Results 121-140 of 962 for speaker:Francis Noel Duffy

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Deputy Ó Broin has probably said it all. I believe this is an obligation on the local authority to put together a housing development strategy. One part of the strategy is about compact urban development sites. We have a lot of towns and a number of cities. In itself, building in compact urban sites is sustainable - brownfield sites - and it is about making that work. If the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Amendments Nos. 612 to 614, inclusive, are essentially the same. Amendment No. 614 puts the other two amendments together. I will speak to amendment No. 613. Infrastructure could be put in as a condition. As was said, the expertise needs to be in the planning department so it can understand things, and this is about infrastructure. If there is too much infrastructure going in, that is a...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: It is the one on the compact sites. Deputy O'Broin moved on to this one but I just want to go back to it and the fact that it is-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: It is amendment No. 366.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Yes, but the two of them are related. I kind of get it is the horse before the cart. I have to disagree with the Minister of State in the context that the technology is definitely there because I have used it. The embodied carbon of a building can be quantified. The technology is there and it is being used. When that comes, will there be a case for the next Government or whichever...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: I understand. Amendment No. 612 is one of my amendments. I get that. However, the second one is about infrastructure. It is on a larger scale. A developer, an architect or an engineer does not have the bigger picture that planners have.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Yes.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Sure.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: On amendment No. 614, I accept what the Minister of State said in that there is reference within development plans to cover that. I agree that building control is a place where measurement should happen. However, in the context of the State strategising going forward, architects and engineers strategise for the site they have and comply with whatever is put in front of them, but they do not...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: That is fair enough. The language is that this is to be a strategy, so it is a statement of intent by the maker of the housing development strategy. It is an intent and does not specify that anyone has to do anything. The Bill uses language to say the State should be cognisant of the whole-life carbon emissions of the strategy when it is looking to prioritise compact urban development...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Youth Work Supports (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: 86. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when the new youth employability funding scheme will be announced; how much has been set aside; the application criteria; when he expects to announce recipients; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9194/24]

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Mother and Baby Homes (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: 134. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he intends to include additional institutions in the schedule of the Birth Information and Tracing Act, 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9195/24]

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: My amendment proposes the inclusion of one word, "enhancement", which is something we, as a State, are already doing. We enhance our landscape, ecology and biodiversity through reforestation, wetting of bogs, etc. In the case of any architectural building or heritage, the State affords itself or the owner of the building the capacity to enhance it. That is not conservation, which is a...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: It is a national planning framework and there are six provisions that the framework maker has to make. Five of the six are as follows: the identification of strategic development, which is expansion; indication of national infrastructure, which is expansion; the promotion of sustainable settlements, which is expansion; land-sea co-ordination and development, which is expansion; and the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (27 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: 111. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he is aware of the disparity and inconsistency in national standards with regards to the pass rates in a driving test centre (details supplied); if this can be reviewed by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8939/24]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (27 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: 112. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he is aware there is still a significant backlog in the scheduling of driving test appointments in a driving test centre (details supplied); the steps his Department is taking to clear the backlog; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8940/24]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (27 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: 231. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the impact the decision to eliminate the category of complex educational needs from consideration when allocating special education teacher hours on children with Down syndrome in mainstream schools; if this decision will be reviewed to ensure children with Down syndrome can receive the required supports in mainstream...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Schemes (27 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: 275. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for the updated acquisition cost guidelines (ACG) for the cost rental tenant in situ scheme. [8851/24]

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Forestry Sector (27 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: 395. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine why there is a delay in the Forest Service granting afforestation licences, which are required to meet our national afforestation targets in 2024 and beyond; what actions are being taken to ensure that the Forest Service has the resources to meets its targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9135/24]

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: We are dealing with amendment No.64 in section 10. Amendments Nos. 65 and 66 are physical alternatives to amendments Nos. 64; amendments Nos. 74 and 75 are physical alternatives to No. 73; amendment No. 83 is a physical alternative to 82; amendment No.100 is a physical alternative to No. 89; Nos.102 and 103 are physical alternatives to 101; and amendments Nos. 64 to 83, inclusive, Nos. 88,...