Results 1,421-1,440 of 14,706 for speaker:Phil Hogan

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: This amendment provides for the procedures to be followed by the local authority upon receipt of a recommendation from the public appointments commission for appointment as a new chief executive. An important element of the rebalancing of the relationship between the elected member and the chief executive is the making of the appointment of the chief executive by the elected members a...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: Seanad amendment No. 68 is designed to augment the provisions in the original Bill to augment the role of the associations of local authorities such as the Association of City and County Councils, ACCC, and the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland, AMAI, and, hopefully, an amalgamated association after the local elections will give them a greater role in providing a perspective of...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: The provision for suspension of a member is carefully drafted so that the suspension can only follow persistent and continuous disruptive behaviour which the other members find unacceptable. In the Dáil Committee Stage debates, concerns were expressed that there may be potential risks associated with powers to suspend a member notwithstanding the fact that the suspension could only come...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: Amendment No. 70 was made to subsection (e) of section 58 during Committee Stage in the Seanad to clarify further the role of the members of a municipal district in considering the draft budgetary plan. This provides that the members of the municipal district shall by resolution adopt the draft budgetary plan, either with or without amendment. However, I recognise that the local authority...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: The municipal districts will have a view and every municipal district will be putting its best foot forward in relation to what it wants. At the end of the day, the county or city will have to make a decision on what it can afford to do. What we are seeking to provide for here is that the manager and the corporate policy group must take account of needs and resources of each municipal...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: That is correct.

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: Amendments Nos. 72 and 73 are technical amendments to correct references in section 126H(1) of the 2001 Act dealing with the number of members of the National Oversight and Audit Commission, NOAC, and section 126H(6) of the 2001 Act which provides that the members will not input into reports in respect of matters in which may have been involved within their roles in a local authority or...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: Amendments Nos. 75 to 85, inclusive, and 103 all relate to section 60 and Schedule 2, and are largely technical in nature correcting textual errors with some substantive drafting amendments, namely amendments Nos. 78 and 83. Amendment No. 78 inserts a new subparagraph to section 23(2)(b) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 as substituted by the Local Government Reform Bill 2013 to...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: I do not agree with the Deputy, because this is a big improvement on the current position. We are putting mechanisms in place to ensure people have information meetings and properly structured consultation on the issues of the day. Ultimately they will be able to meet their local elected representatives and make those concerns known to each individual local authority member in Leitrim or...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: What is provided for is that a local authority may take such steps as it considers appropriate in how to consult. The word "may" refers to the structures. I want to provide for flexibility in respect of the structures being established by the local authority for consultation, but the overriding issue in the section is that there will be consultation.

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: When setting up a consultation process there is always a danger that one will have a rent-a-crowd in respect of whatever is the issue of the day. They could come from any part of the country into a local community on the basis of being whipped up to do so. I am trying to provide a structured opportunity, underpinned by statute, to ensure local authorities have discretion to have that...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: Seanad amendment No. 63 provides for the removal of a provision that was originally included in the Bill for the leaders of political parties above a certain threshold of membership in the local authority to be subject to automatic membership of the corporate policy group. This is in response to debates in this and the other House prior to Christmas in which concerns were expressed that...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: The amendment will enable the local community development committee, LCDC, to be represented on the new economic development and enterprise strategic policy committee. Separately, through Seanad amendment No. 63, I will delete the requirement that the LCDC be represented on the corporate policy group. There was a concern on the part of elected members that an external member or an unelected...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: These amendments are reflective of the recent discussion we had about how people at community level would participate in the new local government mechanisms. This amendment replaces section 127 of the 2001 Act with a new section providing for extensive and diverse input by local communities in the decision-making processes at local government level. The new section provides that local...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: There will be no change in the status of the county development plan and local area plans will be done at district and municipal level. We have the national spatial strategy, regional planning guidelines, the county development plan process, local area plans and municipal level. The hierarchy is familiar to everybody. Local elected members will have a more devolved say at local area plan...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: I am trying to bring the community and voluntary sector into line with the democratic structures at local government level. For the first time, the community and voluntary sector will now have a statutory remit and relationship with local government, which it does not have currently. Companies operate on a stand-alone private company basis or they expect to get money from various...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: I said earlier that I had not encountered the procedure for the Clerk's correction previously, but I have another correction to be made now. I request the Clerk's correction to the listing in the Bill, consequential on amendment No. 34, in order to correct a drafting error. On page 215, line 5, I ask that the reference to 128G be changed to 128F. I am sure this change will not impinge on...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: Amendment No. 61 is the most crucial amendment in the grouping. Under the new section 66A to section 66H provisions, local authorities and the local community development committees are to be tasked with preparing integrated local economic and community plans for their areas. These plans will have economic and community elements, which will be prepared separately but in parallel. The local...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: Yes; I request the Clerk's correction to the text of amendment No. 61 in order to correct a drafting error. In the new section 66H proposed to be inserted by amendment No. 61, in subsection (1) the reference to 128E should be changed to 128F.

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (Resumed) (22 Jan 2014)

Phil Hogan: Yes, or they are included in it.