Results 5,361-5,380 of 7,163 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: We need clarification, as Deputy Boyd Barrett said, on exactly what is meant by "maritime area that is State-owned"? Is that the entire maritime area? It seems to me, reading this amendment, that it is fairly black and white that it allows the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, with the consent of the Minister, to delegate to MARA the function of selling or otherwise disposing of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: Also on section 30, there is not public participation or consultation with any other body when the Minister decides to issue a direction, except with that body. The Minister of State might explain why that is the case.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: If this work is done and submitted but does not result in an authorisation and it does not go that far, the database will still capture the information. Building up knowledge on the marine environment is very important.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I thank the Minister of State. This is very helpful.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: Given the Minister of State's helpful comments and the current wording, which would, contrary to his intention, allow MARA to sell, perhaps he will withdraw these amendments and come back with a proper wording on Report Stage. As it stands, amendment No. 123 is highly objectionable.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I will speak to amendments Nos. 129 and 130. It is welcome that a representative of the CCMA will be on the board. That is a good idea. Amendment No. 130 is very good. We probably all have, at various stages, experiences with boards that sometimes do not have the required expertise. I understand the Minister not wanting to be overly prescriptive but some formula of words should be put...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: The key issue is independence of the board. In order to operate well, function well, be able to sometimes give a different view and, if necessary, call an issue out, boards need to have a degree of independence as well as expertise. Amendment No. 129 is a marginal improvement on what is contained in the Bill whereby it is stated that several of the members of the board would be officers of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: Absolutely.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: The role of the board in holding the chief executive and chief executive's team to account is important. We are all agreed on that. The independence of the board is important. Is the Minister of State saying he feels the competition allows for an independent board?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: How can it be an independent board when it is populated by officials from the Departments? As Deputy Boyd Barrett has said, it is not a criticism of officials from Departments to say they are heavily constrained. They do not have the independence of someone with expertise in the marine environment and biodiversity, or someone with academic expertise in this area. By their nature,...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: In one sense, using the local authority analogy in this context is probably not a good example because of the history of why local authority members, as effectively being the board, were taken out of the planning process. I will not go through all that-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: No, but that-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: I hear what the Minister of State is saying on that point. I am saying, though, that the local authority example is not a good one to use because of why the local authority members were taken out of that process. It was for a whole set of reasons.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: It was reactive, and it was not necessarily done as best practice or as the best model. It was undertaken as a reaction to a set of circumstances which meant that change had to happen. In and of itself, that example does not necessarily justify replication in this regard.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: Yes. If the board does not have that role then what is the oversight mechanism? If there are problems with the process and decisions are being made then who has oversight? If the board feels that there are problems is it constrained and can it not do anything about them? Where does the role of the board start and stop?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: Does the board have no role whatsoever?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Marine Planning Area Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: What can the board do if it believes there is something wrong with the process? Does the board have a mechanism in such a case?

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (3 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: 173. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if an estimation is being carried out of the greenhouse gas emissions savings if bottom trawling is banned or limited to certain areas in Ireland's exclusive economic zone; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53470/21]

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (2 Nov 2021)

Cian O'Callaghan: The figures from the Residential Tenancies Board show that rent caps have been breached in every county in Ireland where they have been introduced. Figures given to me by the Residential Tenancies Board also confirm that sanctions against landlords for breaching rent caps have only been applied in about 10% of the cases investigated. Clearly, rent caps are not working. It is not just the...