Results 9,401-9,420 of 27,613 for speaker:Heather Humphreys

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Town and Village Renewal Scheme (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I thank Deputy Carey for raising this issue. This year's town and village renewal scheme has been tailored to assist our rural towns and villages to respond to the challenges presented by Covid-19. The scheme includes an accelerated measure which focuses on supporting initiatives that can immediately help towns and villages to adapt to social distancing requirements and provide safe...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Town and Village Renewal Scheme (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Deputy is right that the town and village renewal scheme has been very successful since it was launched in 2016. It has worked extremely well, due to its co-ordinated bottom-up approach whereby local people work with local authorities and different groups to identify the projects and put in applications to get funding to make them a reality. The Deputy was very supportive of this scheme...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Town and Village Renewal Scheme (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I assure the Deputy I am engaging with the local authorities and will meet shortly with all the county and city managers. It is about working with local authorities and local communities in getting these projects developed and supporting them in doing that, which is what we want to do. People come up with ideas across the country and we want to help and support them. That is what the town...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputy. The provision of telecommunications services is primarily a matter for commercial providers operating in a liberalised market. Nonetheless, under the national broadband plan, the Government will fund the provision of a high-speed broadband network in areas where it is not commercially viable for service providers to do so. The national broadband plan network, which in...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Social Welfare Eligibility (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. I have also received correspondence from those involved and I acknowledge the huge stress many of the affected workers are under at this time. I have received their emails and read their stories, and I accept that some of them are in an awful situation. We have committed billions of euro in funding to support people's income since the onset...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Social Welfare Eligibility (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: This issue only came to the fore in the past number of weeks. My priority is in getting the issue sorted for the workers so they can claim the supports they are entitled to. In order to do that, the employer needs to provide UP80 forms to certify the number of days that employees have worked. We must have confirmation of the days people are unemployed because otherwise we would be paying...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Vacant Properties (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Programme for Government contains a number of commitments to develop a Town Centre First policy, including a commitment for an expanded Town and Village Renewal Scheme to bring vacant and derelict buildings back into use and promote residential occupancy. In October 2018, my Department launched a Town Centre Living Initiative to explore in a holistic way how to encourage increased...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Remote Working (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Government is committed to supporting remote working, not least in the context of retaining skilled young people in rural communities. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of remote working in maintaining economic activity and in the provision of many public services has been clearly demonstrated.  The increased shift to remote work in the last six months has...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Town and Village Renewal Scheme (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: This year’s Town and Village Renewal Scheme has been tailored to focus on interventions that can assist our rural towns and villages to respond to the challenges presented by COVID-19.   The scheme includes an Accelerated Measure which will enable towns and villages to introduce initiatives immediately to support increased footfall and enable people to shop and socialise...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: National Broadband Plan (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The provision of telecommunications services is a matter for commercial providers operating in a liberalised market.  Nonetheless, under the National Broadband Plan (NBP), the Government will fund the provision of a high-speed broadband network in areas where it is not commercially viable for service providers to do so.  The NBP network, which comes under the remit of Minister...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: National Broadband Plan (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: I propose to take Questions Nos. 20, 34, 36 and 39 together. The Broadband Connection Points, or BCPs, are a collaborative initiative involving my Department, the Department of Communications, the Local Authorities, National Broadband Ireland, Vodafone Ireland and hundreds of volunteers and site owners across the State. BCPs will make free on-site connectivity available to communities in...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Development Plan (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: My Department is currently finalising a new rural development policy for the period 2020-2025.  The new policy will be forward-looking and will build on the progress achieved through the Action Plan for Rural Development 2017-2019.  The new policy will seek to strengthen and build resilience in our rural communities and economies, particularly in response to COVID-19, and...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Town Centre Living Initiative (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Town Centre Living Initiative Synthesis Report is an independent report on the pilot Town Centre Living Initiative which was launched in October 2018.  The aim of the initiative was to explore how to encourage increased residential occupancy in rural towns and villages and, at the same time, address the issue of vacant properties. The report on the Initiative was published on...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Voluntary Sector (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: Capital funding for non-local authority community centres for health and safety and fire prevention works as outlined by the Deputy, could potentially be considered, subject to eligibility criteria being met, under the following schemes funded by my Department; - Under the LEADER (2014-2020) Programme. All funding decisions regarding projects are entirely a matter for the Local Action Groups...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas (CEDRA) was established in November 2012 as an independent expert group to examine and report on the medium-term economic development of rural Ireland. The CEDRA report was published in April 2014.  The Government’s Action Plan for Rural Development which was published in January 2017 built on, and went further than, the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Ministerial Priorities (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Mission Statement of my Department, as set out in its published Statement of Strategy is: “To promote rural and community development and to support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland." Behind that mission lie a number of key objectives: - creating conditions to support increased economic opportunities and local employment in all areas of the...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: LEADER Programmes (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The LEADER programme is delivered through 29 Local Action Groups (LAGs) across rural Ireland.  The programme includes a specific funding strand to support Rural Economic Development, Enterprise Development and Job Creation.  Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the LAGs, in conjunction with Local Development Companies who act as Implementing Partners in most areas, have...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Tidy Towns (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The TidyTowns competition has a unique place in Ireland’s culture.  Since its inception in 1958 when it had 52 entrants, the competition has grown year-on-year to see a record number of 924 entrants in 2019.  Unfortunately, the 2020 SuperValu TidyTowns competition had to be cancelled this year on public health grounds, due to COVID-19. The work of the TidyTowns...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Telecommunications Infrastructure (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce was launched in July 2016 to be a driving force for improving access to telecommunications services throughout Ireland. Since its inception, the Taskforce has addressed more than 70 targeted actions to alleviate connectivity barriers and resolve issues that negatively impacted on the rollout of essential telecommunications infrastructure in rural...

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Island Communities (17 Sep 2020)

Heather Humphreys: The Programme for Government includes a commitment to develop a new Policy for Island Development which will identify and address the main challenges and opportunities for our island communities to support their social, economic and cultural development.  There has already been a large amount of consultation with island communities in relation to the development of this policy under...