Results 1,661-1,680 of 7,082 for speaker:John Paul Phelan

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: She made a great contribution in her first speech to the House but she has been reading the same clichéd drivel into the record for the last two years. The cheap personalised attack is really beneath her. I will try to address individual points that Members have made in their contributions on this Private Members' motion. I arrived at the debate just before the contributions from...

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: They must be. I completely agree with them that local authorities building houses or providing demountables on land owned by citizens was a scheme that worked very well and local authorities still provide it. It is still within the gift of local authorities to provide such schemes, and the Members outlined that the scheme still exists in Kerry. I presume they were talking about increasing...

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I do not know the circumstances-----

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I do not deny what the Deputy is saying but I cannot comment on cases of which I simply do not know the specifics. However, I will try to answer the Deputy more fully at a later time. Deputy Gino Kenny' comments on ideology were interesting and in some respects, I do not disagree with him. He said that more ten years ago, there was a change. Indeed there was and the change meant that...

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: Yes, but we did not grow up in a palace. I acknowledge the role of social housing and even significantly large chunks of social housing. There is a whole side of Kilkenny city, the western environs, which is virtually all composed of it. One can see by the house design in what era the houses were built. They were largely privately bought out by their tenants and some are now among the...

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: Who was laughing?

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I was not laughing.

Housing: Motion [Private Members] (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: Deputy Catherine Martin is a disgrace. I did not laugh.

Topical Issue Debate (Resumed): Water Supply Leakages (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: In terms of a timeline, the longer-term response will take in the pumping station, the Thomastown reservoir and the interconnection between Dublin city and Fingal. Local authority boundaries correspond with district electoral divisions and are not necessarily natural geographic boundaries, so gains may be made. The shorter-term response is that Fingal County Council and Irish Water are...

Topical Issue Debate (Resumed): Water Supply Leakages (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I thank the Deputies for raising this Topical Issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. The ongoing issues with the water supply in Skerries have been prominent for the past week. Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has had statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local level....

Topical Issue Debate: Home Loan Scheme (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. I feel somewhat disadvantaged because the wording in front of me is slightly different from the wording submitted by Deputy Fleming. I thank him for raising the issue nonetheless. Following a review of the two existing local authority home loan schemes, the house purchase...

Topical Issue Debate: Home Loan Scheme (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I will certainly talk to the officials and the Minister. I disagree slightly with Deputy Fleming in the sense that when one is dealing with the private information of citizens, there are reasonable circumstances in which that information must remain private. That certainly applies to financial information. Two freedom of information requests for the credit policy were submitted to the...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Finances (13 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: It is a matter for each local authority to manage its own finances in a prudent and sustainable manner. In accordance with the Local Government Act 2001, a decision to borrow money is a reserved function of the elected members of a local authority. Section 106 of the Act provides that local authorities must obtain the consent of the appropriate Minister to undertake borrowing....

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Referendum Data (12 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: The Government announced on 26 September 2017 that it had agreed an indicative timetable for the holding of a number of referendums on proposals for amendments to the Constitution arising from the work of the Citizens’ Assembly and the Convention on the Constitution. In this context, my Department will be responsible for bringing forward appropriate Constitution Amendment Bills on...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee Report (12 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I established two independent Local Electoral Area Boundary Committees on 13 December 2017 to review and make recommendations on local electoral areas having regard to, among other things, the results of Census 2016 as well as the commitment to consider reducing the size of territorially large local electoral areas as set out in A Programme for Partnership Government (May 2016). The reviews...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Electoral Reform (12 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: A copy of the Bible forms part of the essential documents and equipment used by presiding officers at polling stations. All operational arrangements in polling stations, including arrangements for the use of essential documents and equipment, are a matter for local returning officers and in turn for the presiding officer at each polling station. If a voter is asked by a presiding officer...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Local Authority Management (12 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: In response to a Programme for Partnership Government commitment, a policy paper on local government leadership, which will examine the possible direct election of mayors for Ireland’s cities, will be submitted to Government in the coming weeks. This paper will consider the division of executive and reserved functions in local authorities, and examine alternatives to current...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Electoral Reform (12 Jun 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I refer the Deputy to the reply to Parliamentary Question No. 1568 of 17 April 2018, which sets out the position on this matter.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government Reform: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (31 May 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I thank the Chair and the committee for the opportunity to discuss two reports that have been produced to build on the reforms to local government that have taken place in recent years. I am joined today by officials from the Department; Mr. Paul Lemass, Mr. Diarmuid O'Leary, Ms Lorraine O'Donoghue and Ms Áinle Ní Bhriain. The Programme for Partnership Government sets out a number...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government Reform: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (31 May 2018)

John Paul Phelan: I suppose I have sympathy for the points the Deputy is trying to make. I understand what he is saying about Drogheda, in particular. It was the first place I visited as Minister of State.