Results 20,761-20,780 of 21,588 for speaker:Denis Naughten

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (7 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: The difficulty is there are quite a number of contradictions here. If we look to other EU countries, every other EU country has recognised Covid as an occupational illness except Ireland and Greece. The Department of Health and the HSE have recognised long Covid for anyone who was infected up to 15 November 2021, which is a full year and three months after the threshold the Minister of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Covid-19 Pandemic (7 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: Figures provided to me by the Department show that up to last June, approximately 750 workers who contracted Covid and were out of work for over 12 months were in receipt of a social welfare payment. This does not include those who made a recovery from Covid and subsequently had a relapse of long Covid. We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg as regards this condition. This condition...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (7 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: 95. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the steps which she is taking to increase employment participation levels among those in receipt of one-parent family payments from her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53876/23]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (7 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: The survey of income and living conditions for 2021 showed households headed by lone parents continued to be some of the hardest hit by deprivation and poverty. This is before the full impact of the cost-of-living crisis of the past two years is taken into account. Lone parents are struggling to meet the cost of living on a day-to-day basis for themselves and their children and we need to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (7 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: We are in a perverse situation where we are in an economy at full employment and we need workers within our economy, especially in the whole digital area and yet, we have appallingly poor participation rates for one-parent families. We are rolling out high-speed broadband to every single home in the country, and as I said to the Minister of State previously, we need to look at how we can now...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Employment Support Services (7 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: The difficulty with all of that, with all due respect, is that this is what we have been doing down through the decades, decade after decade. What I am suggesting to the Minister of State is that right across the economy at the moment, not just domestically but globally, there is a huge shortage of staff in the area of cybersecurity. This is an area of flexible employment. It can be done...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: While there is no doubt we need new homes, as the Minister is aware, I have long advocated the release of vacant homes to assist those in urgent need of housing. I have argued that we have streets in our towns and villages that have not had a football kicked on them for a generation. Many of these have vacant family homes close to schools and services with high-speed broadband outside the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (7 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: I thank the Minister for his reply. To put a face on this discussion, in November last year, I raised the case of Una with the then Tánaiste. Una was a pensioner aged 66 at that time and despite working all her life, she was in receipt of a non-contributory State pension. She was refused the medical card because she receives a net income of €1 per week on top of her pension for...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Flood Risk Management (7 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: I formally express my deep dissatisfaction at the absence tonight of the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. In fairness, the Minister of State, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, who is familiar with the issues, informed me of his unavailability. However, not one of the other two Ministers in that Department has attended this evening. Such absences are becoming a worrying...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Flood Risk Management (7 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: Now we see the reason for my frustration that there is not a Minister or Minister from State from the relevant Department here to respond. The points I raised have not been addressed, which is not the fault of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Brien. A further point that needs to be addressed along with the staffing issue is the significant hurdle that presents in the form of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Water and Energy Connections in Rural Areas: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: I apologise but I must leave at 11 a.m. The witnesses can thank their colleagues because the Women's Infrastructure Network is having its first chapter meeting in Ireland today and I have been asked to speak at it. They are getting off the hook because of that, so they should thank them for that. Members are required to participate in the meeting remotely from within the Leinster House...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Water and Energy Connections in Rural Areas: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: I now invite Mr. Finnegan to make his opening statement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Water and Energy Connections in Rural Areas: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: I now invite Mr. Gannon to make his opening statement.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Water and Energy Connections in Rural Areas: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: I thank all of the witnesses for their evidence and time this morning. I have a few questions; I might start with Mr. O'Reilly. I will talk about something parochial, but it applies across the country, which is wastewater treatment facilities in many smaller towns and villages. In east Galway, for example, in villages like Castleblakeney, Creggs, Kilconnell and Caltra, wastewater treatment...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Water and Energy Connections in Rural Areas: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: I will not dwell on it but whether it is cost base, auction or bid, it is all the same in the impact it has on island communities. The island co-operatives are prepared to play under the current rules; the difficulty is getting the grid connection. It will be more expensive to do that from the offshore islands. Their ability to generate electricity and additional income is curtailed by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Water and Energy Connections in Rural Areas: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: We will start with ESB Networks.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Water and Energy Connections in Rural Areas: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: Very briefly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Water and Energy Connections in Rural Areas: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: It is €350,000.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Water and Energy Connections in Rural Areas: Discussion (6 Dec 2023)

Denis Naughten: I am sorry; it is €150,000.