Results 3,141-3,160 of 3,274 for speaker:Gary Gannon

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: School Meals Programme (30 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: 861. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if consideration will be given to continuing the school meals programme during the summer months to keep providing food parcels to children who are at risk of food poverty in view of the fact many summer projects are not operating as normal in 2020 due the Covid-19 emergency; and if she will make a statement on the matter....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (30 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: 862. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if consideration will be given to proposals by an organisation (details supplied) for a temporary top-up payment to the poorest children during the Covid-19 emergency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13621/20]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (30 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: 904. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the rent freeze and ban on evictions beyond July 2020 will be extended until the end of January 2021 to provide stability and security for renters that will be disproportionately affected by Covid-19 and the financial aftermath of same. [13625/20]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Covid-19 Pandemic (30 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: 906. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if rent arrears accrued by tenants during the lockdown period of Covid-19 will be cancelled. [13658/20]

Written Answers — Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht: Arts Funding (30 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: 928. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to correspondence addressed to An Taoiseach regarding arts and culture funding from a fund (details supplied); if the issues and concerns addressed in same will receive a response; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13623/20]

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Arts and Entertainment Sector (30 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: I thank the witnesses. I go back to the local authority funding as the point was emphasised several times during today's session. I fully appreciate the importance of local authority funding to the arts. Is there a fear or anxiety that somehow local authorities will not fund the arts in the next year? If so, where does that fear come from?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Arts and Entertainment Sector (30 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: Is there anything fuelling that fear? Have local authorities suggested that will be the case?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Arts and Entertainment Sector (30 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: My next question is also for the EIAI. A very important point was made that recent funding will not filter through the industry ecosystem. Will the witness elaborate on that statement? If possible, could alternatives or additional funding streams be suggested that might be of benefit to the industry or the people represented by the organisations present? How can funding benefit those...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Arts and Entertainment Sector (30 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: The roadmap does not yet exist. Who should be in the room when that roadmap is developed? I am very conscious that many of the important decisions made in the past couple of months have not had particular sectoral interests in the room. Who should be in the room when the decisions are made?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Impact of Covid-19: Arts and Entertainment Sector (30 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: How has the engagement been between the arts community, freelance technicians and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection with respect to the pandemic unemployment payment or wage subsidy scheme over the past couple of months? Have they felt respected?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Testing and Tracing (25 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: This has been a fascinating session. It is also quite frightening in that it has left me in no doubt that we should respect a resurgence. If a second wave should happen, what would we do differently with testing and tracing? What lessons have we learned from the past couple of months?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Testing and Tracing (25 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: Have we enough reagent now should there be a second surge?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Testing and Tracing (25 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: I shall now turn to the strategies in care homes at the minute. How much ongoing testing of patients and healthcare professionals in care homes is happening now?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Covid-19: Testing and Tracing (25 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: How is the HSE using its existing capacity considering the somewhat low demand currently? Is the HSE doing asymptomatic testing in high-risk settings such as meat factories, for example?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Needs Education: Impact of Covid-19 (25 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: I thank the witnesses. This is my second Covid session today. The first this morning concerned contact tracing and testing. Professor Mallon from UCD gave quite an interesting but worrying presentation in which he talked about the expectation of a second wave of the virus at some point in the autumn. Should such a scenario arise, what lessons would the Department of Education and Skills...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Needs Education: Impact of Covid-19 (25 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: Given the lack of guidelines that we have at the moment, and I know we are expecting some today, is Ms Dempsey confident that when we reopen schools in September or even in a couple of weeks for the July summer provision programme that will be done in an effective manner that meets the needs of students, particularly those with special needs?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: I thank both of the witnesses. I want to go through some of the comments Mr. Tattan made in his opening address. I imagine that supporting special education provision while minimising the risk of spreading Covid-19 infections both during the summer programmes and as we reopen schools in autumn will require an increase in the amount of sterilisation of rooms and cleaning staff. How many...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: I fully appreciate that it is the schools that hire the cleaning staff but it is the Department that allocates the funding. I have worked in many schools throughout Dublin. Most schools have cleaning staff for two hours a day. When we leave this Chamber, it will be sterilised before another group comes in. Does the Department anticipate an increased level of expenditure on the provision...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: That is excellent. On the second page of Mr. Tattan's opening statement it says, "Additional ICT grants and the creation of new resources have also been part of our response." Will he go through those funds? Is he referring to the €7 million allocated to secondary school and the €2 million allocated to primary schools or have additional funds been allocated?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Gary Gannon: That was not an additional grant. It was a grant that had previously been made available for schools that had high-performing or good ICT strategies. It was not an additional grant; it was just a grant that was brought forward. It worked out at €2,900 for a school of 160 students. That would pay for approximately three devices. A school of 750 students would have got approximately...