Results 8,921-8,940 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: Sorry, we are just out of time. Senator Boyhan is next.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: Yes, we are over seven minutes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: Senator Boyhan raised an interesting concept, namely, the vacant sales option. I ask for a written response on that, if that would be acceptable to the Senator. It would greatly assist us in terms of time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: I thank Dr. O'Toole for that important point. If he believes that the opening statement covers everything, that is fine. If he feels that he wishes to add more to it based on today's questions and discussion, though, we would accept that. We are trying to feed into the Bill and take all of the expert advice. Adding more advice and information will assist us in that. We would welcome it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: I ask Mr. O'Connor for a one-minute response, please. I need to finish the meeting now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: I need to bring the meeting to a close. I am sorry, but we are out of time. I thank the witnesses for their participation. It has been helpful to us and will assist us in our scrutiny of the legislation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Development Plan: Discussion (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: I thank the witnesses for their attendance and their opening submissions. I acknowledge Mr. Meade's contribution in which he thanked the staff of the railways for keeping the service going and providing vital travel services to people who needed to get to work through a pandemic. I refer to regional rail. Representatives of the National Transport Authority, NTA, were before the committee...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Development Plan: Discussion (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: I thank Mr. Meade. I suggest that this committee could make a recommendation that the NTA would develop a heavy rail division and become more involved in regional rail services.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Development Plan: Discussion (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: The second question is for Mr. Dunne and Mr. Carr. It relates to Rosslare Port, which has seen a massive increase in business, and we know the reason for that. How many extra trucks is that putting on the N11 every day? How many extra trucks are rolling off at Rosslare Port every day?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Development Plan: Discussion (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: That is 70,000 trucks per-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Development Plan: Discussion (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: That is a large amount of road-based haulage traffic. We know the contribution road traffic is making to emissions. With respect to a €200 million potential investment in Rosslare Europort, and this is a question for Mr. Dunne also, is there an opportunity for Rosslare Europort to operate rail freight with lift-on, lift-off operations? Is that type of investment possible? There is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Development Plan: Discussion (16 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: I have one final question for Mr. Meade on electrification. The DART+ programme is an ambitious electrification proposal. We are quite far behind most other European countries with regard to our ambitions to electrify. Does Mr. Meade see opportunities for electrification in the regions, for example, in Limerick or Cork, or further expansion of the DART+ programme for electrification Given...

Dumping at Sea Act 1996 (Section 5(12)) (Commencement) Order 2021: Motion (11 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: We are discussing the decommissioning and removal of the Kinsale alpha platform. It is a relic of a time when we drilled holes in the ground to suck out gas and oil to burn. We took so much of these fossil fuels from the ground and burned them over so many decades that we have destroyed our environment and destabilised our climate. In the 1970s, when we sought our oil and gas fields, we...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Value Added Tax (10 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: 210. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the classification of fruit juices produced in Ireland for VAT purposes, which entails the standard 21% VAT rate being applied; if the position can be reviewed in view of the programme for Government commitment to encourage greater expansion and growth in the Irish horticulture sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6766/21]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (10 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: 318. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will report on the level of funding remaining to bring further social housing voids back into the housing stock following the announcement at the end of January 2021 on same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6765/21]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Vacant Properties (10 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: 320. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the position regarding the number of remaining voids reported by Wicklow County Council that have not been returned to the public housing stock to date; and if the local authority has estimated the approximate cost for returning these remaining units. [6781/21]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (10 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: 346. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the position regarding the roll-out of a nationwide e-planning system. [7347/21]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (9 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: We will deal with scrutiny of EU legislative proposals: Schedule B, COM (2020) 8, COM (2020) 220, COM (2020) 221, and COM (2020) 654, having been considered by the committee, do not warrant further scrutiny. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (9 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: The committee is meeting today to begin pre-legislative scrutiny on the general scheme of the affordable housing Bill 2020. We are joined remotely by officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I welcome Mr. Barry Quinlan, assistant secretary of the housing, affordability and homelessness division. From the capital infrastructure and affordability unit I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (9 Feb 2021)

Steven Matthews: I will ask Mr. Nicholson to come back in at a later stage to answer those questions for Deputy Ó Broin. We are out of time and I am going to move to Senator Cummins.