Results 7,621-7,640 of 20,057 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: I agree.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: Absolutely.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: The Deputy might ask her question.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: May we revert to the mica and pyrite issues? It seems legislation and regulations are in place and there is a timeframe for re-establishing the building regulation authority. Why is it 2024?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: It seems like a long time.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: Mr. Ó Coigligh outlined some of the legislation. SI 288 of 1949 is Standard Specification (Solid Concrete Building Blocks Made with Natural Aggregate) Order. I will not read it all but the relevant part states: The sand, i.e. fine aggregate passing a 3/16 in. test sieve, shall not contain more than 10 per cent. passing No. 100 test sieve. (a) Harmful Impurities. The aggregate...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: Who looks for that? Who is it produced to?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: Mr. Ó Coigligh will appreciate that the word "trail" is not appropriate. This should not be a trail. It should be a straight line.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: I worked in construction where 20 lorry loads were being poured in a couple of hours. Every few hours a quality control person who was on site took a sample. That was in a different jurisdiction where the local authority and relevant government departments had to have sight of those samples. Problems start at source. The source is the concrete plant. We know what has happened. There is...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: Yes, they do.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: We obviously do not have an effective one.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: Even the smaller local authorities have many people with a science background, including engineers. Would it not be simple for random tests to be done or for companies to supply a sample? There are not that many in a given local authority area in order to display a sample. As I said, think of whoever is here in 25 years' time. We now sit here with a bill for €2.5 billion, that is,...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: That is fine. That will be an office which will be staffed. What I am saying is that out on the ground where it matters, there is a concrete plant and a construction site. The concrete is made in the concrete plant and goes to the construction site. I am saying this by way of being helpful. I saw it in operation. There has to be a simple way of dealing with this. There have to be tests...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: Yes but when you remove it from the coalface-----

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: Employed by whom?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: Let us be honest about it, they do not have a laboratory on every construction site. That is the problem. If someone is building a one-off he or she will not have that. The product has to be tested at the concrete plant. You have lost it-----

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: At the concrete plant?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: What I am saying is there have to be samples and the local authority is probably best because it is the closest to it and has engineers. I am saying that the Department must look at this. As I said to Mr. Doyle, we are in a process now where we are setting up this regulatory authority. I am trying to suggest a way whereby we ensure that we do not keep making these problems for ourselves...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: I am not an expert in construction but can you see the logic in what I am saying?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2021
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Fund Account 2021
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 4: Re-allocation of Voted Funds
Chapter 6: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 7: The Housing Agency’s Revolving Acquisition Fund (26 Jan 2023)

Brian Stanley: Will the officials come back to us on how this is going to be dealt with at source? Will they re-examine this issue of the regulatory body? It is grand to have all these bodies but we have more quangos than would fill the Phoenix Park. We need a very straight line in regard to the tests being taken at the concrete plant, particularly at the batching plant so that it can officially be stood...