Results 5,401-5,420 of 14,706 for speaker:Phil Hogan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: To answer the Deputy's final question first, we have given priority to requests made by local authorities in the context of replacing staff who are retiring. We have given particular priority to the operational side of local authority staffing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: No. We have already hit our ceilings for 2015 in respect of local government. Ours is the only organisation in the public service that has hit its ceilings in 2012. Local authorities deserve great credit for this. I do not believe we have declined a request from any local authority - within its ceilings - in the context of prioritising outdoor staff. It is a matter for local authorities...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: We do not inhabit an ivory tower in the Custom House and we are in very close contact with local authorities.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: The Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, the officials and I are all in contact with the local authorities. Some €5 million of the €10 million relating to water will be required for rolling out the surveying that will be required in respect of the water metering programme. The Commission for Energy Regulation is going to be the regulator for water and €2 million...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: Deputy Stanley asked me a question. We have not had a property tax in this jurisdiction for some time and we are learning from the experience on the other part of the island.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: I am sure the Deputy is familiar with that experience. I cannot provide a figure for 2013 because this matter relates to the budget. The Deputy referred to leaks. We do not want many of those because they cost me a fair bit in the past, politically and in every other way. I would not want that to happen again. We are dealing with water leaks and in the next three years we will spend a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: The Government is actually taking on the IMF at every possible opportunity. We do not agree with the figure to which I refer. The Deputy referred to €34 million in savings. There are some such savings in respect of payments under international agreements from the environment fund for the EPA and the RPII. We have reduced provisions for leasing. As result of better value for money...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: No. People will not be paying any water charges in 2013.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: That will be a matter for the Commission for Energy Regulation which is the regulator for the water sector. I cannot provide that information until the commission is organised. The Deputy is a bit ahead of himself and I understand the reason.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: I got a lot of training from the Deputy's brother. We have made progress on EU-related programmes. I know the Deputy has an interest in the progress of the rural development programme. We front-loaded money into the rural development programmes in the Estimates for 2013 on the basis that we can get a refund of 85% rather than a refund of 55% from the European Union. We are getting more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: I will deal with the matters raised by Deputy Cowen. In 2012, the Local Government Fund gave us approximately €1.12 billion which was made up of the motor tax and various other receipts. We had to take out the €160 million Exchequer contribution for 2012 in the Estimates and introduce the household charge. When it came to the third quarter of the year where people were not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: 2013 Allocations for Public Expenditure
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: I congratulate Deputy Michael McCarthy on his appointment as Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht and look forward to working with him in the period ahead. I thank the joint committee for the invitation to discuss the Estimates for my Department for 2013. The Government’s expenditure reform programme has provided for enhanced engagement by...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Constituency Nomenclature (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: The Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012, published on 5 October 2012, proposes to give statutory effect to the recommendations in the Constituency Commission Report 2012. The Bill provides for a reduction to 158 in the total number of members of Dáil Éireann, for the revision of Dáil constituencies and for the number of members to be elected for such...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Tax Code (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Act 2001. That Act provides at section 3 that property used to provide lodgings is generally considered domestic property and therefore not...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Household Charge Collection (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: The Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 provides the legislative basis for the Household Charge. Under the Act, an owner of a residential property on the liability date is liable to pay the Household Charge, unless otherwise exempted or entitled to claim a waiver. It is a matter for an owner of a residential property to determine liability. Liability for the Charge is not contingent...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Members' Remuneration (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 440 and 441 together. It is a matter for each local authority to pay the annual representational payment s and my Department does not have details of payments by town councils on the basis of rates of payments approved by me. The rates of representational payments for town councillors are as follows: €8,362 for borough councils, and the town...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: The number of local authority houses let as of 31 December 2011 was 125,958, which is the most recent data available. Further comprehensive statistical information on housing is available on my Department’s website at www.environ.ie. An independently-chaired Inter-Departmental Expert Group was established to consider the structures and modalities for an equitable local property tax...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Building Regulations (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: Following a recent public consultation process I am currently finalising the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2012. The new regulations will provide, among other things, for the introduction of mandatory certificates of compliance by builders and designers of buildings confirming that the statutory requirements of the Building Regulations have been met in relation to the building...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Funding (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: I understand that the person referred to in the question has raised the issue of whether it is fair to withhold General Purpose Grant funding to local authorities on the basis of poor Household Charge compliance rates. The two principal sources of revenue for the Local Government Fund are the proceeds of motor tax and the income from the Household Charge. The Local Government (Household...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Household Charge (13 Nov 2012)

Phil Hogan: The Local Government Management Agency is administering the Household Charge system on a shared service/agency basis for all county and city councils. I understand, from data provided by the Agency, that as of 9 November 2012 the number of registrations, including waiver registrations, for the Household Charge is 1,094,751. As the Household Charge system records one owner entry per...