Results 101-120 of 176 for at speaker:Francis Noel Duffy

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

Francis Noel Duffy: I know Deputy Ó Broin also looks at constituencies and where votes are. There are 43,000 houses in my constituency. It is very difficult to get around to 43,000 houses. There is an electorate of 100,000 and that would probably be higher if everybody had the vote. Given the time constraints and everything else there is to do, it is very difficult to canvass in a particular area. I...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 May 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: ...has campaigned extensively for MetroLink and for improved sustainable transport for more than 25 years. As he knows, I have been campaigning for metro south west and have passed transport motions at regional assembly level, including on the opening of the Navan rail corridor and, in particular, the metro extensions to Knocklyon and UCD. The south-west Dublin area is chronically congested...

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

Francis Noel Duffy: I thank the witnesses for their contributions and for coming in at short notice. For public information, fees associated with marked registers are for the compiling of the register are nominal. It is public information. This Bill is important to us, especially to members of this forum. In recent years, as noted earlier, we have seen the unethical use of social media platforms to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Local Government (Directly Elected Mayor with Executive Functions in Limerick City and County) Bill 2021 (18 May 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: I thank the Minister of State for presenting to us the general scheme of the Bill, the purpose of which is to devolve power to the people, and for the work that has been done on it to date. Devolved power is a policy for which I and the Green Party have continually campaigned. We believe it brings governance closer to the people. As previous speakers indicated, it was a pity that there will...

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (5 May 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: I thank the Minister for introducing this long-awaited Bill. Rachel Carson'sSilent Spring, published in 1962, inspired the modern environmental movement, which began in earnest a decade later. It is recognised as the environmental text that changes the world. The following quote, first published 59 years ago, still rings true today: We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Engagement with the Office of the Planning Regulator (4 May 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: I thank Mr. Cussen and his team for the briefing and the work they are doing to regulate our planning system. I have a question. I am not sure Mr. Cussen can answer it, given his remit, but I will ask it anyway. It relates to the SHD scheme. Has Mr. Cussen concerns about it? It is not meeting its primary role of fast-tracking housing delivery and bypassing statutory development plans in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Apr 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: The Green Party will not be supporting this proposal. The definition of cost rental is that the renter pays for the cost of construction and maintenance, as well as a profit capped at 3% to 3.5%. That is the way the Vienna model works. I am not sure where Deputy Ó Broin got the figure of 10% to 15%. I go back to the Government agency that will deliver these, namely, the LDA. It is a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Apr 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: We must distinguish between affordable renting and cost rental. Cost rental is based on the cost; affordable is where assistance is provided by the State, essentially. We need to make sure which one is which, when we are speaking to them. In Vienna, state assistance is given to people who cannot afford cost rental. It is the first time that cost rental has happened. There was a concept...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Projects (21 Apr 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: 315. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if zebra crossings can be installed without Belisha beacons as currently installed at the junction of Church Street, Market Street and Seaview Road, Clifden, Connemara, Galway. [18461/21]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Impact of the Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement on Irish-Canadian Trade and Relations: Discussion (13 Apr 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: I am very grateful to Ms Drisdelle, Mr. East and Mr. Collenette for their insightful contributions to the debate so far. They are very useful and have been very informative to me. I note and welcome this shared agreement for all the reasons outlined. However, I am interested in understanding and I think the reason we are here today is to understand, at least for me it is. I understand we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Impact of the Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement on Irish-Canadian Trade and Relations: Discussion (13 Apr 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: My experience working at a local level on a county council is that when legal disputes come before a county council - and I sat on one of the biggest in the country - there is only so much money the State or a local council in that context can spend on legal disputes. It tends to leave them and not go near them. The point I was trying to make is that our Government will not be able to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Engagement on the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement: Mr. David O'Sullivan (30 Mar 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: I thank Mr. O'Sullivan for his statement and insight into CETA. In a very insightful webinar on the topic of CETA last week, organised by Dr. Oisín Suttle, it was raised that the basis for investment dispute settlement system came about after the Second World War. There was a collective desire to establish an international legal order to create peaceful relations on a rule-based system...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Waiver of Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of Residential Tenancies Bill 2021 (16 Mar 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: I too am on the Leinster House campus. I am in Leinster House 2000. At the meeting yesterday I asked the Department about the legislation, its extension and whether it is substantially the same as legislation which previously underwent pre-legislative scrutiny before the committee and was passed. The officials confirmed that it is substantially the same. I am not overly comfortable...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: I thank the witnesses for their insightful presentations. I welcome seeing Mr. Taaffe in this forum. The representatives of both the CCMA and the Housing Alliance spoke about the benefit of delivering cost rental en masse in the context of rent affordability and to stabilise the housing sector. I agree with this and the AHBs play a pivotal role in helping to reshape our housing market into...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: Yes, at scale. Is the funding available on a multiannual basis?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: What about indefinite tenures? I think we are currently stuck at six years.

Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (18 Feb 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: I thank the Minister of State for bringing this Bill to the House. The Bill has gravely concerned me over the past year, considering its potential negative outcomes for society. However, I also welcome its potential to assist in the mitigation of our housing crisis. The two points on which I wish to speak are public housing and public land, and the removal of councillors' voting rights. ...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (16 Feb 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: ...and in this committee, increasing our cost rental stock by developing new units on public land will eventually drive down rent prices going forward. Based on the witnesses' research and expertise, what annual target should the State work towards to deliver enough cost rental units to drive rents down? On permanent affordability, in the presentation by Dr. O'Toole and Dr. Slaymaker,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Affordable Housing Bill 2020: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (9 Feb 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: I thank the representatives of the Department for their written statement and the work they have done to date on the Bill. It is fantastic to see these provisions for affordable housing. I am especially happy that the Bill will, for the first time, enshrine the definition of cost rental into Irish law, which is most welcome from the perspective of the Green Party. I do have some clarifying...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Homelessness: Discussion (29 Jan 2021)

Francis Noel Duffy: Can I come back in at the end?