Results 9,161-9,180 of 15,009 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Head 6 is about ministerial appointment of the chair of the board. Will that be through the Public Appointments Service or does it give the Minister discretion to appoint outside it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is not a legal requirement though, is it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I know that. It comes up every time we deal with this. The heads do not include anything about the application of the Freedom of Information, FOI, Acts or the lobbying register. Is that because Irish Water is already covered by all of that or is it an omission from the general scheme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Will that continue post the separation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank Ms Groarke for that clarification. With respect to head 9, explain to me the logic of Irish Water not presenting to the Committee of Public Accounts as an Accounting Officer? That limits the ability of that committee in its oversight of Irish Water's finances. The Secretary General of the Department that funds Irish Water is an Accounting Officer. Is that the reason or is there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will pick up with Mr. Ó Coigligh where we left off in the last round. In the context of being located in Ervia, Irish Water is a commercial semi-State company. There is some indication in the White Paper from the Government that the future status of a single utility may be redesignated as a non-commercial semi-State. What is the significance of the general scheme of this proposed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: To cut across Mr. Ó Coigligh, would it be fair to say, because I am one of those people hung up on this question because I think that it is an important one, that in all its operational matters, Irish Water is a non-commercial semi-State company. The only area where it continues to work as a commercial semi-State is in respect of the terms and conditions of the employees. They are not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Does Mr. Ó Coigligh have such a thing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I understand that, but as a Member of the Oireachtas I wish to know what would we not have visibility of under what is being proposed here. I ask that because something will be obscured, whether intentionally or not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Can I reassure Senator Cummins that I am supportive of the legislation? I think separating Irish Water from Ervia subject to some of the issues being resolved is a good thing. That is separate from whether the single utility as is being proposed is a good or bad thing. Much of that devil is in the detail. Regarding the potential figure of €10 million in additional operational...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Sorry for interrupting. Does that mean there will be additional staff above the current total cohort of staff across the three companies?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Obviously, our discussion has strayed a bit into the completion of the single utility, which is a separate issue. Is the general scheme required to complete the single utility or could Irish Water have remained in Ervia and the single utility could have taken place in terms of the early ending of the service-level agreement with the local authorities? Are these two slightly separate things...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: In Mr. Ó Coigligh's view, it is not required but is preferable.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I do not want to get into the detail of the single utility because our problem is there are different views on that and we do not have all of the different players in front of the committee. I understand that time was set aside to meet in Croke Park, I believe, in August for the WRC to advance those discussions and that not all of that time was used. To say the talks were suspended is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have one final question before my time runs out. Mr. Ó Coigligh said two days were used, but how many days were set aside? Was there a concern on behalf of the WRC or any other party that some of the detail required to get into the substantive discussions had not been tabled at that stage and that further detail was required to advance the discussions?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is fine. I get that. I have two other questions. I appreciate there is a significance in bringing Irish Water under the control of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. One worry I have in this regard is that, as Mr. Ó Coigligh will be aware, the Comptroller and Auditor General does look-back studies. The value of having an Accounting Officer from Irish Water...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Water Services Separation Bill 2021: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (28 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Could they be deployments from within the existing cohort of staff or will new staff be employed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Quality and Infrastructure and Small Town and Villages Growth Programme: Discussion (23 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank Irish Water and the Department for all the information provided so far. I want to broaden the discussion a little to water and wastewater quality. It is a bit disappointing that the Department did not include in its opening statement an update on the ongoing European Commission enforcement for our failure to meet adequate wastewater treatment standards at a number of locations. As...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Water Quality and Infrastructure and Small Town and Villages Growth Programme: Discussion (23 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I want to go back to a question asked by Senator Malcolm Byrne in respect of Gorey. When there were not dissimilar problems at the Leixlip wastewater treatment plant in October 2019, one of the issues was the non-detection of several alarms. The EPA was very critical of that when its representatives came before the committee in December that year. As Irish Water is now going to conduct a...

Residential Tenancies (Tenants' Rights) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Sep 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I commend Deputy Bacik and Senator Moynihan on bringing forward the Bill. It is very good legislation and it has the enthusiastic support of Sinn Féin.