Results 9,581-9,600 of 26,787 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I will answer that.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Deputy Ó Broin is putting up a commercial company’s data and data collection. Its methods-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I am not avoiding answering it. The Deputy has not allowed me to answer it. He interrupted me as I was endeavouring to answer it. He knows the CSO is independent of the Government and its work is independent of me. It is important that is the case. If the statistics that are published by the State’s own agency do not suit some other narratives, that is something that-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I am trying to answer the question.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I will again endeavour to answer it. I was going to make a suggestion that might be helpful to Deputy Ó Broin. As he is aware, the CSO is independent of me. It has been very strong it its defence of the statistics it has released, which have been accepted year on year. It would be open to the Deputy or the committee to call the CSO in before it.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: We are very confident about the housing completion figures we have.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: We do not reach into the methodology of the CSO data. It publishes those independently of me. Any further interrogation of that can be done by the committee.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Deputy Ó Broin should not push it.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I am trying to answer the question.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: It is very obvious to those who look in on the committee that the Deputy has taken the data from a private commercial company because it suits his narrative.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government has exceeded its completion targets and its delivery within the first year. That might disappoint Deputy Ó Broin.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: That may disappoint him, but it is open to the Deputy and the committee to bring in the CSO and ask it specifically for its views. It issued a very strong statement in defence of its methodology and for the main Opposition party and others to call into question-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: That is a real stretch.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: We are very transparent in the numbers we publish. There is transparency in regard to our plan and our expenditure, unlike others. We put that forward very clearly. We exceeded our housing targets last year and we intend to exceed them again this year. I stand over the data from the CSO, which I fully trust. It has been the basis for tracking housing completions. If Deputy Ó Broin...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: The rural water programme is a very important one. We are continuing to fund it. There are some legacy issues as well with poor infrastructure that was put in at a site level and we have a scheme to take those into charge and to rectify estates and wastewater treatment plants that are substandard. There are settlements that have grown which have wastewater infrastructure already in place....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I appreciate Deputy O'Callaghan's opening comments. First, there is no question about the CSO data, which as we see it, tally very much with the returns we are getting around the country on housing completions. He raised a point about methodology. What is used in the future will be for the CSO to decide itself independently of me in terms of how it moves forward. I am not putting this in...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: No, I refer to the other set of data that was referred to earlier. We know what we are talking about. Our Department reviews any data that come in or that would be of interest to us. We base our performance on the targets we set ourselves. I have no doubt we will have further discussion on that in the coming weeks when we publish the social housing figures.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I have never questioned the output of the CSO. It would be dangerous if I did, in particular in this space. It would be like questioning data in regard to births or deaths. We must be careful in that space. It is a matter for the CSO itself if it is updating or changing methodologies. Deputy Ó Broin referred to the fact that the committee has invited in the CSO to answer questions....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: What I said earlier to Deputy O'Callaghan is that a lay person can see the momentum in house building across the country. It is very obvious for all to see the momentum behind new house buildings and new house completions.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann (Further Revised)
Vote 23 - Electoral Commission (Further Revised)
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Further Revised) (23 Feb 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: In respect of the expenditure for last year, I will be submitting a capital expenditure management report for the end of quarter 4 to the Government in the coming weeks. The Deputy can expect that to be done in early March. The memorandum will show that the capital expenditure for programme A has increased by more than 30% in the year 2021 to 2022. We did flag that we would take the full...