Results 18,981-19,000 of 32,978 for speaker:Catherine Connolly
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: That is okay.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: That is fine. That is what I wanted to clarify. I wish to ask the Secretary General about the task force in Galway. Does he accept that Galway City Council and Galway County Council have utterly failed to deal with the crisis and that is why the Department set up a task force?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: Okay. Had the Department a role in contributing to the difficulties of the local authority by not providing funding for direct build from 2010 onwards? Does the Secretary General accept the Department did not provide funding?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: In Galway City Council, construction was suspended in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 because of no money. Does the Secretary General accept the Government had a role in creating the crisis?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: "Yes" or "No".
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: Did the Department provide funding over that period to avoid a crisis? Why was there no direct build house construction in Galway until last year? That is a simple question.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: 2011, 2012-----
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: I use Galway because I am familiar with it, but it has universal application. A housing crisis did not arise overnight; it was created. I saw those reports confirming that there was no funding and housing was suspended. I see no feedback to the Department outlining that there was a major crisis looming. We are now seeing HAP and all the others rising in the market. The biggest cause of...
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: It used to be known as under-the-counter payments; now it is over the counter. In Galway, someone who gets a certificate might get €1,000 or €1,200 and the tenant has to magically come up with a couple of hundred euro to get accommodation. Is that correct -"Yes" or "No"?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: I am asking about a tenant who gets a HAP allocation. It is a "Yes" or "No" question. Does that person have to come up with more cash themselves out of their own pocket in addition to what they are getting under HAP?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: In my experience in Galway the vast majority of people receiving HAP have to come up with extra money out of their pockets.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: That is the theory. On the ground in a crisis people have to come up with money out of their own pockets. Government policy the officials are implementing is actively pushing prices continually upwards and nobody can get accommodation. We know from the reports that they are finding it difficult.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: The system is created for unsustainability. It is maintaining the crisis and lack of tenure. Galway has any amount of land zoned for residential development, public land and State land. There is no masterplan. There are the docks, Ceannt station, Dyke Road and 115 acres out at the airport. There is no masterplan to look at that in terms of public housing. We have one agency after...
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: Mr. McCarthy clarified that a person comes off the waiting list when he or she secures HAP accommodation. What rights do persons in HAP accommodation have? They will be adequately housed and will have moved off the waiting list. In Galway, they may have been waiting for a local authority house since 2002. When their turn comes for an allocation, they are offered a HAP tenancy. Once they...
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: They are in a HAP tenancy but every time the allocation section comes up, all the people on the transfer list are considered for a local authority house.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: I might come back to Mr. McCarthy on that.
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: I thank the witnesses for being here all day. I often think that if a section of the private sector was subjected to the same scrutiny we would have a much better country. Are we dealing with chapter 4 now?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: Our role concerns governance and ensuring procedures are in place. I started this morning by asking questions about the other chapter, and the witnesses gave me assurances on it. Is it correct to say that the Local Government Audit Service audits each of the 31 local authorities?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: Are there enough staff in that office? Some €2.1 billion has been allocated to the local authorities from the Exchequer. What is the oversight here? What is the staff situation with the internal audit service? Are there vacancies?
- Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (28 Feb 2019) Catherine Connolly: What is the full complement necessary to carry out the work properly?