Results 61-80 of 905 for speaker:Francis Noel Duffy

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: I move amendment No. 131: In page 60, line 30, after “supporting” to insert the following: “Ireland’s climate targets as per the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 and”. This is to include a reference to the climate Act. There are a number of amendments, and that is probably why they are grouped. I think there...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: The Minister of State has covered the ten amendments in this group that I tabled. I will go through them as it is my turn to have a go. With regard to amendment No. 131, section 19(2)(f) makes reference to the pursuit and achievement of the national climate objective. I do not see why the Bill cannot be strengthened by including a reference to climate Acts. An Act is referenced in section...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: As the Minister of State has pointed out, it is in the definitions but the older Act does not refer to it. The Minister of State might educate me.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: That is fair enough.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Amendment No. 366 concerns carbon emissions and the housing development strategy.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Deputy Ó Broin has probably said it all. I believe this is an obligation on the local authority to put together a housing development strategy. One part of the strategy is about compact urban development sites. We have a lot of towns and a number of cities. In itself, building in compact urban sites is sustainable - brownfield sites - and it is about making that work. If the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Amendments Nos. 612 to 614, inclusive, are essentially the same. Amendment No. 614 puts the other two amendments together. I will speak to amendment No. 613. Infrastructure could be put in as a condition. As was said, the expertise needs to be in the planning department so it can understand things, and this is about infrastructure. If there is too much infrastructure going in, that is a...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: It is the one on the compact sites. Deputy O'Broin moved on to this one but I just want to go back to it and the fact that it is-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: It is amendment No. 366.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Yes, but the two of them are related. I kind of get it is the horse before the cart. I have to disagree with the Minister of State in the context that the technology is definitely there because I have used it. The embodied carbon of a building can be quantified. The technology is there and it is being used. When that comes, will there be a case for the next Government or whichever...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: I understand. Amendment No. 612 is one of my amendments. I get that. However, the second one is about infrastructure. It is on a larger scale. A developer, an architect or an engineer does not have the bigger picture that planners have.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Yes.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: Sure.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: On amendment No. 614, I accept what the Minister of State said in that there is reference within development plans to cover that. I agree that building control is a place where measurement should happen. However, in the context of the State strategising going forward, architects and engineers strategise for the site they have and comply with whatever is put in front of them, but they do not...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: That is fair enough. The language is that this is to be a strategy, so it is a statement of intent by the maker of the housing development strategy. It is an intent and does not specify that anyone has to do anything. The Bill uses language to say the State should be cognisant of the whole-life carbon emissions of the strategy when it is looking to prioritise compact urban development...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: My amendment proposes the inclusion of one word, "enhancement", which is something we, as a State, are already doing. We enhance our landscape, ecology and biodiversity through reforestation, wetting of bogs, etc. In the case of any architectural building or heritage, the State affords itself or the owner of the building the capacity to enhance it. That is not conservation, which is a...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: It is a national planning framework and there are six provisions that the framework maker has to make. Five of the six are as follows: the identification of strategic development, which is expansion; indication of national infrastructure, which is expansion; the promotion of sustainable settlements, which is expansion; land-sea co-ordination and development, which is expansion; and the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (27 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: 111. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he is aware of the disparity and inconsistency in national standards with regards to the pass rates in a driving test centre (details supplied); if this can be reviewed by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8939/24]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Test (27 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: 112. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he is aware there is still a significant backlog in the scheduling of driving test appointments in a driving test centre (details supplied); the steps his Department is taking to clear the backlog; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8940/24]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (27 Feb 2024)

Francis Noel Duffy: 231. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of the impact the decision to eliminate the category of complex educational needs from consideration when allocating special education teacher hours on children with Down syndrome in mainstream schools; if this decision will be reviewed to ensure children with Down syndrome can receive the required supports in mainstream...