Results 401-420 of 6,265 for in 'Committee meetings' speaker:Catherine Murphy

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: I would like to see a few Fine Gael Deputies here. I am very tempted to call a vote.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: We have a bloated Government, yet we have four members of the Opposition, two Labour Party members and nobody from the Fine Gael Party.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: I have a problem with this section, which I wish to flag. The local authority has up to eight months to inspect the dwelling once somebody enters into an agreement with the landlord. Following the inspection by the local authority, if the dwelling is found not to meet the needs of the tenant or is unsatisfactory, then the person has to find another property. It seems that people will...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: That really underlines exactly the point I was making on amendment No. 24. If what I propose in amendment No. 25 is to be a charge on the State, that confirms there is no mechanism for a review during the year. The local authority will have one allocation and irrespective of how much it varies from the rents in the area, there is no capacity to amend it. If there is fewer than 10% of the...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: The Chairman is proceeding to finish this Stage, but I have tabled amendments and notified the clerk to the committee yesterday that we had to attend a meeting at 12.30 p.m. which would last half an hour. I have no option but to attend that meeting.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: Does that mean there could be increases or that they might be treated differently or anything of that nature?

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: Yes. Sometimes provisions of this nature appear innocuous and it is only when they are implemented that difficulties begin to arise.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: I do not have a problem with that.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 30: In page 59, between lines 2 and 3, to insert the following:“49.(1) The Minister shall, six months after the coming into operation of this Part, cause a review to be conducted which shall assess the effectiveness of the measures contained in this Part under the following categories:(a) the net effect on the numbers of families waiting for accommodation to be...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: On implementation, fault lines are already apparent, as I said on Second Stage. There are wide variations throughout the country in the context of the positioning of local authority staff. To highlight the worst-case scenario, Meath County Council has a staff of 620 but is responsible for 20,000 more people than the combined authorities in Limerick, which have a total of 1,075 staff between...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: If there is to be a report to the committee I will withdraw it but I think-----

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: The Minister of State would accept that it cannot be done without staffing.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: If I heard correctly, rent supplement will continue to be paid in the absence of the availability of another payment. Clearly, only one payment will be made. The Minister of State has also pointed out that there will be a significant change in regard to community welfare offices. Will the rent unit still be there? The Minister of State also suggested that following the changes, a housing...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: To speak to amendment No. 40, 15% represents a sizeable amount of money and would impact very harshly on families with children in circumstances in which the social welfare payment for dependent children is small anyway. It would bring back a lone parent with one child to the basic social welfare rate applying to an individual. There is a bit of a paradox here. I remember being contacted...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: The Department of Social Protection will not deduct property tax on the basis that it would put somebody below the supplementary welfare rate, because that would be deemed as the minimum necessary to live on, but at the same time the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government will deduct amounts of up to 15%.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: I was talking about the amount. I think 15% is punitive.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: I move amendment No. 40: In page 61, line 8, to delete “15 per cent” and substitute “5 per cent”.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (4 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: There appear to be different arrangements depending on the local authority area. Obviously the local authorities are entitled to make their own schemes for letting priorities. I am dealing with a situation in which a person surrendered a three-bedroom house in favour of a one-bedroom apartment under RAS. The landlord has now pulled out of the RAS scheme and finding substitute...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Current Housing Demand: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: Some 50% of the 90,000 people on the housing waiting list reside in six local authority areas - Dublin city, Fingal, South Dublin, Kildare, Cork city and Cork county. Homelessness is now emerging as a significant issue outside the capital. One solution is being proposed in the short term, but only in the Dublin area. Just this week a dozen people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Business of Select Sub-Committee (24 Jun 2014)

Catherine Murphy: It is. This is important, but we are seated here at 11.10 a.m. and are in this appalling situation.