Results 13,681-13,700 of 20,099 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: We have to go beyond the Pale with this because this is a real issue. The real problem arising in more rural counties, such as counties Laois or Offaly, is that the threshold for social housing is very low. It starts at €480. It is €506 for a couple. Once a person's income is more than €506 he or she cannot get on a local authority housing waiting list and we do not...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: There is that cohort, the working poor, and it is a big middle. We often talk about the squeezed middle but this is actually quite a wide middle who are completely excluded from either social housing or being able to buy a house.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: We need to start addressing that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I will ask the witness to come back to the Deputy on those issues because we are under time constraint in terms of the health regulations.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: There is vacant land in the Deputy's area to be developed. That is some good news.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: In regard to HomeBond, the overall cost is estimated at €210 million for the pyrite remediation scheme. HomeBond will finish up paying only a small percentage of that. The only amount received to date is €52,000. The overall cost or hit to the State is €210 million - that was the insurance cost. A "yes" or "no" answer will do to this. My recollection is that the type...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I have a follow-on question. Are homeowners and purchasers still relying on HomeBond? Is it the same outfit?

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: Does it cover pyrite and all other eventualities? Is the Housing Agency confident that the insurance provides adequate cover for homeowners and the taxpayer? The taxpayers had to go in and remediate a significant number of dodgy apartments and so on. Pyrite has been a major problem. Does Mr. O'Connor believe the taxpayer and home-purchasers are now adequately protected under the new terms?

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: That is the key issue here. We have been left with an appalling mess with pyrite. There were 29 applications from County Offaly. I presume they were all valid applications. How many of these are still outstanding? They are mainly from the Edenderry area.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: Will Mr. O'Connor come back to me with the amount? It is good that the scheme is rolling. That is the good news. Some of the slides shown earlier demonstrate the level of damage and what had to be done. We saw the situation these people finished up in with a mechanical digger in the sitting room five, ten or 15 years after buying a house and paying a mortgage. It is good that the scheme...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: Is the figure €4.6 million per year?

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: What is the annual cost, approximately?

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: That is the question. What is the estimate on how much per year would be expected?

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (Resumed)
Chapter 11 - Social Housing
Chapter 12 - Land Aggregation Scheme.
Chapter 13 - Pyrite Remediation Scheme. (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: We have discussed the figure of the public private partnerships. Public sector benchmarking is relevant. I understand the Department is not at liberty to make this available publicly. Will the Department look at providing the detail to the Committee of Public Accounts at a private meeting? We have to try to judge whether value for money is being secured. I am unsure whether the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (26 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: 173. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the waiting times for driving tests in Tullamore and Birr, County Offaly, and Portlaoise, County Laois, respectively; and the efforts being made to address the waiting times. [39314/20]

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I welcome everybody to the meeting. I note my appreciation of everybody’s efforts in attending the meeting here because the Dáil is meeting today in the convention centre at the far side of town and people are moving backwards and forwards. We are joined by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Seamus McCarthy, as the permanent witness. We have received an apology from...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government.
Local Government Fund
Chapter 2 – Central Government Funding of Local Authorities. (25 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I remind all those in attendance to ensure that their mobile phones are on silent mode or switched off. Today we begin the first of our two-day engagement with officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. There is a significant amount of material to cover, which is why we have split the work over two days. The matters for examination today are, from the 2019...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government.
Local Government Fund
Chapter 2 – Central Government Funding of Local Authorities. (25 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I call on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Seamus McCarthy for his opening statement.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government.
Local Government Fund
Chapter 2 – Central Government Funding of Local Authorities. (25 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I thank the Comptroller and Auditor General for his remarks. I now ask Mr. Doyle for his opening statement, please.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government.
Local Government Fund
Chapter 2 – Central Government Funding of Local Authorities. (25 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I thank Mr. Doyle.