Results 16,101-16,120 of 20,156 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2017 and Retransmission Fees: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Oct 2017)

Brian Stanley: I thank Mr. Kiely for his presentation. It was informative but I read in it that he did lean heavily on RTE. Some of the points he made are very valid. I have a concern around not having a public sector broadcaster operating in the media landscape. TV3 has provided a good service and as well as being a viewer I have been on some of the "Tonight with Vincent Browne" shows. I found it in...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff Recruitment (3 Oct 2017)

Brian Stanley: 583. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when the social welfare inspector who retired in Portlaoise some months ago will be replaced in view of the fact that the shortage of staff is causing long delays in processing claims for welfare benefits. [41614/17]

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. I suppose we have accepted this evening that we have a full-blown crisis, which needs an emergency response. I can see the extent of the crisis in the constituency where I live. In County Laois, the number of households on the housing waiting list has increased by 200 in recent months alone - a 15% increase. The response is that the first...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: I thank the Minister for the presentation and outline relating to the broadband plan. I am glad to see Fianna Fáil has copped on to what I was saying six months ago about this process. The reality is that the game is over regarding the broadband plan. I asked the Minister the question about SIRO's withdrawal at the press conference yesterday and he went off on a tangent talking about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: -----and the Minister allows me to cherry-pick the easiest 300,000 acres, that makes it less attractive for the other contractors to bid for it because one can aggregate it across the 840,000. That is the position. It is the iron law of economics. If the Minister had read the statement from SIRO yesterday on the reason it withdrew, he would have seen it is a completely different reason....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: The show is over as regards the State having its hands on the levers, so to speak. The Minister went on at length yesterday about what all the private companies are doing, which was not the question I asked. Of course they are. It is dog eat dog. The Minister has named the companies involved. The national broadband plan has become the plaything of the various capital interests involved...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: Who controls the river?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: Who controls the river? Private companies, and that is the problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: There was also land drainage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: On programme B, is the Minister satisfied with the way in which matters have been panning out with RTE in recent years? Is he satisfied that the position regarding the collection of the licence fee has become more sustainable? The rate of non-payment hovers between 14% and 17% of all households or premises. I am concerned that "Viper"-style tactics will be used to collect the licence fee,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: I did not say that. As a democrat, my preference is for a contest.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: The same people are invited on radio programmes all the time. They are all so close to the centre, they are balancing on the edge of a knife. It is a case of groupthink, although there is some very good public sector broadcasting on RTE. "Prime Time" tends to be good and there are good presenters, including Claire Byrne, Miriam O'Callaghan and David McCullough. However, some of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: I want the stuffy heads removed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: I was using an analogy. Reverting to the discussion and to the Minister's aspiration to bring high-speed broadband to every home in Ireland by one means or another - I am not particularly hung up on how it is done - the implication is that every home would have access to fibre broadband or its nearest available equivalent. One has to ask how that aspiration can be squared with the notion of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: There are very few of them in County Laois.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: We have looked at the data previously.

Wind Turbine Regulation Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] (21 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: I listened carefully to the replies. Many of the issues were raised in the debate. Populism was mentioned. We should be very clear that my party regards wind energy as part of the solution. We do not have a method of storing it. What we are doing here is setting out a set of practical proposals. I have read the Fianna Fáil proposals. In fairness, that party set out criteria for...

Wind Turbine Regulation Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] (21 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: In County Laois, the councillors of both parties voted to have no wind farms anywhere in the county. They left Laois County Council open to challenge by wind farm developers. Guess what: two wind farm developers are now preparing legal action against the council on foot of the action of the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors. At the meeting on the local property tax over a week...

Wind Turbine Regulation Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] (21 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: Fianna Fáil did.

Wind Turbine Regulation Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] (21 Sep 2017)

Brian Stanley: I accept that.