Results 1,101-1,120 of 16,601 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Yes.

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I am pretty sure. It is a standard provision in such legislation. I assure the Deputy that the Department is not going to stick its nose in where that is not necessary.

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy Wall for the amendment. Amendments Nos. 18 to 20, inclusive, are grouped together. I do not propose to accept these amendments, which are possibly irrelevant owing to other related amendments being ruled out of order. I wrote to Deputies Wall, Quaide, Coppinger and O'Reilly on this issue after Committee Stage. There are provisions in the Bill removing the eligibility of...

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: This is an area the Leas-Cheann Comhairle has also expressed an interest in. On Deputy O'Reilly's comment about the lady whose partner passed away while she was expecting, we have based the qualifications on the 2010 civil partnership Act and the issue from the Department of Justice. I am writing to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, to highlight this case and also on the points reflected in...

Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner’s Pension and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank the Deputies for their remarks. I will speak to the amendments first and then speak to some of the queries that were raised, which were dealt with on Committee Stage. Amendments Nos. 1 and 2, and 21 to 23, inclusive, are grouped together. As I said during the Committee Stage debate, it is not appropriate to include commitments to producing reports in primary legislation,...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Ar son an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Buttimer, agus mé féin, gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste as ucht an deis a bheith anseo inniu. I thank the committee for the invitation to attend to discuss and seek approval for a Further Revised Estimate 2025 for the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. As committee members will be aware, with the welcome...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: First, I will respond to the Deputy's overall remarks about our key priorities. The key scaffolding document for the Department is Our Rural Future. We are involved in a sensitive consultation about rewriting Our Rural Future at the moment. We have had public meetings, including an online meeting yesterday. The document will be published at the end of this year or early next year. We have...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I do not have the breakdown of the figure. I would be happy to provide it to the Deputy. However, we should not forget that rural towns are important too. They are the important anchors for rural communities. We need healthy rural towns to feed healthy rural communities and vice versa. I will have to come back to the committee with that figure.

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: That is there, but equally, there is evidence to show fantastic life in some areas. I was in Feohanagh in Limerick last Thursday evening where we reopened a former parochial house that has been repurposed as a community hub. That is being supported by my Department through the community centres investment fund, CCIF, and LEADER, driven by a local group of volunteers. To see the vibrancy...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I absolutely endorse everything the Deputy said about Galway Rural Development. It is a super organisation. I have met its members twice in the past six months since I took up office, most recently in Mountbellew where they have done a lot of fantastic work. They are also really good in the remit of my other Department, the Department of Social Protection, around community employment, the...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: It goes back to the work we do with Pobal, which has the statistics from censuses. Pobal uses that data and various income data and it is our main provider of such analysis. I am happy to engage with the Deputy on that space.

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputy Aird. The LIS is a major priority for me. It is important to put it into context. Since the scheme was re-introduced in 2017 by the former Minister, Michael Ring, some 4,816 roads around the country have been improved. That involved an investment by the Department of nearly €170 million. We know the backlog that exists and we are trying to address it. We are...

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: I just see Deputy McGuinness's head nearly came up there as well. I cannot imagine any councillor in the country would stand over an underspend in LIS. There are almost 4,000 roads still on lists. No council should be underspending in LIS.

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Laois is not one of them.

Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (Revised) (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: We will be working on it. It is important. Councillors know how important it is. It is a big frustration for councillors and, as Deputy Aird said, it is small communities who really do not see a lot of other impact. On ORIS, it is flexible. We do a lot of work with Coillte. Recreation areas are not just local authority spaces; they are forests. They are some amazing Coillte projects...

Joint Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Rural and Community Development Matters: Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. Thar mo cheann agus thar ceann an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Buttimer, táimid an-bhuíoch den choiste, den chléireach agus den Chathaoirleach as an deis seo chun obair na Roinne don chéad cúig bliana eile a phlé. We have already had a discussion about the estimates in the select committee but I welcome the chance...

Joint Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development: Rural and Community Development Matters: Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (2 Jul 2025)

Dara Calleary: The Portumna project is fantastic. I commend the Senator on her work on that. We are putting capital delivery teams in place across every local authority so that each has a core group of people who have experience in dealing with the Department and who can deliver those projects on the ground. In the context of delivering projects, there are some stand-out local authorities and some that...