Results 541-560 of 1,995 for speaker:Joe Flaherty

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Project Ireland 2040 (1 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I welcome the Minister’s comments and his enthusiasm for and commitment to this sector. His points on regional and balanced development were particularly timely and he will be aware that Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, recently shelved the funding for eight major road projects. I will go partisan on this point and say that the most important project within those eight would be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Project Ireland 2040 (1 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I am heartened by the Minister's response to this issue. An additional €1.5 million this year will keep this project on track and allow the design team to continue with the route-selection works. Everything the Minister has said would echo the views of the midlands, generally. This is a critical infrastructure and road, not only for the midlands, but for the wider north-west region....

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Functions (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: 17. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the economic division of his Department. [11729/22]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: National Development Plan (1 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: 121. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the key priorities in 2022 under the National Development Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11369/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Business of Joint Committee (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I would like to be associated with that too. I want to pay tribute to Senator Paul Daly's father Seán. He was a great advocate for agriculture and the rural community. If ever we need a reminder of why we sit on this committee and what this committee is about, we should reflect on the life of a man who was of the land, dedicated himself to it and will be forever immortalised in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Business of Joint Committee (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I will.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges in the Pig, Poultry and Horticulture Sectors: Irish Farmers Association (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I thank Mr. Cullinan and the rest of the IFA delegation. It is always good to have them in. I have a couple of questions, so I will ask them very quickly and perhaps one at a time. On the pig sector, is the IFA happy with what the Government has recently announced in terms of supports for the sector or does it see any shortcomings?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges in the Pig, Poultry and Horticulture Sectors: Irish Farmers Association (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I will come to the legislation on retail, specifically, shortly. If we could turn very quickly to the horticulture sector, we have met with many of the producers and we are deeply concerned about the challenges that are there. Growing Media Ireland, GMI, would have circulated us with a snapshot of where it sees the sector at the moment in terms of the Government’s guidelines and the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges in the Pig, Poultry and Horticulture Sectors: Irish Farmers Association (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: Is any retailer proactively engaging and putting its hand up as having identified an issue for the producer? Do any of them wish to work with the producers? Is it very much a case of them standing off and doing what they want, with the farmer and producer paying the price?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges in the Pig, Poultry and Horticulture Sectors: Irish Farmers Association (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: What about the aggressiveness of the discounters and their buying policies and practices? Is it fair to say that in many cases the producer is at the whim of those retailers, particularly with fresh products? A person with a product is basically told what price it will be bought at and there is no choice only to accept the price. Is that a fair analysis of the position with the discounters?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges in the Pig, Poultry and Horticulture Sectors: Irish Farmers Association (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I thank Mr. Malone.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the Right to Request Remote Work Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: On a point of reflection, if we told people three years ago that we would be having this conversation now and asked them to hazard a guess as to how far we have come in with remote working, I think they all would have looked on incredulously. I agree with Ms King that one of the few positives of Covid is that it has shone a light on the challenges people face, particularly in rural Ireland,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the Right to Request Remote Work Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I am going to interrupt. I apologise to Ms King but I am conscious that I only have a few minutes. I thank her for her response.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the Right to Request Remote Work Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: That is grand. I will turn to Ms McElwee. I know employers are doing an awful lot to make this work and I agree with Senator Crowe that this is not a realistic or attainable goal for some employers. We need to make some provision in the legislation for those employers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the Right to Request Remote Work Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: It is fair to say, that in the main, employers are enthusiastic and embracing this concept. Would Ms McElwee agree?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Challenges in the Pig, Poultry and Horticulture Sectors: Irish Farmers Association (2 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I am greatly heartened by the emphasis on retail in Mr. Cullinan’s presentation. I take great heart when I see the IFA taking on the retailers and, particularly, the discount multiples. Everybody in the Government and everybody in every political party wants to see cheaper food prices and it is very important. However, it is set out there very succinctly in the consumer price index,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: 52. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the staffing and funding allocated to the new national apprenticeship office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12775/22]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: The programme for Government made a number of key commitments to look at new ways of structuring funding for and promoting apprenticeships. It recognised that we have to encourage better and wider take-up and target skills to meet the needs of our economy. A plan to deliver this is the Action Plan for Apprenticeship, which has shown the intent to create a modern apprenticeship system that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I agree with the Minister that we have seen good and much-needed progress lately in the form of an increased annual number of apprenticeship registrations. I think the entire House agrees that the creation of a focused, well-resourced national apprenticeship office to co-ordinate the apprenticeship system and to drive it forward is essential to this delivery. I am therefore delighted to see...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Apprenticeship Programmes (8 Mar 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I take on board that we have to wait for the director to come into office before seeing exactly what her plans are. The country agrees we need apprentices rapidly, particularly for retrofitting. It will be a missed opportunity if we do not take a centre and office for apprenticeships outside Dublin and the big urban areas. In the main, apprenticeships and apprentices will be drawn from...