Results 61-80 of 1,817 for speaker:John Cummins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: I thank Ms Stapleton.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: The Deputy will be able to come in again.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: I am going to bring in the Deputy's party colleague or he will be upset with me. I have given Deputy Conway-Walsh a lot of latitude. Even though he is her party colleague, I have to be fair.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: Mr. McGarvey and Mr. Kelly wish to make points as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: I will ask a couple of follow-on questions. Will the witnesses talk me through the process from when the Housing Agency approves a figure for a certain fix in terms of threshold damage and so on to when the house is completed? At what point does the drawdown occur?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: Presumably, if there are to be 50 completions by year’s end and 18 are fully done, 32 projects are currently underway on site.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: It is just the process.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: Of course. What about the drawdown? There is a discrepancy between it and the number of approvals. I understand that. The same situation obtains in terms of the vacant property refurbishment grant. The money has been committed and approved and the drawdown only comes once the project has been completed. In this case, though, there is also drawdown throughout the process. It does not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: How often do we make “stage payments” in a typical build?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: Give us a working example of that. Notwithstanding the fact that people speak to one another and there are campaign groups involved in the process, there are many who are outside the process and not as heavily engaged but who still have problems and want to hear what is there for them. Not everyone listens to the radio, watches the television or reads the newspaper.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: Is Mr. McGarvey satisfied that the process is working?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: What does this look like?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: If people can get invoices upfront for the costs of accommodation they will occupy, the council will process them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: That would be a committed-to cost. Someone would have entered into a lease arrangement, per se, and would have an invoice for the cost.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: Yes, and this is helpful because it is an example of how the council is adapting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Defective Concrete Blocks: Discussion (Resumed) (14 May 2024)

John Cummins: I call Deputy Conway-Walsh.

Seanad: Smartphone and Social Media Use: Motion [Private Members] (24 Apr 2024)

John Cummins: I welcome the Minister to the House. This is a really important debate. When I was doing some research on this subject and liaising with Senator Seery Kearney on the drafting of the motion, I spoke to Mr. Brian Barron, the principal of Portlaw National School in Waterford. That school and other schools in Waterford have adopted the Gen Free Charter, which essentially says that there will...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Apr 2024)

John Cummins: I join others in welcoming and acknowledging the families of the 48 victims of the Stardust nightclub fire in 1981, before I was born. To think it has taken this long to get to where we arrived last week in respect of the verdict and this week with regard to the State apology is unimaginable, as is the trauma those families have had to endure over such a protracted period. Our thoughts and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

John Cummins: I thank all of our guests who are here this morning to help us with our pre-legislative scrutiny. I wish to take up Ms Wall on the last point she made about eligibility for HAP. To go back to the point made by Senator Fitzpatrick, we are trying to determine the emergency response versus the long-term response. There are discrepancies across the country in how some local authorities view...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Discussion (23 Apr 2024)

John Cummins: That is something we can take up with the Department later on. Last week, I attended the briefing with the Department and we had a good exchange across a number of areas. One of the key things the Department would say is that the lack of legislation in this area is potentially problematic for the State in that we are relying on circular and not legislation and that may create legal problems...