Results 40,521-40,540 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (7 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: You just have.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Departmental Strategies (7 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: Since June 2020, my Department has been working to achieve the commitments and priorities set out in the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future. We implemented our 2021-2023 Statement of Strategy and delivered on our remit to drive the productive capacity of the economy, create and maintain high-value jobs, promote fair competition in the marketplace, protect consumers and safeguard...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Business Supports (7 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: The Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) grant is a once off payment for small and medium businesses operating out of a rateable premises. It is important that I be clear that this scheme is a once-off grant aid provision and not a commercial rates waiver. It will have no bearing on the commercial rates paid by firms. It will be administered by Local Authorities and provided to qualifying...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: It should not be. They are vulnerable children.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: To explain, the Taoiseach had to leave because he is on his way to a European Council meeting. I hope the House understands that and I am happy to-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: ------fill in for him, but for that particular question, I ask the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to give an accurate answer.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy will have heard the Taoiseach address this question this week, as well as the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. What the Government has done this week is make a decision to bring Ireland closer into line with what other countries are doing with respect to supports for people fleeing conflict in Ukraine. More than 100,000 Ukrainians have come to Ireland in just under two years and we...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: -----we look after Ukrainians appropriately, but just in closing-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I will happily answer.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: The Ceann Comhairle is enforcing the rules well today. Following the events of a number of weeks ago, I met Dublin City Council and many business representatives. We have agreed to provide some funding to the council to focus immediately on public realm enhancement in the north inner city, especially around O'Connell Street, and that is already under way. We will continue to support Dublin...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: -----safety and, of course, the general vibe around the city centre, not just between now and the end of the year but into next year as well.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I am very slow to comment on an individual case that is as stressful and potentially as tragic as the one the Deputy has just outlined-----

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: -----but we will have an opportunity in the new year to finalise decisions on the report she mentioned. This House will have plenty of time to debate that early in the new year.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I may be wrong, but I am told that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, may have dealt with this issue by way of amendment in the Finance Bill. I will come back to the Deputy with the detail but I think the issue may have been addressed, or at least partially addressed, in the Finance Bill.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: As the Deputy knows, we cannot make a funding decision of that type on the hoof on the floor of the Dáil. I will certainly raise the issue for the Deputy with the Minister concerned. Perhaps he could get back to the Deputy on the timeline around funding decisions.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I have spoken to the Taoiseach on a number of occasions about his meeting with the businesses and households in Leitrim who were hit by the devastating weather event. We are anxious to be as helpful as we can. Supports from the Department of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, are open to households. I asked Mircrofinance Ireland to send an official down to Leitrim to speak to businesses to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is obviously a big concern to me. I know VMware well. It is a fantastic company with a skilled workforce who have done an amazing job for quite a long time in Cork. VMware has been acquired by a company called Broadcom. We knew that when the acquisition or merger took place, there would be an impact. The workforce also knew that....

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: The first thing to say is that I welcome the agreement at COP28. I recognise, because I am not sure it has got enough recognition, the role played by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in getting a final agreement from the EU side. He was central to EU negotiations, particularly in the context of climate finance. To the Deputy's question, we are always looking for new ways in which we can...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: Right across the health sector, as we have heard already this morning, the inability to attract and recruit the skills and staff necessary is impacting on services. In most cases it is not a financial issue but a lack of capacity to get the skills we need from home and abroad and I suspect that it is the same in Deputy Higgins's constituency. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (13 Dec 2023)

Simon Coveney: I agree it is not acceptable that elderly people would be sitting in ambulances waiting to get into hospital. Effectively the ambulance becomes a remote bed which, for all sorts of reasons, is not the way the system should work. I am glad to hear that the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, was in Donegal speaking to practitioners and I expect he will come back to Deputy MacLochlainn with an answer...