Results 8,121-8,140 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Seanad: Pre-Budget Outlook: Statements (1 Dec 2009)

Alex White: I would like to share my time with Senator Doherty.

Seanad: Pre-Budget Outlook: Statements (1 Dec 2009)

Alex White: There is one reason for a change of Government, and it is related to credibility. We have a deficit that is the most serious in our lifetimes. Historically, it ranks very high on the list of economic crises anywhere in the world. We have seen one of the biggest collapses of a country anywhere on record. However, people accept that there are two components to our deficit. There is a...

Seanad: EU Council Decision: Motion (26 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I am prepared to accept we will be better served by this measure from what the Minister of State explained to the House and the relatively limited information we have about it. It prompts me, however, to make a general point which will arise in the House every week following the coming into force of the Lisbon treaty. There will be a much more advanced engagement by the EU's national...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Nov 2009)

Alex White: When Members ask themselves what service they can give to the people in the context of the flooding crisis, it pertains to what should be done in the future. In part, Members can give voice and have a role in giving voice to people who are faced with this situation on a daily basis. I refer to those whose homes and lives have been destroyed or almost destroyed in many cases. While this is...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Otherwise, they have no real role. Members have been debating the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill in this House in the past week or two. I consider it to be good legislation in the main and my party has made this clear in the course of the debate. If memory serves, it includes a reference in the context of development plans to the risk associated with flooding. I ask the Deputy...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Nov 2009)

Alex White: ——and in this House in respect of improper, ill-advised and inappropriate development and planning carried out in an improper and unsustainable way. This is the difficulty we face. It is not simply about the weather. Some people across this debate like to suggest this is about the weather and that the Government has no control over it and so they throw their heads back. However, John...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I am conscious that the Minister of State has not had an opportunity yet to address the amendment. Perhaps I should have waited until he spoke. Is it the case that section 23 deals with, as Senator Daly outlined, people who find themselves in financial difficulty with the banks or otherwise? That was not immediately apparent to me, but if that is what is intended, I would be interested to...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: The Minister of State was to reply on the issue of further conditionality. In terms of the overall intention of section 23, we are familiar with situations where developments have been substantially completed. It is a new section 42 of the principal Act. There is no controversy about that, but the Minister of State is adding the new circumstance where developments have not been completed...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: In fairness to Senator Daly, I did not mean canvassing in that sense.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: In terms of the phrase "commercial, economic or technical", does the Minister of State have in mind a person who has run out of money?

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I, too, will be very interested in the Report Stage debate on this aspect and what the Minister of State will bring before the House, particularly in regard to the phrase "commercial, economic or technical". I am not saying we should not do it but we should be careful about allowing a non-planning circumstance to find its way into planning decisions. If a person has funding at a particular...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Yes.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Does the Minister intend the powers in section 18 to be retrospective to plans that have already been adopted, when the section becomes law? The powers should be retrospective only if there is a significant issue to be addressed. What are the Minister's intentions for these powers? I am not sure whether my colleagues have touched on this issue and apologise if they have. I am interested...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I am grateful to the Minister for that.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: Section 35 of the principal Act lists a series of persons who can be refused planning permission. This amending section contains a provision that states, "the planning authority is satisfied that a person to whom this section applies is not in compliance with a previous permission or with a condition to which the previous permission is subject, has carried out a substantial unauthorised...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I agree with Senators Coffey and Burke on their proposal to delete the word "substantial" from the Bill. The Minister of State should, as urged by Senator Coffey, revisit the issue for precisely the reasons outlined. One person's view of what constitutes a substantial unauthorised development is not necessarily held by another. There is no doubt but that this will lead to litigation. A...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: This is a planning measure. We have debated bankrupt developers and builders and are conscious of that problem. We debated the NAMA legislation at considerable length and are aware there are implications in respect of unfinished developments. I understand why the Minister of State refers to the issue of bankrupt builders and developers as being relevant in this instance, but we should not...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: I know that two additional grounds are included in the Bill but neither of them covers the issue of unfinished estates. I will accept the Minister of State's word that the previous two are already included in the planning code. They are already grounds for refusing permission, that is, if somebody is not in compliance with a previous permission or with a condition to which the previous...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: We have got diverted into a discussion about bonds, which I agree is relevant but which is not the point with which we are dealing here. We are dealing with a list of circumstances whereby a person can be refused planning permission, which the Minister is updating in the legislation. The Minister put into that list two circumstances that are already in the planning code, failure to comply...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Nov 2009)

Alex White: They are safeguards, and certainly the bond system should be in place. In response to what Senator Butler stated, I personally am aware of a considerable number of examples on the south side of the city where bonds were taken up and were inadequate, not slightly but grossly, to deal with the problem that emerged at the end of the day. The council was fumbling around for a few bob to finish...