Results 161-180 of 1,131,791 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Kieran O'Donnell OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Thomas Gould OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Bernard Durkan OR speaker:Michael Fitzmaurice OR speaker:Denis Naughten OR speaker:Chris Andrews OR speaker:Micheál Martin OR speaker:Neasa Hourigan OR speaker:James Lawless OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh OR speaker:Pádraig O'Sullivan OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh16 OR speaker:John Lahart OR speaker:Catherine Murphy OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh17 OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh3 OR speaker:Peter Burke OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh00 OR speaker:Helen McEntee)

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

Thomas Gould: Could a longer period be considered to help reduce costs? There are people who do not qualify for social housing, cannot buy a house and cannot pay market rents. Many people are living in box bedrooms. There is an entire box bedroom generation. Maybe we need to tease out the question of the period more. Deputy Ó Broin will probably do so. Capacity is another issue. We could do...

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

Thomas Gould: We know that there is definitely a need. A cost-rental scheme in Glanmire in Cork ran out of houses. I am not 100% sure about the figures, but I believe there were 1,200 applications for 36 properties.

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

Thomas Gould: Ms Anderson touched on the standard of cost-rental accommodation. In Cork, it is of a very high quality and being managed properly. It is a place people want to live. I spoke to two young women who were sharing a property on Lancaster Quay. One worked in the hospital and the other worked in the city council. They were really positive about the accommodation. They spoke about a community...

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

Thomas Gould: I apologise, I am going to have to leave after this. Something struck me when Ms Cleary was speaking about older people and pensioners. We see pensioners who are homeless, which was probably something we never saw previously in the lifetime of this State. There are 224 now, and the number is creeping up slowly. I imagine that the vast majority of people who avail of cost-rental properties...

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

Thomas Gould: I appreciate that. What happens to that lady I mentioned who is on €42,000 who does not qualify for HAP because she is over the threshold? Many people have to pay a lot of extra money over the HAP amount in order to get rental properties. Will HAP be sufficient in order that there will not be pensioners who are struggling? Will it be enough for pensioners to still be able to afford...

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

Thomas Gould: I had not thought of what Ms Hennigan said about people who lose their incomes for different reasons, namely losing their jobs or on foot of health issues. It is important that work is being done, so that is good to hear. We are looking at cost rental long term. People are saying we need to develop the Irish mentality to cost rental, and all those things need to be considered. One of...

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

Thomas Gould: I wanted the witnesses to say that.

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

Thomas Gould: Even if we were to take the human side out of it, Mr. O'Gorman has made the point about the consequences of having cold and damp houses with mould in them. I have people now whose clothes in their wardrobes are mouldy. The ends of their beds are getting damp because they are up against the wall. The human cost of this is great, but so is the financial cost. When there is a chance to do...

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

Thomas Gould: I always that the concept whereby an AHB or a local authority would step in when a family was in trouble rather than that family losing its house was a good one. There seems to be a reluctance, however, to get involved in this undertaking. I would like to see more of it being done. I say this because my big worry now is that people are paying so much for overvalued homes that some of them...

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

Thomas Gould: I thank Ms Cleary.

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

Thomas Gould: What I am taking from that is that we are saying local authorities cannot plan in the long-term.

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

Thomas Gould: I will say that local authorities, to be fair to them, are not being funded long-term. This would be the way to look at it. I must run, so I thank the witnesses very much. Go raibh maith agat.

South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for Offshore Renewable Energy: Motion (10 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: I too, welcome this motion and the development of the DMAPs. I recognise the enormous amount of work and consultation that went into bringing them about. I also acknowledge the fact that during the consultation period the Minister of State did listen to the environmental groups and took into consideration the environmental assessment needs of these areas. My comments are probably more...

South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for Offshore Renewable Energy: Motion (10 Oct 2024)

David Cullinane: I welcome today's motion and the fact that we now have the DMAPs for the south coast. I am very supportive of offshore renewable energy and its importance to the future infrastructure needs of the south east in particular, but also the State and the island, as well as its importance for Ireland reaching its climate action targets, becoming more carbon-neutral and also in terms of new...

South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for Offshore Renewable Energy: Motion (10 Oct 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have very mixed feelings about this motion. I am not from the south-coast area so I lack the sort of specific knowledge or guidance that would allow me to make a properly informed decision as to what I think about this motion. We all know we need to develop renewable energy and that offshore renewable energy will be an important part of that. We should also know, however, that the...

South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for Offshore Renewable Energy: Motion (10 Oct 2024)

Brendan Howlin: I am very pleased to have an opportunity to make a short contribution on what I regard as a very important motion. It is part of a long process in which we in these Houses have been involved for some time. The Minister of State described it as a landmark proposal, and it is. Spatial planning for our marine environment is a relatively new concept. In the past, it was almost a free-for-all...

South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for Offshore Renewable Energy: Motion (10 Oct 2024)

Darren O'Rourke: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the south coast DMAP. This has been quite some time coming. After 15 months, we finally have a plan for offshore wind on the south coast of our island. It is Ireland's first spatial plan for offshore wind and identifies four maritime areas off the south coast for offshore wind development over the next decade. It is welcome. Offshore renewable...

South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for Offshore Renewable Energy: Motion (10 Oct 2024)

South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for Offshore Renewable Energy: Motion (10 Oct 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the draft South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for Offshore Renewable Energy, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 26th September, 2024. On behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, I welcome this opportunity to seek the support of Deputies for Ireland’s first forward spatial plan...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (10 Oct 2024)

Seán Ó Fearghaíl: I wish to say something before the Tánaiste comes in. This is the second Deputy to criticise the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach will be here next week I suspect. If Members have matters to confront him with, they are more than welcome to do so then. I think it would be much better to voice that criticism to him directly than to ask somebody else to answer for his actions.