Results 10,421-10,440 of 14,706 for speaker:Phil Hogan

Written Answers — Water and Sewerage Schemes: Water and Sewerage Schemes (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: Water services authorities, including Kildare County Council, were asked in July 2009 to submit an assessment of needs for water and sewerage services to my Department. In preparing their assessments, water services authorities were required to take into consideration key environmental and economic criteria in prioritising contracts and schemes to be progressed in their areas. The...

Written Answers — Local Government Charges: Local Government Charges (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Act 2001. The levying and collection of rates are matters for each individual local authority. Under the provisions of the Local Government (Rates)...

Written Answers — Water Charges: Water Charges (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: The Programme for Government provides for the introduction of a fair funding model to deliver clean and reliable water. The objective is to install water meters in all households on public water supplies and move to a charging system whereby households will be charged based on usage above a free allowance. My Department is currently preparing a strategy to implement these proposals and it...

Written Answers — Departmental Funding: Departmental Funding (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: Kildare County Council was allocated €15,000 under the Civic Responsibility Week Grant Scheme. The purpose of this once-off grant scheme was to support Civic Responsibility Week which ran from Monday 9 May to Sunday 15 May 2011 and was designed to precede the State visits of Queen Elizabeth II and President Barack Obama. A total of €350,000 from the Environment Fund was allocated to local...

Written Answers — Water and Sewerage Schemes: Water and Sewerage Schemes (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: The Water Services Investment Programme 2010 – 2012, a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas Library, provides for the development of a comprehensive range of new water services infrastructure in County Kildare. Two contracts for the Kildare Sewerage Scheme are included in the Programme amongst the list of contracts in the county to start in the period 2010 – 2012. The Wastewater...

Written Answers — Local Government Charges: Local Government Charges (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Act 2001. The levying and collection of rates are matters for each individual local authority. Commercial rates are legally payable in two...

Local Government Audit (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: I know Deputy Niall Collins would be anxious that we would have greater efficiency in local government.

Local Government Audit (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: I am anxious to have a local government reform package to recommend to the House in the autumn. That will include some of the major recommendations in the various efficiency reports and in the McCarthy report to reduce payroll costs. I remind the Deputy that the number of local government staff has been reduced by 6,600 in the past two years. That is a very significant contribution to the...

Local Government Audit (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: I do not agree with Professor Tol's calculations or with the proposition or assumptions he made in his comments at that conference. I have no plans to roll out any new tolling schemes.

Water Charges (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: The Deputy knows the answer.

Political Party Funding (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: The programme for Government contains a commitment that: "Public funding for political parties will be tied to the level of participation by women as candidates those parties achieve." On 8 June 2011, I published the general scheme of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011. The general scheme includes provision for a requirement that to qualify for full State funding under...

Political Party Funding (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: I have great sympathy with the question and the tone of Deputy Donnelly's remarks. I consider this to be a staging post towards achieving his objective. However, there is a conservative culture in the manner in which these matters can be addressed not only by men, but also by women. There is a balance to be struck between increasing the participation rate of women in politics, and people...

Political Party Funding (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: The Deputy will appreciate that this is the first time a Minister has brought forward this proposal. This is the first Government to bring forward a meaningful proposal to increase the participation rate of women and to give them the opportunity to be candidates in a general election. The funding is linked to general elections. If it was linked to local elections, I would be able to apply...

Political Party Funding (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: On 8 June 2011, I published the general scheme of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011. In line with the Government's commitment to significantly reform political funding in Ireland, this Bill will implement commitments in the programme for Government and recommendations made in the Moriarty Tribunal Report Into Payments to Politicians and Related Matters . The Bill...

Political Party Funding (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: The Private Members' Bill brought forward by Fianna Fáil would not have included all corporate bodies. There were loopholes to allow certain corporate bodies to continue to give donations without being subject to the new restrictions. There were flaws in the Bill. We got advice from the Attorney General on the constitutionality of corporate donations. We wished to proceed immediately to...

Political Party Funding (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: It will probably be the most speedy implementation ever of a proposal in a programme for Government. It will be published in July and enacted before the end of the year.

Community Development (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: The community and voluntary fora carry out valuable work on behalf of their communities. They provide an important input to the work of local authorities, particularly in the context of their membership of local authority structures such as the strategic policy committees, joint policing committees and county and city development boards. I recently approved allocations totalling €587,000...

Community Development (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: Does this question refer to the Family Support Agency or the family resource centres? Are they linked?

Community Development (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, has a role and responsibility in that area.

Community Development (16 Jun 2011)

Phil Hogan: Yes, that is a separate issue. I have been engaging with the community section, which was subsumed into my Department. We are examining where services are provided across a range of Departments and agencies. We want to eliminate duplication and triplication, which is unsustainable. We want to ensure that core funding for these community organisations being assessed at the moment is...