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: I appreciate the range of expertise we have here and the opportunity we have to learn from it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: The terminology we use is blue carbon habitats, so it is marine environments that are carbon-rich or have the ability to suck in the carbon. Regarding equating them to something on land, and much of the time when we are doing the marine planning stuff, we must think about how we do it on land to get our bearings on it. We equate it to something like our raised bogs - the kind of habitats...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: Is it possible to plant seagrass and make conditions right where it naturally occurs so it expands?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: We will take the learnings back to here. We talked about data collection. From my knowledge, we may not have applied as many resources as should have been applied over the decades to our marine environment and research and data collection there. We have a considerable amount of interest from wind energy developers who are going to have to carry out environmental assessments or whatever...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: In the overall scheme of things, if we will have so many environmental assessments carried on out there, is there a standardised format where data should be gathered in a particular format so that data could be of value to us and that it is all compatible? They may be separate sets of information but they may not be inter-relatable. Is this something we need to set out through offshore...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Marine Protected Areas Bill 2023: Discussion (26 Jan 2023)

Steven Matthews: It was interesting that Mr. Cronin mentioned the non-scientific data and the more qualitative data that would come from the statutory and non-statutory engagement, which a lot of the developers would also do. Through Wexford, Wicklow, Dún Laoghaire and Dublin at the moment a lot of the offshore developers are having those public meetings and are gathering those data, including what...