Results 581-600 of 1,078,317 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Peter Burke OR speaker:John Brady OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:Patricia Ryan OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Patrick Costello)

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: I appreciate the Minister of State is reading the briefing notes in front of him but I want to repeat the point. The Land Development Agency does not have €6.25 billion.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Alan Dillon: I clarified that. It has access.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Eoin Ó Broin: It does not have €6.25 billion. It currently has €3.75 billion between funds that have been spent, allocated and what is proposed today. To say it has access to the remainder of the funds is the most liberal use of the word “access” I have heard in some time. It is important we understand why. In theory, the LDA can go and borrow on the markets, but the LDA is...

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Alan Dillon: I thank the Deputy for his response. I do not have the information to hand but I will provide it to him after this session. The purpose of today’s discussion on the amendment is to increase, from €1.25 to €2.25 billion, the amount the Minister for Finance may direct the National Treasury Management Agency to pay to the Land Development Agency for the proceeds of the...

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: We are putting all these extra billions into the LDA and it is just to deliver the existing plan. Is that what the Minister of State is telling us? It is for the existing plan. This is not linked to what everybody knows has to happen and which the Government itself knows has to happen, which is a dramatic upscaling of the targets necessary, which inevitably means a dramatic upscaling of...

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Ivana Bacik: This Bill and the amendments from the Seanad give us an opportunity to address that bigger issue of the Land Development Agency. We in the Labour Party certainly supported the Land Development Agency in principle. We think it is a vital vehicle to deliver homes at scale, affordable homes that we badly need. However, as Deputies Ó Broin and Boyd Barrett have pointed out, there are real...

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Cian O'Callaghan: The Social Democrats certainly will not be opposing these amendments. On the Land Development Agency, there is a massive gap between the initial promise put forward by Fine Gael's then Minister for housing, Eoghan Murphy, for what the Land Development Agency would deliver in terms of housing and what has transpired in the six years since then. I invite the Minister of State to speak about...

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Alan Dillon: I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I am glad there is no dissent or opposition to the amendments being brought forward. The additional funds will secure the delivery of the LDA's 2024-28 business plan, under which there is projected delivery of up to 12,900 homes by 2028. A large pipeline of further direct delivery homes is being developed for completion in the period from...

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I am happy enough to support this extra capital going towards the LDA, but I would rather that the LDA were something other than what it is. We have argued for some time it should be a fully fledged State construction company. That is the only way we will reach the level of output of social and affordable housing necessary to address the absolutely dire housing crisis we are facing. The...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Patricia Ryan: I thank our guests. I apologise about the voting; it just makes everything very awkward. Anyway, we will move on swiftly. Would our guests recommend that the Government disregard or disapply the net spending rule when allocating funding for the likes of State old age pensions, especially considering that the recent increase of €12 granted in budget 2025 has caused a real decrease...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Patricia Ryan: What are Mr. Coffey's thoughts on benchmarking?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Patricia Ryan: That is fine. I asked Mr. Coffey for that reason. I thank him. To minimise the risk caused by the current overreliance on the tax take from just three corporations, would the council recommend the Government remove vulture funds’ charity status, making their rental and other income subject to tax? The funds have a considerable presence in the housing, rental and mortgage markets....

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Patricia Ryan: Is there anything extra we could be doing to alleviate some of the problems caused for people by vulture funds?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Ireland's Medium-Term Fiscal and Structural Plan: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (23 Oct 2024)

Patricia Ryan: That is fair enough. That is all I wanted to ask. I thank all the guests very much. I appreciate the chance I have been given.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Health and Well-being for Persons with Disabilities: Discussion (23 Oct 2024)

Frank Feighan: I thank Mr. Dempsey for the presentation. It was very interesting and informative. I have three questions to ask. First, what proportion of public health clinics and hospitals meet national accessibility standards, including accessible buildings and environment and medical and health equipment? Second, as politicians we have had a lot of problems through the years with medical cards and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Health and Well-being for Persons with Disabilities: Discussion (23 Oct 2024)

Frank Feighan: With regard to people with disabilities, there seems to be a lot of picking and choosing.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

The Dáil went into Committee to consider amendments from the Seanad.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Seán Ó Fearghaíl: Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 are related and will be discussed together.

Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: From the Seanad (23 Oct 2024)

Seanad amendment No. 1: