Results 721-740 of 8,015 for speaker:Jonathan O'Brien

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: The parliamentary question referred to all central funding to local authorities. I presume this includes capital funding also.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: In 2011, the total funding going into the Cork County Council area was €121 million. Now it is only €70 million. That is a significant difference.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: It was 2011 when the funding was €121 million. The actual funding for 2018 - at 31 October - which was in the parliamentary question-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: I will now turn to the funding that comes from various Departments. I am aware, for instance, how it works with housing. If the local authority has a housing project it wants to get done, the local authority funds that and applies to the Department for reimbursement. This is the way it works currently, is it not?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Would that be the same for all Departments, for example, with road projects and road upgrades?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Will a representative from the County and City Management Association, CCMA, explain how this system works for its members? From experience I am aware that we had periods of delay between the council having to pay out for a project and getting the reimbursement. It sometimes could be nine months by the time we had put in all the paperwork and got the money. How do council managers bridge...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: When I was on the local authority I recall there would be a long lag. Is that gone now?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: That is good. On other projects for which councils can apply for funding, I remember in my day on the local authority, adaptation grants required the council to come up with 50% of the funding and the Department would come up with the other 50%. Is this still the case?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Would the CCMA perceive council management being obliged to come up with some of the funding upfront as a barrier to works taking place or to works the councils would like to see take place?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: If it is not spent does it just roll over?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: There have been no increases in rates. Ms Maguire is correct that rates were increased in Cork City Council, but they were ring-fenced for tourism promotion and for selling the city, which would benefit businesses in general. It was very successful. One of the difficulties I see in Cork is that the rate base has narrowed in the city centre. It may have expanded when one looks at the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Is it the case that there is no scope to provide a rate break for the businesses taking up leases on vacant properties?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: The rates are based on square footage and location, rather than the profitability of a business.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Do the witnesses believe that is a good scheme? There might be two identical buildings next door to each other which have the same rates. One might be occupied by a multinational and the other by a local small business, but there might be a huge difference in terms of profitability.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: I do not want to make a presumption, but I imagine if one is a business owner with a number of overheads and who might be struggling, the rates bill might be one of the last things to be paid. Utilities and goods have to be paid for as businesses cannot operate without them. The level of rate collection is pretty high, which I believe is down to each individual local authority working with...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: If a business goes bust and owes rates, what happens to those rates? I presume the landlord does not take on that debt or pass it on to any new tenant. What happens that debt?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Is it the case that the local authorities will not chase the landlord or any new tenants for rates?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: It was the case that a new tenant could receive a rates bill for a period in which it was not a tenant.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Macroeconomic Analysis and Fiscal Risks: Central Bank of Ireland (27 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: Many questions have been asked so I will be brief. Brexit is the big challenge at the moment but, as the witnesses have been quick to point out, it is not the only one. I want to touch on employment, housing and non-commercial properties and the factors at play in those issues. From reading the report, we are reaching full employment and there is now a transition of employment across...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Macroeconomic Analysis and Fiscal Risks: Central Bank of Ireland (27 Feb 2019)

Jonathan O'Brien: The reference to house prices is on page 44.