Results 6,701-6,720 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: The Chairman should go ahead but I think this is an important opportunity.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Provision of Community Growing Spaces in Ireland: Community Gardens Ireland (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: I thank Senator Boyhan for his contribution. The Green Party has the next time slot, which I will take. I have a few questions. I will start with the legislation as that is how things work and how we can get things done. To take up on what Deputy Ó Broin said, of course, we are very receptive to this initiative. Everybody is very receptive to allotments and community gardeners and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: I take the point about delivery. We all want to deliver on this, because the sooner we make the roads safer, the fewer fatalities we are going to have. Even one fatality more would have an immeasurable impact on family and friends. I will tell a story on delivery in a minute. First, I want to talk about why I think that we will still be here in five years’ time talking about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: I apologise. I thought they were contributory groups. We have to look historically here. For the past 60 years we have been planning for cars. It is ingrained in everything we tried to do. We are trying to flip that around at the moment. That takes time. It takes time for designers, for decision-makers and for road users to start adapting to that road design. I am concerned there is a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: I am a fully enthused Deputy now. I monitored the streets in Bray where I lived. I looked at the cars that were driving, their speeds, the vulnerable users and the design of those roads. I drove those roads at 30 km/h. I always had cars behind me with frustrated drivers. If you try to drive along an urban street of 800 m at 30 km/h, it is hard to do unless there are signals not to speed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: Ms Swift talked about the council engineer having to drive through every town in the local authority area to monitor it. Why not go the other way? We could look at each town, village and larger urban centre and tweak it with a 3 km radius around it and say it is a 30 km/h zone. Does the RSA think that is a quick approach we could take to this? Put this before the councils and that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: There is nobody blocking a motorist from getting from point A to point B. What we want is for motorists to use the streets courteously and for the streets to be shared with everybody. The streets are not just for cars. We are ingrained to think they are, and that has happened over many years. The amount of street space allocated to cars is disproportionate given the modern society we are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: I will be brief. I have very straightforward questions and hope to receive straightforward answers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: This question is to the RSA. Are all the road traffic collision data maps up to date?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: Okay, but, as far as Mr. Rowland is aware, they are all up to date. They inform the road measurements taken. I refer to the number of collisions, not just the number of fatalities. They are all up to date, in Mr. Rowland's view.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: Is there any legislative blockage or legislative requirement in order for a local authority to declare a default 30 km/h zone within its town area? Is there anything blocking it from doing that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Area Speed Limits and Road Safety Strategy: Discussion (1 Mar 2022)

Steven Matthews: I know it is a reserved function but the guidance document on setting speed limits is waved at councillors who say they want a default 30 km/h limit. It is a guidance document but, as far as Mr. Rowland is aware, under the Local Government Act or whatever it is, there is no legislative blockage to a local authority setting a default 30 km/h zone.

Town Centre First Policy: Statements (24 Feb 2022)

Steven Matthews: I welcome this Government policy and acknowledge the work that both the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, have put into this policy to deliver it, and to do so quickly. I also acknowledge the role of my Green Party colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, in this. In all the years I have known the Minister of State in his work as a councillor in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Policy (24 Feb 2022)

Steven Matthews: The energy retrofit scheme, which was announced last week, has been broadly welcomed by almost everybody across the country. It is a huge Government investment and a long-term plan over the next decade for how we will retrofit our housing stock. Could the Minister outline to the House how he will attempt to encourage or incentivise those who are involved in the energy retrofitting scheme to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Policy (24 Feb 2022)

Steven Matthews: I agree with the Minister. My phone has been ringing off the hook since it was announced. That is really positive. I know of people in the trades who want to get involved in it. It sends a really clear signal for the next decade that this is a line of work that they can go into. My colleague Deputy Ó Cathasaigh visited the site of excellence in Waterford. He was impressed with it....

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Sports Funding (24 Feb 2022)

Steven Matthews: 28. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if the large-scale sports infrastructure fund is due to reopen for applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10338/22]

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Swimming Pools (24 Feb 2022)

Steven Matthews: 43. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to the need to increase the provision of public swimming pools, particularly in rural areas that have limited or no access to safe swimming facilities; if specific large-scale funding streams are being considered in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10337/22]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Wind Energy Generation (24 Feb 2022)

Steven Matthews: 99. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps he will take to ensure citizen engagement with offshore wind energy projects in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10158/22]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Vaccination Programme (23 Feb 2022)

Steven Matthews: 208. To ask the Minister for Health the estimated cost to fund the HPV catch-up programme for those that missed out on the HPV vaccine in first year of school for any given reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10171/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Communications Regulation (Enforcement) Bill: Discussion (23 Feb 2022)

Steven Matthews: I apologise to the Chairman. I have just returned to the meeting so I do not have any questions at this point.