Results 31,601-31,620 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Pension Provisions (9 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: 210. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will indicate the number of requests from the trustees of pension funds of state bodies for increases to be made to pensioners which are now outstanding and awaiting ministerial approval; under what circumstances would such increases be rejected in the present inflationary environment; and if steps can be taken to speed up the...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Staff (9 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: 310. To ask the Minister for Health to provide a list of current vacancies in community health posts serving the Balbriggan area, including occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49118/23]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: When the assembly says enforcement is very poor, is it pointing the finger at the EPA?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: My last question is to Professor Scott. What does success in reconciling land use look like?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: Will the end product of the work be something like a marginal abatement cost curve, MACC, for land use in which we will begin to see the marginal benefits and how we can establish biodiversity gains by addressing an issue? Can Professor Scott describe the sort of tool that might come out of this work? Is it all very high level stuff like what is happening in Scotland?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: I can understand the frustration of Deputy Murphy. We have been presented with an urgent need for transformational change which the citizens' assembly has said needs to happen. We see plans being refreshed and renewed. It does not sound like the urgent shift that needs to happen will happen. Could Mr. Callanan indicate what a prosperous farm will look like in ten years' time? How much...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (7 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: I am interested in hearing about the crunch changes that make the third plan dramatically different from the previous two. Is it enforcement? There has been criticism that we have not integrated the different uses and do not have targets that can be believed in. It is quite a radical critique and refers to structures not working. I know the plan has not yet been published, but we need to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: I thank the witnesses for a really good presentation. I do not believe anyone in the committee would fail to be impressed by the statement that this is the first generation to know and the last generation that can do anything about it. Looking back at the last national biodiversity plan, it sounds like we are trying to turn an oil tanker, which is not a great metaphor in a fossil fuel...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: Presumably, there will be geographic targets or targets of some sort. Is that not a get-out-of-jail card for those reporting?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: The sense is that there are river catchments and SACs. It is very geographic. Geography seems to be the entry point for driving commitment at a community level. Is it not missing something?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: If the service took the worst river and said, "We must go from X to Y over a period."

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: I would just worry that if the NPWS does not get down to a local level, it will not get the leverage and the farmer groups, dairy processors and so on will not see this is coming to their area and it is coming fast.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (14 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: That is.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Strategies (14 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: 220. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will outline the strategies and the specific policy tools which are driving the uptake of digital technology in secondary schools; if there are any specific initiatives in specific subject areas, such as languages, mathematics, and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49858/23]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Naturalisation Applications (14 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: 349. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality whether there is any reason for the long delay in the naturalisation process for a person (details supplied) who has been educated in Ireland from the age of nine years, and for whom third level education will be unaffordable without naturalisation, bearing in mind the initiation of this process almost two-and-a-half years...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Tobacco Control Measures (14 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: 477. To ask the Minister for Health if there is any restriction on the opportunity to advertise e-cigarettes in Irish media; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49892/23]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Tobacco Control Measures (14 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: 593. To ask the Minister for Health if he is concerned about the ease of access to, and advertising for, e-cigarettes; if the risk of recruiting new users to dependence on nicotine necessitates new regulation; and if he has undertaken any analysis of the matter.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49891/23]

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (15 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: I welcome the housing figures announced yesterday. It is really encouraging to see that there has been a 34% increase in commencements in the past seven months, that there have been strong completions and that 30,000 first-time mortgages were approved in the past 12 months. I request that the Land Development Agency, LDA, acquire more sites with full planning permission. It has acquired...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sustainable Development Goals: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: It is coming up with regard to biodiversity and the citizens' assembly report on that is before the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action at the moment. The key issue coming out of that is the need for a higher-level tsar of some description to drive some of these elements that need to be interlocked across government. Those elements are obviously enshrined in the sustainable...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sustainable Development Goals: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: But a lot of the progress is going backwards.