Results 8,801-8,820 of 36,192 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I thank the Vice Chairman for that intervention. With respect, we are going through the Estimates here and we are supposed to look at the outcomes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: This is about the Estimates. We are supposed to look at the numbers and the outcomes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I am asking about the process of authorising this type of work and asking the Minister of State to help me to understand this process. Is the next stage a joint decision-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: -----in the context of which Donegal County Council has the authority to move this work along to the next stage in conjunction with the Department? Is that the process?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: It is the OPW. Okay. Donegal County Council wants to move this project on, so why has the OPW not-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: It would be helpful if the Department or the OPW can send to the committee information regarding the different stages of a programme like this and who authorises them. I would like to see the details of the joint authority Donegal County Council shares with the OPW, which the Minister of State has said he has referred to on five occasions, and how that process works. I ask that because if...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Okay. Regarding the situation in Lifford, when I raised this project with the Minister of State last year, he explained that consultants had been appointed at the design stage and that the public exhibition stage would begin in early 2022. Will the Minister of State let us know where we stand regarding progress there? I also ask him to give us an update on any progress in Burnfoot and...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Okay.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Please God, all going to plan.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: In fairness, not every project-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Not every scheme requires a judicial review or is subject to judicial review. Some of them have not been given approval to move to the next stage, such as the Donegal town scheme, as I have discussed at length with the Minister of State. The families do not care whether it is Donegal County Council or the OPW that is at fault.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: In fairness, the chairperson asked for €70 million more than the Minister of State allocated over the past three years so I would agree with that statement from the Minister of State. However, that does not mean nobody is at fault because some projects are delayed or not given approval. Sometimes that approval is not given sufficiently quickly. I would like to ask about the River...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I believe that they did. There was discussion between them. The former Minister of State, Kevin Boxer Moran, was very hands-on in regard to this issue. I ask the Minister of State to pick that up.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: It is. I appreciate that. I have raised another issue in the same vicinity with the Minister of State previously. Numerous Garda stations have been closed down by previous Governments and some are lying idle. One of them is the old Bunbeg Garda station, which was hit by lightning. It was not actually closed down by the Government; it was hit by lightning. It is in a bad state. Is the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: It is near the industrial estate.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I pay tribute to the staff in the OPW because they engaged in the past with regard to potentially leasing it to community groups at a nominal value, as has happened in other areas. There is an issue across the road from that site. This small Garda station was hit by lightning and had serious damage done to it. I am not sure what other use it could be used for. There is a school across the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: Or a 100-year lease.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I have never damned the Minister of State on that issue.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: I would not jump to conclusions. If the Minister of State wants to take that approach, that is fine. He is entitled to do so. I am making a point. He might be familiar with that site.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (2 Feb 2022)

Pearse Doherty: As he said, Dinny McGinley used to be the headmaster of the school opposite. Currently, people park on that site we are discussing. I was not aware of its planned sale in July, which will increase the problem in regard to parking and road safety in that area, even before the school is extended, as already approved by the Department. This is a genuine issue. There has always been an...