Results 7,361-7,380 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: I totally agree. My previous experience was that the council's heritage office staff did an outstanding amount of work and output from the limited resources available to them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: It would be helpful for us if the issues raised by Ms Teehan were to be sent to the committee. I picked up on some of the comments, including the reference to cutting through the red tape. I wonder how we as Oireachtas Members can assist in that context. The required funding and support exist in this context, so we wish to make it as easy as possible for people to engage with the Heritage...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: Ms Teehan makes some good points. On the naming of estates and locations, when I was in Wicklow, the municipal district councillors had an input into that, so it might be something for that stage. That has often fed back and perhaps suggested a different name with a historical link. It is a good point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: I have some questions for the witnesses. Senator Boyhan spoke about the amount of work our heritage officers and the Heritage Council do and the number of different aspects of heritage in which they are involved. I thought I knew about the work of the Heritage Council from my work as a councillor over the years. In advance of this meeting I visited the council's website and I came across a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: The heritage area has been transferred to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, that is, back to the Custom House. It is now directly related to local government, which is a positive move because there is so much interaction at local government level through planning or the heritage officers. Heritage ranges from the natural heritage to the cultural heritage to the built...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: Town Centre First involves climate action also. It involves ensuring livability and walkability by seeking to regenerate parts of town centres to make it easier to live in the second and third storeys of buildings. It is not by lowering standards but by making the process easier to engage in. That is critical to it. I was at the Irish Planning Institute conference last week. There was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: Having the old craft skills will be really important in respect of heritage buildings. Many of the trades — I am from a trades background — became very modularised and mechanised, so it is important to maintain the old skills. While we are waiting for Senator Fitzpatrick to join the meeting, I will ask a question on the old post office buildings. In Kilkenny, there is a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: Senator Fitzpatrick is next.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: I thank Senator Fitzpatrick. Deputy Duffy probably wants to come back in on that as well but I want to get in ahead of the Deputy. The "Know Your 5K" involves walking routes around towns and villages that display buildings of architectural importance or buildings, the previous occupants of which may have been historical figures or in which events may have taken place in them. I attended...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: That would be helpful. It is something I would be supportive of. It is not only for a tourist or a visitor to a town. People who live in a town can sometimes become blind to the heritage in it because they are so used to it. You become used to a certain piece of scenery because you see it, and if you have been away for a while and you come back, you kind of get that "Wow" feeling again....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: That is the end of our questioning. Do the witnesses wish to ask us anything as a committee or to put anything on the record?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Heritage Council: Chairperson Designate (23 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: I thank Dr. Moloney. I add my congratulations to those of the members. She has significant experience in local government as well and that is very important. She will have heard the great support for heritage and the work of the Heritage Council from committee members. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, will come before the committee in three weeks' time to give us an update on work he...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Passport Services (18 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: 17. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his attention has been drawn to the delay in processing passport applications for first-time passports for children and new citizens; the steps his Department is taking to alleviate this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56351/21]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (17 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: 112. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to ongoing concerns in a school (details supplied) in relation to an inability to get substitute teachers to cover staff absences; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56401/21]

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: The Minister gave a comprehensive response last night. I am trying to keep the proceedings moving as fast as we can. I appreciate members' co-operation on that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: Deputy Boyd Barrett also wanted to come back in.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: We have spent quite a lot of time on this. It is a debate worth having but I need to get through these amendments. We are only on amendment No. 31 and there are 165 to go.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: The Deputy does. I ask him to assist me-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Steven Matthews: -----to be brief and to stick to the amendment which is a request for a report.