Results 9,701-9,720 of 15,009 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (25 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Sure, but the Minister will have to respond to each one of these groupings. Might it be easier to take them in little chunks to speed up the discussion?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (25 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: This amendment speaks to the fundamental difference between our party's approach to this new agency and the Government's. When the agency was first mooted in the national planning framework, it was quite clear that the purpose of the agency was to be primarily in the area of active land management, something for which the NESC, the ESRI, the Housing Agency and others have called for a very...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (25 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: As I said, this is the first in a series of amendments that seek to shift the focus of the Bill onto active land management. I will move on to my second amendment in this grouping, amendment No. 13. The Minister will be able to see very clearly what we are trying to do here in respect of active land management. The function of the agency should be to assemble land and, as amendment No. 13...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (25 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will speak to the three amendments of mine. A change in this Bill does not in any way delay any development. In fact, if you take Shanganagh Castle as a case in point, it is the involvement of the LDA that has delayed that development by more than three years. To their great credit, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county councillors unanimously approved a broad outline of a scheme for...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (25 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: To be helpful and move things on, I will also speak to my other amendments, which are part of the group of amendments Nos. 75 to 85, because they are consequent to the discussion. Deputy McAuliffe and the Minister asked a very important question, which is why would one prevent the LDA from being a residential developer and there are a number of very good reasons. First, because the LDA,...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (25 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will be brief. To reassure Deputy Higgins, the Opposition takes its role on Committee Stage very seriously given we were denied pre-legislative scrutiny on this Bill. It is a fundamentally different Bill from the former Minister, Eoghan Murphy's earlier version, as the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, rightly reminded us of. The purpose of this Committee Stage, as I understand it, is twofold....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (25 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I would like to fully support amendment No. 2 and to speak to my amendment No. 3, which is broadly trying to do the same thing. This is an important and key element of the Bill and it is where the Opposition is united in trying to ensure that the maximum number of affordable homes are delivered on any site that is being developed by the Land Development Agency. In his response to me when...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (25 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will speak to the last number of amendments I have in this group. First, it is important to remember that the LDA was established in September 2018. It will be five years before it delivers a single home. That does not appear to suggest it has either the capacity, ability or the urgency to meet the challenges of the housing crisis. In fact, if the former Deputy, Eoghan Murphy, had...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (25 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I wish to speak on the rest of the amendments I have tabled in this group. It may be helpful for Deputy McAuliffe if we deal with the issues he raises at the relevant section of the Bill because many of us would like to contribute to that discussion. I wish to speak on amendments Nos. 41 and 213 now. One of the big concerns I have with the section of the Bill dealt with in amendment...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Housing Issues (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: 197. To ask the Minister for Finance the loans approved by HBFI for residential developments in the past 12 months; the number of units in each development in tabular form; the location of each development; the number of designated build-to-rent units included in the grant of planning permission in each development; if HBFI or officials in his Department were aware that the loan application...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Absolutely. As per the letter of invitation to the party, it was the secretary general or a nominee and the party has chosen me as its nominee so I am quite happy to fulfill that role. My understanding is that there is nothing in Standing Orders that prohibits such a decision.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I have no intention of asking myself questions. I will leave that to the other members. I am sure they have plenty of tricky questions for me. There is nothing in Standing Orders that prevents such a thing and in fact, this is not the first time it has happened. There have been periods before where members of committees have also been witnesses to committees so I do not think it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: As members know, Sinn Féin strongly welcomes the introduction of the electoral reform Bill, particularly the proposition to establish an electoral reform commission. We are keen it has the maximum levels of powers, particularly adequate resourcing and funding. We also support the move towards a centralised register of electors and an updated and appropriate register given the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I do not understand the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am a member of the party leadership and the party's national strategy group. I am very often a member of the party's national election directorate. I remind the Chairman that the invitation was to the secretary general or their nominee. It did not specify who that nominee should or could be. On that basis, the party chose me because it feels I am best placed to answer the potential...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am happy to answer all of the questions, but I may not get to do so in the one minute available to me. However, I am sure others will ask similar questions so I will answer them at some point. I want it to be clear that we do not take information from any source, be that a constituency case file or social media interactions, and cross-reference those with the electoral register. It is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am taking the first Sinn Féin slot.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am also a member of the committee. There is nothing in Standing Orders preventing me from asking questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Let me be constructive then because what we do not want is an acrimonious committee. I do not accept the premise of the Chair's ruling, but if I was to use my time to continue answering the questions posed by Senator Fitzpatrick, would that be a fair compromise?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Again, I do not want to be in any obstructive, but when the Chair ruled in previous committees that witnesses could not question witnesses those witnesses were not members of the committee. I have never come across a situation where a member of an Oireachtas committee has been denied the right to ask questions. I do not want a row, honestly, but, I regret, that is a significant decision by...