Results 7,441-7,460 of 14,944 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: On amendment No. 70, I ask the Minister of State to explain the rationale for moving from 10,000 to 100,000.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not asking because I have a problem with the amendment; I am just trying to work out what kind of site it will affect. Social media platforms will not be captured by this change. Will it affect party political websites, for example? Was there something concrete in mind that led to the change in the threshold? I am not objecting to it but if there was not something concrete in mind,...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: The intention is not to capture a website such as a very small bespoke news site, for example.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I support Deputy O'Callaghan in his amendment, the first part of which relates to an amendment of mine that was ruled out of order. I will speak to that and then to the other elements of the Deputy's amendment. The case for extending the right to vote to younger people is compelling. We spend a great deal of time speaking of concerns about how the participation rate of people aged 18 to...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I support Deputy Cian O’Callaghan’s amendments. One of the issues is that members of political parties are probably the last people who should be asked about which size constituencies they would like. If you are in a small party, of course you would prefer larger constituencies. If you are a larger party, for selfish strategic reasons, you might argue that you would like...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: Is the Deputy's party splitting?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is how it starts. It is a slippery slope.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: Does the Minister of State or his officials have certain platforms or sites, or types thereof, in mind?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: First of all, I will speak to the three amendments that have been mentioned and then Deputy Ó Snodaigh’s final amendment. In some senses, the volume of the work that the commission can or cannot do will ultimately depend on its resources. Therefore, we should not be shy about identifying, as a committee, the kind of things we would like it to do. Obviously it will then have to...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 50: In page 45, line 30, after "programmes" to insert ", in both official languages equally,".

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: It was as much a point of order. This is an important amendment with a lot of value. It is good to have a thorough discussion on it. Nonetheless, I am conscious of the time. We have three hours tomorrow and we are more than halfway through the amendments, and we expect the staff to come in early to work through it with us. I would be pretty confident that if we suspend the meeting now,...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: On the amendment, the Minister of State already probably has heavy shoulders given all of the additional work we have put on him and the commission, but these are important points. The electorate is actually more sophisticated than people often give them credit for, if we look at the low level of spoils in elections in general. I have always been taken by the fact that when we go through...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I strongly support Deputy O'Callaghan on this. The Minister of State will know that we have a significant number of people who are in and out of the homeless system for a very long time. That does not mean that they are not politically engaged or that they do not want to be engaged with the process. We have to make it as easy as possible for those groups of people. The idea of an annual...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: The Minister of State made a very fair case throughout the past few hours about amendments that we have tabled that were, in his view, too prescriptive and argued that there was a better way of doing things. In many cases, his arguments were strong. We may agree or disagree with them but they were strong and credible arguments. I say my next sentence with the greatest respect. I do not...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have a practical suggestion. In 2019, An Post launched an address point service for people accessing emergency accommodation. There may be a solution here which involves attaching the address to the post office either at or closest to the social welfare collection point in order that there will at least be some consistency. I urge the Minister of State to consider that or something similar.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Electoral Reform Bill 2022: Committee Stage (31 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is fine. My apologies. I had thought it was from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. The Chairman’s intention is to adjourn at 7.30 p.m.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Schemes (26 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: 269. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the reconfiguration pilot scheme for primary schools has commenced; if an area (details supplied) was included in the pilot scheme; if it is possible for communities to request reconfiguration of schools in their area; and if the public will have any role in consultation in relation to reconfiguration. [27105/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Review and Consolidation of Planning Legislation: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (26 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank Ms Graham for the presentation. If we want to fix a problem, it is important to understand what the problem is. One of the great concerns a number of us in the committee have relates to the fact the premise of this review of the Planning and Development Act is starting from the wrong place. If we have a bit of discussion about that, it might help inform at least the working group...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: State Bodies (25 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: 49. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will ensure that all allegations of conflicts of interest, allegations of inappropriate decisions and behaviour and allegations of inappropriate relationships with planning or potential planning applicants by members of An Bord Pleanála are included in a report by a person (details supplied) commissioned on these...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (25 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: 50. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide the details of funded housing programmes including social housing, affordable purchase housing, cost rental housing, private sector activation schemes broken down by scheme, funding allocation, funding drawdown, delivery targets and actually delivery in each of the years 2016 to 2021, in tabular form. [26869/22]