Results 1,241-1,260 of 7,082 for speaker:John Paul Phelan

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: We are at early stages yet with the drafting of the Galway merger Bill. There is an idea of where we are going as it is not reinventing the wheel in the sense there have been other mergers. NOAC has been given the power, but perhaps not the resources, to audit local authorities. The former Senator and Deputy, Michael McCarthy, is the newly appointed chair of NOAC. He is keen about his new...

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: In direct answer to Senator Ó Domhnaill's question, I do have sympathy with the county council, which expended considerable funding on the Blarney Tower part of the potentially expanded Cork city, because that money was spent at least partly in the belief that it would generate income from development contributions in the future. It is a limited sympathy in that one of the functions of...

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I have a 12-page response, but I will not read the full 12 pages. I said last night – half of my speech was not included in my script – that we had developed a notion of political discourse not only in Ireland but also in most of the western world that if there was political disagreement on a matter, there was automatic disrespect. On Senator Gallagher’s point, I have...

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I am not talking about my party colleagues, I am talking about a former Independent councillor who is now a Minister, Deputy Seán Canney, who has been a leading advocate for the merger. He comes from one of the larger towns in County Galway which, as some would say, would suffer in the event of the merger. Would he support it if he really felt that Tuam would be destroyed? Instead he...

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I have probably said enough.

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: It is late in the evening but we have had a discussion that has been wide ranging and necessary on Cork -----

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: The impact that this proposal in the Bill will have on Galway is very minor. The real Bill will come next year, and is mostly a Galway Bill but it will be called the local government Bill. If this part is rejected tonight we will still have to deal with all of that in the middle of next year.

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: This amendment will change the Long Title of the Bill to reflect the changes that have just been made.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Commercial Rates (19 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: The Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015 provide for the valuation of all commercial and industrial property for rating purposes. The Commissioner of Valuation is independent in the performance of his functions under the Acts and the making of valuations for rating is his sole responsibility. I, as Minister, have no function in decisions in this regard. The Deputy may be aware that, under the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Legislative Process (19 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: The legislative basis for the levying of rates is spread over a number of enactments, some dating back to the 19th century. My Department has developed legislative proposals to modernise and consolidate the legislation governing commercial rates, and last year the Government approved the drafting of a Rates Bill. The Local Government (Rates) Bill 2018 was published on 9 August 2018. The...

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I thank the Seanad for facilitating the taking of Second Stage this evening. The main purpose of this Bill is to alter the boundary between Cork city and Cork county councils and to provide for the boundary alteration arrangements and consequential matters. It also provides for the holding of plebiscites on the direct election of a mayor for Cork city, Limerick, Galway city and Galway...

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: There will be one management structure.

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: The Senator looks well and will respond with shocking insight.

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I thank the Senators for their very reasonable contributions. Sometimes in politics people will say to those with whom they do not agree that they have not listened to them, which seems to be a unique way of looking at how people should think. Senator Kieran O’Donnell and I lost two years of our lives in the dungeons of Leinster House at the banking inquiry. For ten years...

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: Irrespective of the title - Senator Craughwell spoke at length about subsidiarity - the reality is that since the abolition of domestic rates in 1977 effectively local government has had to subsist by having limited sources of funds from a very small pool of people and a handout from central Government. That has meant that real power in local government has been strangled since then and much...

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: He was the youngest mayor; I had forgotten. At council level outside the budget and maybe particular issues that arise from time to time with the election of the leader or chair, very little party politics comes into it. It is mostly about people who want to do the right thing for their own area. That type of collaborative approach would be very welcome. I agree with the Senator that it...

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: Yes, and heritage. It is important that heritage protections are taken into account. Senator Buttimer spoke passionately about Cork matters, as he always does. At operational level, there has been extensive co-operation between the city and county of Cork. When people have come out of their trenches, politically, there has also been co-operation. Nevertheless, there is always a view...

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: -----because the issue was a Cork one. I do not know where Senator Craughwell got the idea. We have reached a stage in Cork, as I hope we will in Galway next year, of general consensus and some level of agreement but there is still not agreement. There are still local politicians in Cork in my own party and others who would run me out of town if I arrived into the place.

Seanad: Local Government Bill 2018: Second Stage (18 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: There is no agreement in Galway but I hope that there can be some semblance of agreement. Senator Craughwell made the point that there is no councillor on the expert group. There is a long-held practice in Irish politics that politicians do not sit on groups that determine boundaries, for obvious reasons. In Galway, managers were brought into the process. They agree with the process and...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Commercial Rates (18 Dec 2018)

John Paul Phelan: 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 Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015. The Commissioner of Valuation has responsibility for valuation matters, including determination of relevant property under the Acts for the...