Results 1,861-1,880 of 2,156 for speaker:John Cummins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of Local Government (Directly Elected Mayor with Executive Functions in Limerick City and County) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I also see nodding and perhaps it would be reflected in our report.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Fishing Industry (28 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I welcome the Minister of State. It is unique to have a Senator responding to Commencement matters. At the outset, I acknowledge the recent announcement of €3.1 million for Dunmore East Harbour and other marine amenities in Waterford, including piers at Helvick, Tramore, Cheekpoint, Ballinacourty and the slipway at Bunmahon. This level of investment in our marine amenities is...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Fishing Industry (28 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I thank the Minister of State for her response. I acknowledge what she stated, that Dunmore East is a location of strategic appropriateness and that it will be considered in the context of the ongoing review. I accept the lower volume of landings there compared with Howth, but given the fact that there is such a geographic gap between Howth and Castletownbere, in particular in terms of...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I thank the Minister of State for taking the amendment on board. It was something Senator Fitzpatrick and other Senators raised on Second Stage. As she says, it is a pragmatic approach to move towards a simple majority as opposed to the two-thirds majority required. It will be of assistance to local authority members across the country.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I will be brief. We need to be careful in our language here, particularly in saying that we are dropping below high standards. When we take a vote on legislation in this House, we have a simple majority. I do not hear anybody questioning that high bar of democratic voting processes we have in place in this House, or that is in place in houses across the world. I would ask that to be taken...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (28 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I will make a brief comment before the Minister of State responds. I am someone who sat on a local authority for 11 years. As other speakers have indicated, the agreement of a development plan is a reserved function of councillors that they take exceptionally seriously. We are not referring here to variations or deciding the detail of a development plan; this is purely about giving more...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Solar Panels for Public Buildings, Schools, Homes and Other Premises) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (28 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I commend my Green Party colleagues, Senators Pauline O’Reilly, Garvey and Martin, on bringing forward this Bill which will amend Parts 1 to 3, inclusive, of Schedule 2 to the Planning and Development Regulations in order to remove planning restrictions that relate to the installation of solar panels on public buildings, schools, homes,...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I thank the Minister for coming to the House today. I wish to compliment the very significant work that was done by colleagues across both Houses on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, with around 50 hours of discussion at pre-legislative scrutiny stage. I believe 78 recommendations were made, many of...

Seanad: Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (25 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I welcome the Minister to the House. He is a regular visitor at this point, which shows the urgency the Government has placed and will continue to place on this area. At the beginning of the pandemic, the Government acted quickly to protect renters by introducing emergency legislation to freeze rents and temporarily ban evictions. We extended that prior to Christmas and, in March, we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Interim Report on Mortality in Single Homeless Population 2020: Engagement with HSE (24 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: As I am off campus, I will not be able to contribute, but I have been listening intently to the entire discussion. I thank Dr. O'Carroll for his work. We look forward to continuing to engage with him.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I condemn in the strongest possible terms the recent instances of homophobia seen in Dublin and Waterford. Pride flags have been removed, straight pride posters have been erected and disgusting graffiti has been scrawled near a gay bar. The people behind these acts do not represent us. Their acts are shameful and wrong and we must stand firm against them and their prejudice. We have made...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I echo some of the Chair's comments. It is regrettable some of the political parties refuse to take up an offer from this committee to come before it with regard to the groundbreaking and comprehensive electoral reform Bill before us. I compliment the Minister of State and his officials on their engagement with us. I raised some points at the outset of this pre-legislative scrutiny...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: -----the PPS number and Revenue, it will leave us with a cohort of people. We should put a timeline of three months on that because we cannot allow the register to continue to be inaccurate. The register includes the names of many people who are deceased, which causes difficulties, and people who are no longer being at the relevant address. Has the data impact assessment the Data...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bill: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: It appears from that response that PPS numbers are not linked to the system to enable names to be removed when somebody passes away. Without that, we will have that ambiguity. At times when there is uncertainty, the easy thing to do is leave the person on the register because we do not want to disenfranchise anybody. However, we must have certainty. I ask that this is fed into the data...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2021: Second Stage (18 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him and his officials for engaging with members of the Oireachtas joint committee on this Bill.I agree with the Minister that this Bill is urgent, that it is important that it is put through both Houses without delay and that we have a motion for earlier signature. I will focus on sections 2 to 6, inclusive, of the Bill, which deal with the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I appreciate what Senator Higgins seeks to achieve with the amendment but it is not necessary to include it in this section or in primary legislation because this is something that happens anyway. Local authorities that are engaged in Part 8 processes to develop units must consider everything that is listed in the amendment. The local authorities, the LDA and all of these of organisations...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I disagree wholeheartedly with this amendment. A person who has been allocated a social house does not care whether it is built by a local authority, a private developer, the LDA or an approved housing body. Saying that we must build houses, affordable houses in the case of this amendment, in a certain way is an ideological position. Some local authorities will be able to ramp up the...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I have great respect for Senator Boyhan but I am surprised at his contribution. I am not suggesting he was attempting to mislead the House in his contribution but the figure of €450,000 relates to the ceilings for the shared equity scheme. What we are actually discussing here, in this section, is the local authority affordable purchase scheme. Thus, any references to or utterances...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I will make one brief point which I mentioned on Committee Stage. What we are doing here is aligning the existing cost rental equity loan term, in terms of the finance and arrangement for the same, which is at 40 years. By moving from 30 years to 40 years, we have aligned the whole process. If we were moving to 50 years in terms of what has been proposed in this amendment, it would be out...

Seanad: Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (18 Jun 2021)

John Cummins: I compliment Senator Higgins with regard to the original proposal on Committee Stage. The acceptance of the wording in this respect is further evidence that the Government takes very seriously the rents that will be charged at the outset under the cost rental model. It is our target to reduce the rents to the maximum possible, which is why we have spread the term over 40 years. That is why...