Results 1,681-1,700 of 7,082 for speaker:John Paul Phelan

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: Deputy O'Dowd brought me to Drogheda after I was appointed as Minister of State with responsibility for local government. The Deputy has spoken about the projected increase in the population of Drogheda over the coming years. This is a good example of how the municipal district structure functions better in some local authority areas than in others. In many local authorities, there are...

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: We will discuss how extra resources could be given to such towns. The Deputy is really talking about a management structure.

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: There is not going to be any change in the idea of municipal districtsper se.I do not see why the idea of supporting the municipal districts with functioning management structures at local level cannot be dealt with under the planning framework. I will speak to my colleagues about that. We have included a new provision that will allow a joint structure to be put in place in respect of any...

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: It will be May.

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: And an engineer and a planner.

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 know the name but I am not in a position to say it yet.

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 Senator Boyhan. The Senator said at the start that my reports were lengthy but he managed to touch on every aspect of local government in his questions.

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: On the specifics, 30 June still stands for the review of the local electoral area boundaries. On the local government elections, a decision was made at European Council level that the weekend of 23 to 26 May next year is when the European Union Parliament elections will be held across the EU. Ireland will have an opportunity within that window to have our local and European Parliament...

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 am telling the Senator now. We consult regularly with those organisations and they speak on behalf of their memberships when they speak to us in formal discussions. They make the point, which was made by the Senator, that the municipal structure is working but needs to be bedded down and given more strength, powers and responsibilities. They do not want to unravel the changes that were...

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 cannot give the Senator an answer. The group has not been established yet. I cannot give the Senator a definite-----

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 will not be recommending anything to it. I will be giving it terms of reference an it will be very much up to it to make its own decisions. I am not that sort of person - if one gives independent people a job. The prospective members of this group would not take kindly to being directed by me or by any Minister.

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 want it to provide an interim report well in advance of the elections so that people who are going to stand or are considering not standing will know where they stand, so to speak, in making that decision. An interim report by Hallowe'en is still a big part of that. In terms of the legislative process, within the next two weeks, the outline of a local government Bill will go to...

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: Yes. That has not changed. I do not want to pre-empt any discussion that might take place at Government level. I indicated in my opening remarks that the report on leadership at local authority level is due to be discussed by the Cabinet within the month. The devolution of powers is an old chestnut. It is not only devolution of powers but it is the balance that lies between the...

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: Yes, and I have not spoken with them since.

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 am open to consideration, but there has to be some sort of a mechanism whereby, rather than having the Minister looking at each individual issue as it arises, if there is a process that can look at a function that can be delivered more or as efficiently at local level, then that should apply. We have a very centralised system, and I do not dispute that.

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: He was up at six o'clock looking at a water leak, I believe.

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 do not think we will ever agree about the reforms of 2014. I have a fundamental view when it comes to voting that one person one vote applies. That applies equally in local authority areas. The situation that existed in Navan and in many towns across the country, where some people got two ballot papers and others only got one, is democratically unsustainable. I have no great difficulty...

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 do not know the ins and outs but I know when I look across the country and see other counties where the county town does well, and a good example is my own county, Kilkenny city is a strong county town and always has been. There was severe opposition to the abolition of Kilkenny Borough Council which was there for hundreds of years. It should not have been abolished and it should have...

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: We are singing off the same hymn sheet regarding the south east. It has never ceased to amaze me since I first became a Senator 16 years ago that when investment in the regions was raised, Senators from the west would rise one after the other and support each other and their region and party political colours went out the window whereas that lack of cohesiveness in the south east was always...

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 suspect that we do not agree on many of the issues raised by the Deputy in the first half of his contribution. I come from a very rural part of County Kilkenny and have to admit that in the past ten or 15 years there has been an increase in illegal dumping. There are about 10,000 acres of State forestry just above my home place and the scale of illegal dumping is huge. It is in close...