Results 521-540 of 2,015 for speaker:Pat Casey

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Pat Casey: I will be brief. I agree with much of what Senator Higgins has said. As we try to take more control of the housing market as a State, open market dwellings represent a source of affordable homes for people and they should not be excluded. Would those tabling this amendment to exclude this source of homes equally agree to it being applied to the social homes that the councils are currently...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Pat Casey: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Pat Casey: It is not.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Pat Casey: I would support this amendment and I will be consistent on this. I would support any vehicle that can provide access to affordable homes for people. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply to this and I hope we will be able to accept the amendment or a rewritten amendment along these lines. At the end of the day, it is about accessing affordable homes for families to live in....

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Pat Casey: Senator Warfield will not be surprised I will not be supporting this amendment either. However, I want to give another reason I will not be supporting it from those already given. Having sat on a local authority for more than 12 years, frustrated by the lack of flexibility we had in delivering both social and affordable homes, to be given a credible option to deliver that as a Member and to...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Pat Casey: While one might have a objection in principle to the LDA, what is being proposed in this amendment is not acceptable. Going back to my original point, these provisions give local authority members an option to deliver affordable housing. Every scheme will have to be approved by local authority members, in agreement with the LDA, including provision to deliver affordable homes or whatever...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Pat Casey: Again, we are dealing primarily with the local authority entering into agreements with different vehicles for the delivery of affordable homes. Amendment No. 6 removes the option of a local authority entering a public private partnership arrangement. In my county of Wicklow, in the areas where the housing crisis is at a maximum, there is no public land.If local authorities are to build...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Pat Casey: Returning to the topic of public land, I come from the perspective that we should use 100% of public land for public housing. I think everyone in this House agrees that the majority of our councillors also believe that public land should be used for public housing. It is ultimately their decision to propose development schemes. There is an element, therefore, of us putting our trust in...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Pat Casey: I support the amendment. The thrust of what everybody has said so far is right. It is fine for us to talk about everything in this House but when we pass this legislation, it will be about delivery. To get real and honest delivery, we need to set ourselves targets. One way we can deliver housing is through local authorities because, to a certain extent, as public representatives, we...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage (28 May 2021)

Pat Casey: As there is a lack of infrastructure where we can build homes and local authorities, in dezoning land we have increased land prices overnight. That will haunt us down the road unless this serious issue is addressed. All we are asking is that we build homes where we have tier 1 infrastructure, including water, sewerage and public transport, but we are told "No". Three towns in my county...

Seanad: Loan Guarantee Schemes Agreements (Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (24 May 2021)

Pat Casey: I thank Senator Higgins for tabling the amendment. She tables a similar amendment to most of the finance-related Bills that come before the House. I can understand, to a certain extent, where she is coming from in arguing that we need this type of reporting. As someone who works in the SME sector, I have some understanding of how difficult and restrictive it is at the moment to access...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 May 2021)

Pat Casey: I welcome the Minister. It is hard to believe this is my first time addressing him since his appointment.

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 May 2021)

Pat Casey: Yes. Having worked directly with the Minister in the last Dáil and sat through thousands of hours of committee meetings, I know his personal commitment to solving this complex issue and the energy, commitment, passion and drive he will bring to providing solutions. Ten months after his appointment, we already see signs of the results on the ground: the largest capital investment in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Insurance Industry: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Pat Casey: I thank the three gentlemen for their presentations. My focus will also be on business interruption. Most businesses are only now, more than a year later, beginning to make their claims. Without the State acting on their behalf using the taxpayers' money, many of these businesses would not have survived until today. It has been taxpayers' money that has kept them afloat and put them in a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Insurance Industry: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Pat Casey: As Deputy Richmond mentioned, the taxpayer has funded the survival of these companies through grants, employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, and the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS. Do the representatives think it is right and fair that the State, on behalf of the taxpayer, should subsidise a claim that their companies are liable for?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Insurance Industry: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Pat Casey: What does Mr. Brennan think?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Insurance Industry: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Pat Casey: Is Zurich looking at a difference between the EWSS, the CRSS and the capital grants received through the restart grant? How is the company approaching that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Developments in the Insurance Industry: Discussion (19 May 2021)

Pat Casey: It is clear that there could still be a liability on behalf of the insurance companies to these State supports, and they are waiting for the courts to rule on that or for the Minister of State to make a claim against them. Is that correct?

Seanad: Future of Banking in Ireland: Statements (10 May 2021)

Pat Casey: Before I begin, I apologise that I must leave immediately after speaking as I have a committee meeting to attend at 2 p.m. I also wish the very best of luck to all the businesses that are reopening their doors today as part of a gradual process. It has been a challenging time. We are looking forward to opening ourselves on 2 June as our hotel reopens its doors. This would not have been...