Results 9,521-9,540 of 14,981 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 114: In page 17, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “(11) The Minister shall ensure that no member of the Board has conflicting financial interests in relation to the usage of land for social and affordable housing by way of a mandatory self-declaration.”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 115: In page 17, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following: “(11) The Minister shall, no less than 30 days after the appointment of the Board, lay a report on the appointment of Directors to the Board before the Houses of Oireachtas and the relevant Oireachtas Committee.”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 118: In page 18, line 11, to delete “not”. This simple amendment will remove the word "not". The relevant section of the Bill states: "In appearing before the Committee referred to in subsection (1), the chief executive appears as a person accountable to the Committee and not as an accounting officer." I am interested in hearing from the Minister of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am fully in support of Deputy O'Callaghan's amendments. Just because something is standard practice does not mean it is good practice. Often, the people leading State agencies can build up considerable expertise and knowledge that might not necessarily be shared in Departments or by their respective Ministers. Therefore, legally preventing them in any circumstance from expressing a...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 132: In page 23, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following: “(5) Shares in the Agency shall not be sold or otherwise transferred without the prior approval of the Government.” Members of the committee will recall that we had a session with the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG. Members were effusive in their support and praise for...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: The difficulty is that when something has the approval of the Government, there is a formal process. There are memorandums to the Cabinet and formal decisions, and these are recorded and available for posterity to assess. Where it is just a matter of a Minister discussing a decision with another Minister, it could happen over the telephone or in an email. It is not the same process. We...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 133: In page 23, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following: "(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Companies Acts, no alteration of the memorandum of association or the articles of association of the subsidiary shall be valid or effectual unless made with the prior approval of the Government.".

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Have we not already discussed amendment No. 137?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 137: In page 33, after line 37, to insert the following: “(4)The Agency shall furnish the report referred to in subsection (1) to the Cathaoirleach of each local authority and the Cathaoirleach shall cause the report to be made available to each member of the authority.” I will be brief, as we are making such good progress. Section 47 deals with the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: The hearts of city and county councillors across the country are being broken yet again. As former councillors, we all know that piles of reports from many agencies are heaped on councillors and they do not have time to read them. This amendment would require the LDA to furnish each local authority chair or mayor with a report. One would expect that report to be short and deal, in the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: As Deputy O'Callaghan said, this is one of the most important sections of the Bill. I have seven amendments in this grouping relating specifically to sections 53 and 54. These are new additions to the Bill. They were not in the original version. They did not get pre-legislative scrutiny. Given these are the sections which will determine what the LDA will pay for lands it is acquiring...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: This is a very serious part of the Bill and, therefore, I am listening very carefully to what the Minister of State and Deputy McAuliffe have said. My concern is, and I say this very respectfully, what the Minister of State and Deputy McAuliffe are saying is not the same and let me outline why this is the case. I understand the Government's amendment very clearly, and the Minister of State...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Can I make a point of order, to be helpful?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: We are keen to get through this and it will go to another session. In order to ensure that we finish it in the next session, it might be helpful if those of us with amendments consult with the chair beforehand to work out a timetable so that it does not go beyond one more session. We have spent a lot of time on the Bill but I would be willing, as proposer of a bunch of the amendments we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I apologise for cutting across Mr. Joyce but one of the options is to use post office box registration, which would not require a fixed abode in the traditional settled sense of the term. Does post office box registration or some similar system provide a practical solution? My question, I suppose, is if the witness has a preferred option.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I apologise for being late. I had another meeting with some colleagues which has just finished. I thank the witnesses for the presentations and written submissions. My questions are to all of the witnesses. We will probably come back to these with other people. They should feel free to give their answers and come back at a later stage. Two key elements of the legislation are how we...

An Bille um an Naoú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Ceart chun Tithíochta) 2020: An Dara Céim [Comhaltaí Príobháideacha] - Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2020: Second Stage [Private Members] (3 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am happy to take five minutes to ensure that others get to speak. I thank People Before Profit, Solidarity and Rise for re-tabling this legislation. Sinn Féin was happy to support it in the previous Dáil and we will be enthusiastically supporting it this evening. We tabled a similar Bill in the previous Dáil and have introduced one on First Stage this year as part of our...

Traveller Accommodation: Statements (3 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, for his opening remarks. The failure of the State, both local and central, for decades, if not for generations, to adequately meet the needs of our Traveller community is a scandal. It is probably the worst and most scandalous element of our failing housing system. In every county and constituency there are Traveller-specific sites which can...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Invest and build in new homes.