Results 18,041-18,060 of 20,156 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: It would be an appalling situation. I have one more brief question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: Mr. Keegan does not know whether it will proceed or not. So much money has been spent and we are now down €96 million without knowing whether the project will proceed. With regard to Covanta, were Mr. Keegan and the officials aware that the company had been fined millions of dollars in the US for breaches of environmental legislation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: Does that concern Mr. Keegan?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: I have no doubt about that, but that has been the problem with the process. The elected members, under the Waste Management Act, were cut out of it in the early 2000s.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: I have heard Mr. Keegan's phrase "We will have regard to what the elected members say" used many times during my term as an elected local authority member. The problem is that the elected members have been hung out to dry and have been left completely exposed to a roasting from the public on this waste of money. The public cannot grasp the reason this amount of public money could be paid...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: Was MC O'Sullivan the name of the company involved?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: Is this company the same MC O'Sullivan which put together waste management plans for every region in the State? I saw somewhere that it was a cut-and-paste job. The company was subsequently bought out by RPS group. The midlands waste management plan -----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: I think they fairly much covered the regions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: The company certainly got the contract for the midlands and some other regions as well. It is clear that the extension of the contract was not put out to tender and the then manager was in effect giving a blank cheque to a company that had built up the expertise at the public expense. That is part of the problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: Given the vast sums of money involved, to me it looks like a blank cheque

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: What is baffling about the project is that we have expended that figure and there is no product. People who do understand them cannot get their heads around why such an amount of money is being wasted.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Proposed Incinerator at Poolbeg: Dublin City Council (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: I thank Mr. Keegan and the other officials for coming before the committee. I sought this meeting last year because I am very concerned about the €96.3 million spent, with €4 million recovered from the PPP company. The rest has come from the public purse and on my last glance, there is no evidence of it on the site. The public has not seen any goods. I recognise that the...

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: The big weakness in the rates system at the moment, even with the changes being proposed, is that no cognisance is being taken of ability to pay. There are many small businesses from which people are not even getting a week's wages at the moment. Some sole traders and those employing three or four people are not even getting a half-week's wages for themselves from their businesses....

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: The Minister indicated yesterday, although he was speaking of something else at the time, that the date for the local elections and European elections would be 23 May. Will the Minister confirm that?

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: It is going for a Friday.

Local Government Reform Bill 2013: From the Seanad (22 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: Sinn Féin does not have a problem with the concept of shared services. The example has been given of Laois County Council in respect of payroll and pension services being combined. That certainly makes sense. The concern I have about services and procurement is that other European countries try to keep contracts in small, manageable pieces to escape the binds of e-tendering. I want...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: There are not so many old people in Kilkenny.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: By some 15%.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: I wish to ask a question on housing.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2014
Vote 25 - Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (Revised) (21 Jan 2014)

Brian Stanley: The Midlands Simon Community's funding has been cut substantially and I was shocked when I saw the letter which detailed it. I agree with the previous speaker that of course the homelessness situation in Dublin, Cork and other such places is worse, but there is homelessness in the four midlands counties and the Midlands Simon Community is trying to firefight. I ask the Minister and the...