Results 161-180 of 9,343 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Cathaoirleach for the welcome to me and the officials of the Office of Public Works. I am pleased to be before the committee again to present the 2024 Revised Estimate for the Office of Public Works. The gross allocation for 2024 is €645 million, which comprises €140 million for climate-responsive flood risk management and €505 million to be invested in...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I will take the last point first. As Deputy Durkan will know, the issue of Castletown House has preoccupied me and the Department for quite a long time. I have never attempted to blame anybody for what is going on down there and I do not believe any of our officials would wish to. However, the reality is we sought in good faith to buy the lands adjoining Castletown House that were...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: It has also been established for many generations that vehicles access Castletown House via Lime Avenue. Kildare County Council, the OPW and Irish Water all do so. It is not true to say that it does not have vehicular access, and everybody knows that. If you go out there-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is a moot point. To say-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: There is no point in me saying that there was not vehicular access when there was and is vehicular access. That does-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Give me a chance to finish. That does not mean that we are adverse to finding a solution that involves the M4. However, we do not own that land. We have to have respect for the people who own the land adjacent to us. It also does not mean that we discontinue any sort of dialogue with our neighbours. We are not going to do that either. It is in our interest to restore the lands in their...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: We are acutely aware of the Deputy's concerns and we are working towards a solution.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: There was a time when the Deputy and Deputy Conway-Walsh were the ones at war, but we will not mention that at all.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am not the Minister for Social Protection or the Minster for enterprise. If the Deputy has details of specific cases with regard to individual applicants and he forwards them on to me, I will have the relevant Ministers look at them. That is not the responsibility of the OPW.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: No, that is not the case. In 2017, this was a much smaller scheme. It was a scheme with €17 million worth of funding, which was to protect a much smaller area. The sources of flooding at the time were not the sources of flooding. We are now designing defences to protect against a once-in-100-years event, where there is flooding in Midleton from four sources. I do not know if the...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Members of Cork County Council would tell the Deputy, if he met them, that there is flooding from four sources. It is unique. There is flooding from an underground source, like a turlough, flooding from the tide, flooding from the rain and flooding from insufficient capacity in the river. It is a totally different comparison now, with a €50 million scheme in 2024. That is the stage...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am not going to answer that question because I do not know how long it is going to take to get planning permission. Going back to the point raised by Deputy Durkan, I have purposely stated, at this committee and in replies to parliamentary questions from other Deputies, that I am not going to put a timeline on it. We are working with Cork County Council to get the planning process finished...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: The people in Midleton want to hear the facts rather than the politicisation of the issue, which is unfortunately what is happening here. I know that part of Cork very well and have a lot of family connections there. The people there want to know that there is a commitment in terms of finance, which there is. They also want to know that the scheme that is proposed to be developed will...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is a charge, not a question. I do not know how the Deputy could deduce the charge based on what I said. He has decided to politicise this issue for the benefit of his local election candidate. The best of luck to them. Most of the TDs and councillors in Cork East have decided not to play politics with this. Most of them are more concerned with making sure we get to a situation where...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am not defensive.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is not true. This is the second time the Deputy has said it and it is not true.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (31 Jan 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: It is a totally different scheme. The Deputy can say what he is saying as often as he wants, and maybe 96FM or C103 will pick up on it. We are not talking about the same scheme.