Results 641-660 of 3,645 for speaker:Michael Collins

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Almost 60 school building projects are on hold due to funding issues. One of the schools affected is Coomhola national school, Bantry, west Cork. The Minister might be able to outline when work will commence on the school's new classrooms.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I thank the Minister for her reply. In 2020, the school in Coomhola, which is north of Bantry in west Cork, was approved for the building of a new classroom to replace two Portakabins, which are very unsuitable for long-term use as classrooms. As we know, Portakabins are cold and very damp in winter and too hot during warm weather. In August 2022, I wrote the Department on behalf of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Schools Building Projects (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I thank the Minister for her reply. The extension for these two rooms was approved in 2020; it is now 2023. We are three years on and the Minister cannot tell me today when a sod will be turned on the project. She cannot tell me today that in the first week of September or late August when the children go back to the school that it will have these two new classrooms in place. We will...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Public Service Obligation (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: 183. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment why the PSO levy has not been removed from ESB bills in view of the effectiveness of the wind energy and solar power in recent years; what plans are in place to remove the PSO levy in totality; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23155/23]

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (16 May 2023)

Michael Collins: 310. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the grants available for a person who wants to make their own picture frames from their own garage (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23156/23]

Planning and Rural Housing: Motion [Private Members] (10 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I built my own house.

Planning and Rural Housing: Motion [Private Members] (10 May 2023)

Michael Collins: It is still standing, thank God. Many a gale has come up over Mizen Head and, by jeepers, it struck us, but it did not knock the house. I tell the Minister a person cannot build a house today. A young person or couple are stifled by costs. About €100,000 is added to the build before it can even get off the ground. A first-time buyer's grant would alleviate some of this financial...

Planning and Rural Housing: Motion [Private Members] (10 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Planning laws in rural areas are put together to make sure people are refused planning. That is the situation I find for many of my constituents in Cork South-West. Young couples starting off are being refused planning all over west Cork and other areas. Scenic landscape is thrown in as one of the excuses. Someone says, "Oh, you are coming out onto the N71 even though there are five...

Food Costs and High Grocery Bills: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (9 May 2023)

Michael Collins: I appreciate the introduction of this motion by Sinn Féin. Fuel and grocery costs are a huge issue for many families. To be quite honest with the Government, it is standing idly by and letting people suffer. There are interest-rate hikes such that people are now unable to pay for their mortgages, putting them in mortgage arrears. This could result in the vulture funds, the...

Europe Day: Statements (9 May 2023)

Michael Collins: We are marking Europe Day. Europe has been generally successful for so many countries. Certainly, Ireland has seen a lot of benefits down through the years by being involved in the European Union. Yet, we have also seen situations, like Deputy McGrath has just mentioned, such as with the fishing industry, where we have been decimated by our involvement in Europe. That should never have...

Construction Safety Licensing Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (4 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Construction safety is important and that goes without being noticed. We are putting those in the construction industry, the builders, in a difficult position. They have to comply with Safe Pass. They have to comply with so much it is making it almost impossible for them to get a day's work or a good week's work done. It will put the price of housing up more severely. The construction...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Dairy farmers are struggling to make ends meet with the price of milk and dairy products starting to reduce while their costs are still increasing. This is a fight they can take on, but the fight they cannot take on at present is the dropping of nitrates from 250 kg per ha to 220 kg per ha. I attended a farm walk in Farnanes where I met a typical Irish farmer who has 71 cows. He is a...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 May 2023)

Michael Collins: The Tánaiste was talking madly. He cannot listen to two people at once.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 May 2023)

Michael Collins: They cannot deal with the nitrates dropping from 250 kg per ha to 220 kg per ha. It will wipe them out.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (4 May 2023)

Michael Collins: We have to get a further one.

Support for Household Energy Bills: Motion [Private Members] (3 May 2023)

Michael Collins: Last November, the Dáil passed a Rural Independent Group motion clearing the way for cheaper electricity prices. That motion was tabled, debated and passed on 16 November, which is almost six months ago. The motion explicitly instructed the Government to immediately change policy and implement regulations to cap the prices paid to wind farm operators and energy companies and to place a...

Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Report Stage (26 Apr 2023)

Michael Collins: I fully support Deputy McNamara's amendment. I wish to talk about a situation in which there are a lot of issues with agriculture and the problems out there. I have just left the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, where we have been discussing the price of fertiliser all evening. It is shocking where farmers found themselves last year, with many of them going bust trying...

Rent Reduction Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (26 Apr 2023)

Michael Collins: The strongest argument against rent control is that there are better ways to protect vulnerable renters. One such way, supported by research, is for the Government to provide social supports for renters. In other words, households that see their rents go up could be eligible for tax credits or welfare payments such as the housing assistance payment, HAP, or the rental accommodation scheme,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Disparity in the Cost of Fertiliser: Discussion (26 Apr 2023)

Michael Collins: I welcome the farm organisations before us. We know the massive price differences that exist. We are talking about the difference between the UK and Ireland but there was a pretty big difference within Ireland on the Republic side of it, in respect of the farmers of Cork South-West anyway. They let me know in no uncertain terms they were being asked to pay incredible prices in comparison...

Re-introduction of Mortgage Interest Relief: Motion [Private Members] (25 Apr 2023)

Michael Collins: The question today is why any Irish government would oppose the reintroduction of a mortgage interest relief scheme in the middle of such a dire housing crisis. Mortgage interest relief, which offers borrowers tax relief on the interest portion of their mortgage, ended in the Republic in 2020. However, the pressures facing mortgage holders today, in addition to other cost-of-living...