Results 681-700 of 1,995 for speaker:Joe Flaherty

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: 95. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of passport applications from counties Longford and Westmeath, respectively that are currently outstanding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22923/22]

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: 651. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when the new Judiciary Board will be appointed to vet new applications by solicitors and barristers for appointment to the position of judges of all courts. [23244/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Covid-19 Vaccines: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I thank the witnesses for coming in. In one way, a consequence of Covid-19 is that we are lucky to have a backdrop like it so we can see first-hand the benefits of our discussions today. Licensing agreements, international property rights and all these add great value to companies. We all agree on this aspect. Reference was made to it probably taking two to three years to start up a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Covid-19 Vaccines: Discussion (11 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I thank Mr. O'Connor, but I think it is fair to say there is no pharmaceutical or healthcare company that has not triumphed and profited during the Covid-19 pandemic. Any of them I speak to, it is a bit like the English 700 years ago. They used to go to war when the economy was faltering. It has been a decent period for the pharmaceutical sector. Some of the initiatives were referred...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: An Garda Síochána (12 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: The Minister of State will be aware of an open letter sent from the people of Longford to the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner, Mr. Drew Harris, urgently seeking additional gardaí for Longford town to tackle a spate of antisocial and violent crime. It is well known that as many as 14 different feuds, involving seven families, are smearing Longford's reputation and...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: An Garda Síochána (12 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I thank the Minister of State for his solidarity with the people of Longford. He set out clearly the specifics of the Garda operation under way in Longford and the fact there have been almost 7,000 incidents related to an operation launched in 2019. The reality is that businesses and retailers are facing into what will arguably be one of the most uncertain times in their trading lives with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (12 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: 93. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the supports that are in place for schools to administer the summer programme 2022; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23655/22]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Curriculum (12 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: 111. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the reform of the senior cycle; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23656/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I thank all of the speakers for coming in. It is a very interesting debate and it is timely and important we have it here. I will preface my contribution by saying I started to read Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twiceat the weekend. For those who do not know, the protagonists live in a retirement village. In that book, there is an awful lot of wine and an awful lot of pizza, so I look...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: There is probably a ready solution already, with the grant scheme for the elderly or those with disabilities. People can currently only access that grant if they are living in the house. If we made a slight change so that people could access the grant if they are in a nursing home, provided they rent out the property, that would be a ready solution. That grant would be up to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: Will the Vice Chair indulge me for one minute?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: Are financial contributions limited to certain local authorities or is it national?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: It is not required. Can any local authority come to the Department with a proposal?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I thank all the speakers for attending. As I said to the departmental representatives, this discussion is very timely. If anything, legislators are behind the ball in respect of the work officials have done heretofore and that is being done by the delegates. It is not said enough that there is a crisis concerning housing for the elderly. That is probably because we do not have many 70-...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: There is a sea change among older people in that they are now finding it too expensive to keep larger houses. They want to rightsize but it is a question of how we go about it. This brings me on to the Sue Ryder Foundation, which is doing incredible work. I misheard Mr. Reid when he was giving his opening statement in that I thought he said "archery or prayer room". I thought that was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: Good. The model that the Sue Ryder Foundation is offering is particularly interesting. We are unfortunate in many parts of the country because we are not familiar with the work it is doing. Will Mr. Reid expand on the private list he referred to? How does it work? Is the foundation unique in offering a service to both the private community and local authorities? Could Mr. Reid expand on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: It does, yes. It relates to the point I was making to Mr. Moynihan initially on the source of information. Mr. Reid obviously gleaned the information on the number living alone from the CSO. We need detailed work to drill into the statistics, reach out to people and determine what exactly they want to do. The Department officials, when they were before us earlier, told us this is part of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: As Deputy McAuliffe had to go to speak in the Chamber, our guests will have to contend with my dulcet Longford tones for the final few minutes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: I thank Deputy Ó Broin. Aon rud eile from Deputy Cian O'Callaghan? No. I will pick up on one point. The Department officials said that they are undertaking a review of the grants for the elderly and disabled. I am taking a leap of faith and assuming that neither Age Action nor any of the groups have been invited to make a submission or observations for that review.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion (10 May 2022)

Joe Flaherty: The Department officials are listening in so hopefully they will reach out. It would be important to get their input into something like that. Access to bridging loans for people to right-size was mentioned. That is a problem, and it is hard to pinpoint it. One option is the local authority housing loan, which could be tweaked to enable people to downsize if they want to do so. Is that...