Results 16,781-16,800 of 20,156 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Hospital Emergency Departments: Motion [Private Members] (10 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. No one can deny we have a crisis in emergency departments throughout the State. The facts are there. While we have a crisis throughout the State, the Portlaoise emergency department is fighting for its very survival. A report was commissioned under the stewardship of Dr. Susan O'Reilly and we were supposed to have its conclusion and...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: This is a good amendment providing for a revised format of the ballot paper. There is some confusion surrounding the ballot paper where political party emblems currently appear on the left-hand side of it. Anything that improves the integrity of the electoral system is well worthwhile. Is it the intention that this revised format would apply in all elections, namely, in general elections...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: That suggestion makes sense, particularly if there is a guaranteed service and if alternatives are provided in the event of ferry sailings being disrupted. It is important that people can vote and my preference would be for elections to be held at weekends. If people cannot be facilitated on Saturdays, then at the very least they should be able to vote on Friday evenings. A hell of a lot...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (10 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: 530. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if the inquiry into issues related to planning matters in County Wicklow has been completed; if he will make the report available to the House; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39182/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: There has been talk of Kalashnikovs and everything else.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: What is the Minister doing to remove these roadblocks if they are being erected by his Fine Gael colleagues?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: Will the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, play his role in trying to resolve the matter?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: This is a serious problem.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: When will we see rent controls? The people on the street do not find this funny. It is serious.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: It is very serious. When will we have rent control?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: 5. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the measures his Government is putting in place to deal with the problem of escalating rents in the private rental sector. [38589/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: My question relates to the crisis in the private rental sector of the numbers becoming homeless and the families that are being squeezed out of private rented accommodation because of the lack of action on rent certainty or rent controls. We just discussed housing waiting lists. They are being added to by the day because, unlike other states, we do not have effective rent controls.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: I thank the Minister for his reply but he sidestepped my question to some extent in that he blamed the problem of rising rents on supply. There is a plentiful supply of houses in County Laois where I live, given the number of properties lying vacant despite being value for money. The same applies in south County Kildare. I remind the Minister that rents did not collapse during the property...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: -----for rent allowance as well as the amount of rent supplement. What effective measures will be taken? There are two problems, those being, the threshold for rent supplement, which-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: -----is too low, and the amount of rent allowance that is made available. What effective measures will be taken to stem the tide?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Private Rented Accommodation Costs and Controls (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: A recent Simon Communities survey found that no house was available for rent in the Portlaoise area within the rent limits set by the Government. Those are the facts. Some 90% of rents are above the limits set across the State and there is no house for rent in the Portlaoise area within those limits. The limit for a family of four is €480, with a portion allocated as rent allowance,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Wind Energy Guidelines (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: While I thank the Minister for his reply, unfortunately it does not tell me much. The consultation process was opened two years ago and closed ten months ago, and we still do not have sight of the regulations or guidelines. We would prefer regulations on the development of wind farms. Last year, I introduced a Bill on the development of wind farms setting out minimum setback distances and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Wind Energy Guidelines (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: I am hearing procrastination. We are not reaching our goal quickly enough. Planning applications are rolling in and planning permission is being given for wind farm developments. There is concern about the setback distances of these giant turbines. In the midlands and in Laois-Offaly, which I represent, huge turbines are being constructed. Some of the Minister's Labour Party colleagues...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Wind Energy Guidelines (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: No, the Minister's Labour Party colleagues are personalising it. It was in the press.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Wind Energy Guidelines (5 Nov 2015)

Brian Stanley: 2. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when the new wind farm regulations will be put in place; and whether they will include mandatory set-back distances based pro rata on the height of turbines. [37477/15]