Results 121-140 of 1,134,086 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Rory O'Hanlon OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Fergus O'Dowd OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Catherine Connolly OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh OR speaker:Josepha Madigan OR speaker:Joe O'Brien OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Paul McAuliffe OR speaker:Pádraig O'Sullivan OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Peter Burke OR speaker:Alan Kelly OR speaker:Cathal Crowe OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke OR speaker:Joan Collins OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Holly Cairns OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:Peter Fitzpatrick OR speaker:Steven Matthews OR speaker:Niamh Smyth)

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Cathal Crowe: I will hopefully come back in later, but will ask the Minister a final question. I have long been speaking about Ennis General Hospital and elective surgeries being suspended there for ten weeks. Surgery took place on perhaps four days in ten weeks. The theatre nurses, who are highly skilled, were redeployed to other functions in general medical wards. This is not personal, but the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: Is he here?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: It depends on how you look at it but it is somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000 people. It is a minimum of 400,000 up to 500,000, depending on the catchment area. If the mid-west region had two emergency departments, it would mean the population per emergency department would be 200,000. If we take, for example, the south west, it has four emergency departments with one emergency...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Cathal Crowe: They are not carrying bedpans or going to the general wards, but they are somewhere.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Cathal Crowe: What are those hours?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Cathal Crowe: I thank Ms Broderick.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Cathal Crowe: Could the Chairman allow us a minute each? We have hung on all afternoon.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Issues relating to University Hospital Limerick: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Cathal Crowe: I have the shortest question. It relates to the medical assessment unit in Ennis running to midnight from next week onwards. I know there are plans to recruit nurses and consultants but I do not believe there are any plans to recruit clerical staff. That is what the unions have been told. To have all cogs moving fluidly, it is essential that happens. Will the Minister give us some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: The witnesses are welcome to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. We meet today to discuss the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024. I am delighted to welcome the following witnesses from the Irish Council for Social Housing: Dr. Donal McManus, chief executive officer; Ms Ailbhe McLoughlin, director of policy; and Ms Lyndsey Anderson,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: Perfect. That is great. There is one hour and a quarter set aside for this meeting. I invite Ms McLoughlin to make the opening statement. We will then turn to members for questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I thank Ms McLoughlin. For the witnesses' information, we waived pre-legislative scrutiny because we are fully aware of the time sensitivity of this legislation, as they outlined. However, we held a briefing with the Department, so we are familiar with aspects of it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: Like Deputy Gould, I have learned more about AHBs at meetings of this committee in the past four or five years than I ever knew before. Therefore, it is really helpful that the guests come here and share their expertise with us. Could someone explain deemed-to-be-registered status to me. It is from the 2019 Act. Why have we reached a point that involves the possibility of losing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: The description indicated the sole purpose of AHBs was the delivery or provision of housing, whereas many AHBs have ancillary activities. The ancillary activities were pushing AHBs out of deemed-to-be-registered status because their sole purpose was not purely to provide housing. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: Yes. That verbatim description was set out in the 2019 Act. What change has there been? Has somebody suddenly noticed that some AHBs have activities other than the provision of housing and now fall foul of the Act? Is that generally where we are at?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: It sounds like a sensible amendment to make to overcome the obstacle. I just wanted to be clear that that was Dr. McManus’s take as well. It is what we had in our briefing from the Department. We have been very much behind regarding cost-rental housing for many years. It has been central to Green Party housing policy for many years. We met our Austrian colleagues prior to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I agree with that. I have roughly totted up the figures and noted there are to be around 4,000 cost-rental homes produced in the next three years by the AHB sector. I am aware that the LDA also has set a target. The more we see, the more people will become aware that the option is available to them. The 40-year timeline is in the legislation, the Affordable Housing Act. Is the period...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: Is 40 years a term in lending that cannot be gone beyond, even with mortgages for private property? If the period were extended to 45 years or 50 years, it would reduce the monthly rent, but would an extension of this kind add to the cost overall?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: Cost-rental eligibility is within an income bracket here. When I was talking to the Austrian Greens, they said it was a much wider income bracket, so there is a much greater mix of different occupations and people at different stages in their lives. Again, it is new and in the development stage. Obviously we can aspire to broader and greater production of cost rental. My time is up. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I wish to make one point and then I will bring in Deputy Gould. It was kind of in my line of questioning previously and it was mentioned in the opening statements. We are moving to ultra-efficient buildings, like the passive house standard almost or like how Shanganagh Castle Estate was constructed. Conventionally, you would have looked at one third of the income as being pitched around...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Bill 2024: Discussion (10 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: We will have to allow representatives from the local authorities to come in to answer that question. It is unfair to-----