Results 18,881-18,900 of 20,156 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: That is the total but the operational cost is €700 million. Irish Water will not provide it for €700 million. I am not holding up County Laois as a model, but the local authority there has been very efficient in providing water services. It has obtained money from the Department and has used some of its own development levies. It has invested steadily in water services over...

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: We do not know that, yet we are going ahead with it.

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: I understand that this is an interim Bill. The Minister of State and I will be obliged to ring 1890 numbers to talk to somebody in a call centre about major problems. We must go beyond this to the reality of what we are doing here. The Department is losing control of this situation and in a year's time the game will have changed because responsibility for water supplies will have been...

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: I have the figures. I ask the Minister of State to listen to what I have to say, as I did when he was speaking.

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: I respected the Minister of State when speaking.

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: I ask the Minister of State to allow me to speak. Despite the best attempt of the British Government to bully the Assembly into imposing water charges, the Sinn Féin Minister for Regional Development, Mr. Conor Murphy, MLA|, ensured that no charges were introduced. I feel obliged to set the record straight on the Government's mischief-making and lies on the issue of rates, charges and...

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: The Government is outsourcing responsibility for water services. The Northern Ireland Research and Statistics Agency states that the average local rate charge in the North is €789.

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: Yes, £789.

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: The Minister of State can work that out. I have heard people on the Government side of the House say people in the North pay £1,400 per annum.

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: All of their friends must live on the gold coast. That was said by Members of the Labour Party, which surprised me because I did not think the Stickies had much contact on the gold coast.

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: I thought most of them-----

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: I find it necessary to on every occasion point the following out to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd or the Minister, Deputy Hogan. Rates in the North cover provision of the following public services, education, including books, transport and school meals; emergency services, including fire services; health care, housing, local social services, roads, in respect of which there are no...

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: -----desludging of septic tanks; arts events and recreation, building control, community centres, environmental health, leisure facilities, tourism and waste management. In this State, people pay separately for each of these services by way of tax on their incomes or by way of charges. I hope I have clarified the situation in this regard to the Minister of State and that he and his...

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: However, as the Minister of States knows, that is not the case. The British Government wanted to introduce water charges but was prevented by Sinn Féin from doing so.

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: The proposals in respect of the installation of water meters and imposition of water charges was dreamed up by Fianna Fáil and is now being kept alive by Fine Gael, supported by the Labour Party. Fianna Fáil's National Development Plan 2011-2012 states: "Part of the expenditure saving package will arise from the introduction of a scheme of metering and charges for domestic water....

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: That may be so. I can guarantee the Minister of State that the process will not be completed in two or even four years. This Bill is nothing more than a Trojan horse for privatisation of our water services in the future. The Minister of State claims that is not the Government's intention, which I accept is true at this point. However, he will know that intentions and circumstances can...

Water Services Bill 2013 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: The Water Services Bill is fundamentally flawed and draconian in its content. It establishes Irish Water as a subsidiary of a company, Bord Gáis Éireann, which the Government has indicated it wants to sell off. The new company will be given the power to install meters and charge families. Crucially, the Bill repeals the prohibition on water charges. Denmark, with 5.5 million...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: EU Battlegroups (7 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: To ask the Minister for Defence if he will provide a progress report on Ireland’s participation in the Austro-German Battlegroup; the total cost of participation so far; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6123/13]

Promissory Notes: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (6 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: I thank the Technical Group for tabling this important motion. Any pressure on the Government and the agencies to move on this €3 billion is welcome, but I am not optimistic about what kind of deal we will get. Last month Government Deputies had to grin and bear it as they voted through one of the most regressive budgets in recent years. More than €3 billion in cuts were...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (6 Feb 2013)

Brian Stanley: The swimming pool is close to the Numbers estate in Graiguecullen, in the Minister's area. Half of the Numbers estate is in Laois and half is in Carlow-Kilkenny, so I have it in the swimming pool, which is the most identifiable point in the area - not in the pool itself, I would add, but in the community rooms in the old school beside it. There is also a crèche there and the Department...