Results 1-20 of 45 for going forward speaker:Joe O'Brien

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Community Development Projects (5 Mar 2024)

Joe O'Brien: ...results of that programme have been astonishing. It just shows that when you put community workers in, they can make a real difference. We should be able to build that a little bit this year. Going forward I think it is part of the answer to the issue the Deputy raised.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: State Pensions (7 Dec 2023)

Joe O'Brien: I will take the Deputy's point about the delays in processing disability payments back to the Minister. This is the first budget with benchmarking even in the mix. There is a stronger role for it going forward to ensure adequacy. We continue to see social transfers play significant impacts on reducing poverty and income inequality. Ireland remains one of the most effective countries in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Employment Schemes (7 Dec 2023)

Joe O'Brien: I am not sure if the Deputy was in the Chamber earlier but at risk of repeating myself, I will give the answer and we can elaborate and go a different direction with it. My Department operates a number of employment support schemes including community employment, Tús and the rural social scheme for long-term unemployed persons and low-income farmers. I acknowledge the important role...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Facilities (7 Dec 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...a group as possible. There has been significant growth in this over recent years. The coming 12 months will see one of the biggest leaps we have made. It is a no-brainer in terms of the policy going forward. It is a question of resourcing it in a fair way in order to make school meals available to all children as soon as possible.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 37 - Social Protection (Supplementary) (22 Nov 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...been asking key stakeholders on the ground to tell people about farm assist. I do not know if that is having an impact as we do not have direct evidence of it, but maybe the figures indicate that is the way it is going. Certainly, with the RSS review coming to its closing stages, we need to keep everything on the board in terms of how to keep life in the scheme going forward because it...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Supplementary) (22 Nov 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...however you want to look at it in terms of being the most deprived. We put extra resourcing and people in there as well. The Empowering Communities programme is an approach we would like to grow going forward. We have the new deprivation index now as well that will tell us even more about those places around the country, and in Cork city as well, which I know need extra resourcing in...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Financial Resolution No. 4: General (Resumed) (11 Oct 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...SICAP budget for this year is also notable in terms of the core spending with an increase of €4.6 million. There have been increased pressures from operating costs in SICAP programmes and I hope this will go a significant way towards addressing them. Another significant increase in the budget allocation is the more than doubling of the funding in the ESF+ social innovation...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Charitable and Voluntary Organisations (26 Sep 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...community and voluntary sector, and the values and principles document, which has been agreed by all Departments in terms of how we engage with the community and voluntary sector, is a useful guide going forward. The implications of the pay gap for community and voluntary organisations, particularly section 39 organisations, were laid out to me in some detail by the local group Prosper...

Our Rural Future Policy: Statements (14 Jun 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...visits I see the power of community development to bring people together and strengthening rural communities. This, combined with the work of my colleagues in other Departments is helping to reinvigorate rural Ireland and provide the framework for it to thrive. I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, in providing funding for additional biodiversity officers in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Public Participation Networks (13 Jun 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...consideration. The workshop on that is on 1 July. Membership of the environmental pillar is growing significantly, especially over the last four or five years. That is a reason to be encouraged, going forward.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Rural Schemes (23 May 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...focus groups and workshops. We will hold an event later this year to facilitate those groups and workshops. It is anticipated that the review will be completed by the end of the year. I look forward to receiving the review report, and expect that the recommendations will focus on ensuring the best outcomes for participants and their local communities going forward.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Rail Network (27 Apr 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...in the coming decades and, until it is complete, no work will be undertaken on such lines that might preclude any future reopening. It is clear that the all-island strategic rail review is going to the roadmap going forward. There is certainly a commitment from this Government and from the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to improve our public transport and there is a sharp consciousness...

Safe Deposit Boxes and Related Deposits Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (20 Apr 2023)

Joe O'Brien: I again welcome the debate. I again thank Deputy Ó Cuív for bringing the Bill forward and for tonight's discussion. It is the start of a much more detailed and interesting discussion where we will get to pull it apart a little more on Committee Stage. As I said, this is a very complicated area cutting across at least three Departments, including the Departments of Finance and...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Eligibility (21 Mar 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...payments for longer periods and who are unlikely to have additional resources of their own. If a participant on a Community Employment (CE) scheme was in receipt of Fuel Allowance prior to going on the scheme, they continue to receive the Fuel Allowance payment while participating on the scheme, once they continue to satisfy the qualifying conditions. If the CE participant was...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Asylum Seekers (23 Feb 2023)

Joe O'Brien: I look forward to reading the needs analysis when it has been completed. It could be of great use to us. I have travelled around the country a lot in the past 12 months to look at the various community responses to what has been going on. Healthcare comes up pretty much everywhere in terms of a pressing need. There have been additional resources provided to the local development company...

Co-ordination of International Protection Services: Statements (16 Feb 2023)

Joe O'Brien: ...much more pervasive than that. We all need to be conscious of how we can end up using it unconsciously, which can feed into problematic attitudes and behaviour. I am glad to say that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and I plan to launch the new national action plan against racism next month. I mentioned that part of my role involves community engagement and I also referenced the need for...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Feb 2023)

Joe O'Brien: I thank the Deputy. I am aware of the issue she raised. She forwarded correspondence to my office regarding it. I will flag a couple of points of note. A community recognition fund of €50 million is available through the Department of Rural and Community Development, although that does not address the specific issues raised by the Deputy. I will talk to the Minister of Health,...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Community Development Projects (27 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: ...that will positively impact the culture of the area. It will build new community leaders to empower communities to address the issues they face. This approach will make a lasting impact and bring forward the solutions required. I hope that the Place Based Leadership pilot programme will open up new perspectives and possibilities and provide opportunities for mutual learning that can be...

Seanad: Poverty and Social Exclusion: Motion (19 Oct 2022)

Joe O'Brien: ...the challenges in tackling poverty is that it is simply not spoken about often enough in public and political discourse. I get relatively few parliamentary questions on it though it is one of the Government's most important areas of action. I am genuinely interested in hearing different perspectives and constructive suggestions on how we might tackle poverty and hope there is a way we...