Results 1,421-1,440 of 2,015 for speaker:Pat Casey

Topical Issue Debate: Ardmore Studios (29 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: I thank the Minister for answering but there were several questions I asked that she did not answer directly. The only direct answer she gave relates to the zoning and thanks are due to the public representatives in Wicklow who have maintained the zoning there. Will the Minister give full disclosure as to how the process was carried out? Will we get full information on the round 1 bidding...

Topical Issue Debate: Ardmore Studios (29 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: On 18 October 2016, a press release announced the sale of Ardmore Studios, which included the 32% State shareholding. Alarm bells immediately sounded when I and other public representatives were denied access to the prospectus of sale in order to clarify whether the studio was being sold as prime development land. Why was the State selling its large holding of shares in Ardmore Studios with...

Affordable Housing: Statements (29 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: Affordable housing is a key element of the medium to long term strategy to solve our housing crisis. Following the publication of the latest homeless figures yesterday, all of us in this Chamber must pause. The figures released yesterday deserve an emergency response by the Government, the Dáil, the media and every local authority. Where is the red alert? I have served in this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Vacant Housing Refurbishment Bill 2017: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: I thank all the witnesses for their presentations. I will make a general comment before I focus on the presentation by Engineers Ireland. I wish to stress that the purpose of this Bill is never to minimise fire or disability standards and I stress this every time I speak on the Bill. The purpose of the one stop shop is to try to harmonise three different processes into one. The fire and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Vacant Housing Refurbishment Bill 2017: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: We agree with that, and that is why this Bill equally says that when the one-stop shop approval is secured, that process can dictate the number of inspections to be carried out on a project. We all know the type of work we are talking about might be a very simple or very complicated piece of construction work. Some might not involve any construction work at all; perhaps a fabric change is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Vacant Housing Refurbishment Bill 2017: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: I suppose this goes back to the intent of the Bill. We might have to look at the exact wording. We are saying that the works permit will include a fire certificate and a disability certificate. This means that the very same process which is gone through today will have to be gone through under the system we are proposing. I will take on board the point that it is probably not realistic...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Vacant Housing Refurbishment Bill 2017: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: I thank Mr. Hynes for his contribution. We all have the same overall objective. Technical guidance documents would assist the fire officer to deal with the certification of applications. It comes back to the fundamental issue of independent inspection and assigning an independent inspector. It should be throughout the whole construction period. We sometimes question whether we should...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Vacant Housing Refurbishment Bill 2017: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: If a site is only inspected once by a local authority, that will be included in the percentage even though the site should be inspected a number of times. There should be a number of independent inspections, not just one.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Vacant Housing Refurbishment Bill 2017: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: They are issues.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Business of Select Committee (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: I do not know the full history of this case but how can something like that happen today? A developer can manage to build 44 apartments for which there was no planning permission and which did not meet building standards.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Business of Select Committee (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: A building with 44 apartment units was built without planning permission and nobody was aware of it.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised) (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: Is that a forecast?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised) (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: I note a review of the local property tax is currently underway. I would like to focus today on the local authorities' baseline in respect of which LPT plays a huge role. The baseline was established approximately 20 years ago and it has not been reviewed in any significant way in the interim. Many counties, particularly those around Dublin where there has been significant growth in...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised) (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: I appreciate that and I fully understand the reason for the equalisation process. However, a number of counties have concerns in regard to the baseline and there needs to be clarity brought to this issue. Wicklow County Council is complaining that it is being disadvantaged as against other local authorities. There needs to be more transparency brought to the baseline figure and how it is...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised) (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: What is the timeframe for the baseline review?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised) (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: Fair enough.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised) (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: As a commercial water rate payer and being from the most expensive county in the country for water, I was looking forward to the harmonisation process for the commercial water charge. While public consultation is very important for everything, a two year window to try to reach a decision on this is a little long. In fairness, we have known it has been coming for quite some time so what is...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised) (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: This morning the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, appeared before this committee in respect of new directives for An Bord Pleanála. We were discussing the strategic housing development, SHD, process. It was identified that a number of applications were failing the pre-planning process. We were trying to understand why they are failing. Is one of the reasons they are failing the lack...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised) (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: While I appreciate that, the majority of the 49,000 tenants availing of the housing assistance payment, HAP, want a permanent solution and do not want to live in private rented accommodation. I agree that a percentage of them want to live in a private rented accommodation. While HAP is a necessary scheme, it involves spending a large amount on a short-term solution to a long-term problem....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 34 - Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (Revised)
Vote 16 - Valuation Office (Revised)
Vote 23 - Property Registration Authority (Revised) (27 Mar 2018)

Pat Casey: I forgot to mention with regard to the housing assistance payment, HAP, that there is an increase of €200 million in the current expenditure programme. I know we sometimes question the value of money put into HAP. Equally, we saw landlords jumping on the bandwagon because HAP will give them a greater monthly rental than they currently achieve. We all need a percentage of HAP but...