Results 521-540 of 1,053,028 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Brian Stanley OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh OR speaker:Eoin Ó Broin OR speaker:Denis Naughten) in 'Committee meetings'
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Brian Stanley: If the tents move again, will the fencing extend to 4 or 5 km?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Brian Stanley: Okay. We will come back to this matter during the meeting. The first committee member to speak this morning is Deputy James O'Connor. He has 15 minutes.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Brian Stanley: I thank the Deputy. Deputy Ó Cathasaigh has ten minutes.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I thank the witnesses for their presentation and for the briefing material. We are in high danger of a Paddy Kavanagh quote at some stage, but that can wait. I want to pick up on a number of points Deputy O'Connor made. I will move through them relatively quickly. On staffing costs, in the context of pay rates for directors, a top rate of €107,141 is listed on page 34 of the...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Very good. That is a more than satisfactory answer. I was not sure whether it included the CEO grade or not. I want to ask another question arising from the annual accounts. Waterways Ireland is running this €3.6 million deficit, but it has €10.7 million cash on the books. It just seems like a lot of cash. I would have an issue. I remember serving on a board of...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: The witnesses get my point around having quite so much cash lying around. It is not something I would feel comfortable about, but if it is ring-fenced and set beside projects that are in the future then that answers my question in that sense. Another question I want to ask in this general financial space is about how 93% of Waterways Ireland's assets are these operational assets. These...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Would Mr. McDonagh have another yardstick for me. Could he give me a Scottish or British equivalent?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I would be interested in looking at it.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I think there are major opportunities there. I will be holidaying at the top of the Barrow navigation this year. There is massive scope for all sorts in terms of better using our canal infrastructure. This is a very quick question. Do we do any freight at all on canals?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: We can do zero carbon freight movement in canals into urban centres. This is what they were designed for, and it can decarbonise freight journeys. Is there any strategy? I know it is slower, that it is an infrastructure of the past and all the rest of it, but have there been any case studies done or any research carried out to see if it might be viable? They are moving stuff in Britain on...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: That would be, in fact, the traditional usage of a canal.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Is there a unit specifically towards freight within that work?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: On the other thing that our canals could usefully be used for, my cousin is a carpenter. His first house was a houseboat. He bought one, fitted it out and he and his partner lived very happily there for many years. When they started their family, they decided that maybe a canal was not the best place for a toddler, which I can understand. According to Waterways Ireland's figures, we have...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: There are 32. Can I translate that into there being 32 households on our canal infrastructure?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: However, they have not applied for the residential extended mooring permit.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Is the figure of 150 closer to what Mr. McDonagh would understand the number of households to be?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Okay, but Mr. McDonagh reckons then that only approximately 20% of those are paying the residential extended mooring permit.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Has Waterways Ireland undertaken any sort of study on the potential carrying capacity for people who could live on canals? These are delicate networks from the point of view of pollution, etc. We are in the middle of a housing crisis, so I am thinking about a single person or a two-person family. These are potential solutions. I do not think this is kooky. I do not think it is crazy. In...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Why would we need planning?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Waterways Ireland (4 Jul 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Can Mr. Rowe give a broad indication of the scale of ambition here?