Results 5,001-5,020 of 5,583 for speaker:Paul McAuliffe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Construction Defects: Discussion with Construction Defects Alliance (1 Dec 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: I thank the witnesses for joining us. In many ways, it is poignant that they are joining us from their homes, which are the subject of today's meeting. Many of those who have spoken have said they were not in a management company at a particular time. That is partly because the group of people which has been asked to take on many of these issues comprises those who voluntarily contributed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Construction Defects: Discussion with Construction Defects Alliance (1 Dec 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: I do not think we will get a third round. Senator Dooley was due to contribute on this and wanted to raise the issue of pyrite and mica in Clare. I just want to put it on the record. Obviously, we will not be able to get to that third slot.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: I welcome our guests, Mr. Doyle, Mr. O'Connor and Ms Ryan in the room, and all those who are joining us via Teams. I hope to keep my questions short and hope the witnesses can keep their responses short so that we can cover as much territory as possible. I hope to cover Chapters 11, measuring performance for Exchequer spending on social housing; Chapter 12, progress under the land...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: While the indicators measure the output, in some cases there was a failure to understand the economic element and the value-for-money element. Let me take two examples. A housing assistance payment, HAP, tenancy has an indicator. Many of us in the room would have dealt with a family who might have become homeless, availed of emergency accommodation, exited emergency accommodation, taken up...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: I do not want to delve too deeply into the policy area. In highlighting those issues, we are highlighting that the policies were revenue intensive and, in many ways, they were short-term because of the immediate shortage. Their value for money and efficiency, and the more holistic aspect in terms of being more than just a home were not considered by the policy. The accounting is really...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: I am sure many people in the political space would agree that HAP is a total waste of taxpayers' money over a long period. Our failure to wean ourselves off HAP over the past ten or more years has been a failure of policy. Mr. Doyle spoke about the supply of housing. I ask about the land aggregation and Mr. O'Connor might like to answer some of these questions. Let us cast our minds...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: Even with 900, that is still less than one third of the total potential of those sites.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: The point about the mix echoes a point I previously raised regarding the range of policy measures. As a former local authority member, I have some experience of how it can be really difficult delivering a mix on big sites. Can Mr. O'Connor answer the criticism of why it has not proved possible to deliver on so many of the sites transferred to the Housing Agency? I think 37 were categorised...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: Is Mr. O'Connor saying that the figure of 37 sites, with 25 having low demand, is not correct?

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: Let us focus on those other sites, because I have asked that question twice. I appreciate that the Housing Agency is dealing with issues decided outside its remit. Is it the case that there were sites bought by a local authority, because it wished to develop them, which had the potential to deliver 50% of the total estimate, that the Housing Agency asked was it interested and the local...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: How can any local authority suggest that it either has low demand or no need in the midst of the current housing crisis? It seems an amazing assessment.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: The idea of low demand strikes me as a complete lack of ambition by many local authorities to solve the housing crisis. If it is not possible to do it in this decade when numbers were so difficult and if it was not possible to do it in the in the past decade for the same reason, I cannot imagine a time when they would be ambitious. I accept that the authority is effectively dealing with the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: EU Issues (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: I thank the Minister.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: EU Issues (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: 9. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on Poland and Hungary blocking coronavirus recovery funding due to it being linked to the rule of law; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38266/20]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: EU Issues (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: I thank the Minister for his comments. There has been debate on this issue already and I will not extend it. A sum of €2 trillion is an eye-watering amount of money, but even that amount is not enough to entice Europe to deviate from its values. Many in the UK argued for a long time that the EU is a Common Market rather than a Union. That is an important aspect in respect of how we...

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Israeli Settlements (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: 21. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on new illegal settlements on the West Bank; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38265/20]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: 193. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans for amendments to the spend and save scheme in view of the current level 3 status of the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29974/20]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Motor Insurance (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: 120. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to implement the recommendations made in the report by the working group on reducing the cost of motor insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39117/20]

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Mortgage Interest Rates (26 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: 139. To ask the Minister for Finance the steps he is taking to reduce mortgage interest rates; his views on whether interest rates being charged here are reasonable compared to the rest of Europe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39118/20]

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government.
Local Government Fund
Chapter 2 – Central Government Funding of Local Authorities. (25 Nov 2020)

Paul McAuliffe: There will be more time for questions tomorrow, but in the meantime I would like as short an answer as possible while still addressing the issue. I know it is an impossible task. It is probably not surprising that in considering Vote 34 I was drawn to the money spent on the O'Devaney Gardens development in 2018 and 2019. The figures were €1.7 million for 2018 and €3.79...