Results 301-320 of 3,553 for in 'Dáil debates' speaker:Ciarán Lynch

Election Management System. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: Question 2: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the expenditure on the acquisition and the storage of electronic voting machines; if he will scrap electronic voting machines in order to save storage costs and to gain any residual value from their scrappage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36584/08]

Election Management System. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: Any pensioners listening to this debate must be bewildered. In a week in which the House addressed the issue of medical cards, this might appear to be a small matter, but it is significant. Last week, the Minister cheerlead on the benches and gave the budget a standing ovation. When I raised this matter in May, the Minister gave an identical response. The commission completed its report...

Election Management System. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: I will ask it. The Minister does not have a plan. He is prevaricating and sitting on the issue. Public money is being squandered, yet the Minister has not responded to a matter raised with him six months ago. He has done nothing in that period except to give me the same answer that he gave then.

Election Management System. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: When will the Minister make a decision, scrap the project and stop wasting taxpayers' money? Is he in a position to inform the House that the project has been scrapped and will not be used in the European or local elections and that he has an exit strategy?

Election Management System. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: I have the answer here.

Election Management System. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: Nearly six months ago, the Minister stated he was examining the issue and that the machines' use in the local elections was unlikely.

Election Management System. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: Since his statement this afternoon is the same, he has done nothing in the past five months. Since the matter was last raised during Question Time, what has the Minister done about it?

Election Management System. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: Is the Minister going on record to state he commissioned a report in the past five months?

Housing Market. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: I thank the Minister of State for his response. I wish to pick up on two or three specific areas, with the key point being the purchase of new or old builds. An important point is that the ceiling of €285,000 is the determining factor, so it does not matter if the mortgage is taken on a new or old build. That is the ceiling. In welcoming this proposal, we should realise that it is an...

Housing Market. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: I will clarify a few matters with the Minister of State. The minimum earnings to qualify for the home choice scheme are €40,000 and there is no maximum.

Housing Market. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: Is there a shelf life for the operation of the scheme? Will it be for the next 12 months or will it go into the foreseeable future with an indefinite end point? As there is no maximum earnings threshold and the maximum purchase price is €285,000, why is the purchase of old builds not being facilitated? It does not make sense. If somebody can purchase a house at that value in a declining...

Housing Market. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: Is there a shelf life to the scheme?

Housing Market. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: As the market is declining and should be correcting itself, we are pouring cash into it.

Housing Market. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: It is fact.

Housing Market. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: It is an opportunity. That is right.

Local Authority Housing. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: Question 7: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he intends that, under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008, local authorities should form management companies or employ management companies in order to charge rents or make other charges in regard to dwellings that it owns. [36392/08]

Local Authority Housing. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: I am uncertain as to what the Minister of State has just stated, because the legislation, which I have to hand, states that local authorities will be getting into the business of establishing management companies. To push out the question further, will such management companies engage with matters such as the rental accommodation scheme? I can envisage a scenario in which local authorities...

Local Authority Housing. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: I shall frame three questions. Will this create an additional charge for tenants under the rental accommodation scheme? How will the legislative framework for this measure be pitched? Will it be included in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill although regulation is still awaited in respect of the private management sector? Third, although councils will be obliged to get into...

Local Authority Housing. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: I wish to ask a brief supplementary question.

Local Authority Housing. (23 Oct 2008)

Ciarán Lynch: It simply is to clarify that point.