Results 10,461-10,480 of 10,622 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I do not know if there is a question there. There is certainly a big statement, and I have addressed that statement previously with regard to the OPW. The Deputy will appreciate the Accounting Officer for the OPW came before the finance committee and the public accounts committee and laid out in real terms what happened with regard to the Office of Public Works. No more than I did not know...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: We have beaten the Deputy to it because RTÉ has been put under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General and all State entities, including An Post and the other ones I will be taking responsibility for once there is a transfer of function order, come under the auspices of NewERA, which to all intents and purposes is a holding agency or accounting body to keep a watchful eye on the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: At the moment there are none to my knowledge. That is not to say there will not be. I did not expect there to be three in the first place, and I certainly did not expect that we would be back to RTÉ again after everything that happened, but we are. I turn to information that has been compiled and the investigative process under way. I would like to think Members support that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: There is one important thing to point out here, which is that the Department has no role in the sanctioning of capital expenditure within RTÉ. I know the Deputy knows that. With regard to Professor Niamh Brennan, the Deputy's assessment has been quite unfair. I know him a long time and I know he will reflect on that. The work she did on RTÉ unearthed a serious culture that had...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Departmental Bodies (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Deputy. I know everybody is anxious to see what we will ultimately get to by way of a report and how quickly. What I do not want to do is put pressure on the group I have assigned to carry out the work for fear people will say I am in any exercising undue influence. I want a report I can stand over and present to the Oireachtas. I am sure it will be debated by committees and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Economic Policy (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: Since becoming Minister, I have been particularly interested in the amount of work my Department has been undertaking on the night-time economy. This has primarily been focused on supporting the development of safe and vibrant nightlife across the country. In 2022, the Department invited all local authorities to put in a night-time economy pilot initiative. The aim is to stimulate...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Economic Policy (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Deputy for his positive remarks. Any suggestions that will be made on this will be welcome. As I said a while ago, once I have had a chance to meet all the relevant stakeholders and also had the chance to review the documentation that is going to be submitted to the Department when it is done, I will have no problem in engaging with Opposition spokespersons on their suggestions....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: An Ghaeltacht (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. Mar is eol don Teachta, tá cúraimí na Gaeltachta agus na Gaeilge ag aistriú chuig an Aire, an Teachta Calleary, faoi láthair. Bhí sé le bheith anseo inniu ach ní raibh sé in ann teacht go dtí an Teach inniu mar gheall ar chúrsaí pearsanta. Rinne an Rialtas ordú Dé Máirt chun na...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: An Ghaeltacht (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: Tuigim go soiléir cé chomh tábhachtach is atá an cheist seo. Nuair a bhí me i Roinn na Gaeltachta, bhí an-suim agam san ábhar seo. Tuigim cé chomh tábhachtach is atá sé ní hamháin do na ceantair Ghaeltachta ach freisin do dhaoine lasmuigh den Ghaeltacht a bhfuil suim acu sna hábhair a bhaineann leis na Gaeltachtaí...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: An Ghaeltacht (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: Aontaím leis an Teachta. Tuigim cé chomh tábhachtach is atá an t-ábhar seo. Tuigim cé chomh fada is atá muid sa Teach seo ag caint ar an ábhar seo. Maidir leis na ceantair Ghaeltachta, is é sin an polasaí is tábhachtaí do na daoine a bhfuil cónaí orthu sa Ghaeltacht. B’fhéidir go mbeidh an tAire, an...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tourism Industry (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. As I said to Deputy Connolly earlier, this is an issue that is on the way out of our Department. Last Tuesday it was finalised that my colleague, Deputy Peter Burke, will be answerable on tourism. Following the making of a Government order on Tuesday, statutory responsibility for the sector will transfer to the Minister, Deputy Burke,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tourism Industry (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: There is a lot there. I thank the Deputy for his kind remarks as Gaeilge at the outset. The Deputy will be glad to know that in regard to the tourist tax, I have no role in that. That is a matter for the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and the Department of Finance. I have personal views on a tourism tax. I do not think that levying a tax on people who are trying to get into the country is a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tourism Industry (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I do not think it does deter people but one of the things that local authority members should look at first is their capacity to raise revenue from existing streams rather than levying a new tax on people. Often there is a rush, for instance, to reduce the local property tax, LPT. Some people are totally opposed to the LPT and have a fundamental objection to it but at the same time, they...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tourism Industry (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I think we will leave that matter to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tourism Promotion (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 98 and 120 together. The Deputy will appreciate that tourism is now the policy responsibility of the Minister, Deputy Burke. Following the making of a Government order yesterday, statutory responsibility for the sector will transfer to the Minister, Deputy Burke, from 1 June. However, I can say that the Government recognises the central importance of the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tourism Promotion (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I will pass on the Deputy's remarks to the Minister, Deputy Burke, who is a neighbour of Deputy McCormack. I do not disagree with much of what the Deputy said. I was previously a Minister of State at the old Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and I also had responsibility for the OPW. I know one of the principal national sites of the OPW is Clonmacnoise. I met with Offaly County...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tourism Promotion (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Deputy has made some positive suggestions about areas in his county that he knows intimately. One of the best things to do would be to have direct engagement with the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, perhaps with some of the other Oireachtas Members from County Offaly. The county council has already done much of the preliminary work. As a man from the neighbouring county of Westmeath, I...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tourism Promotion (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 99 and 111 together. This is the third time I have said the following but I will repeat it for the record. Tourism is now the policy responsibility of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke. Following the making of a Government order on Tuesday, statutory responsibility for the sector will transfer to the Minister, Deputy Burke, from 1 June. He...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tourism Promotion (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I entirely agree with the Deputy that the overlap between arts, culture, sport and tourism is enormous. I refer to the impact of Listowel Writers' Week in County Kerry, for example. All festivals, especially the larger ones, have an impact by bringing people to particular areas. The same is true for sporting events. Money is generated in Limerick by Munster Rugby, as it is in Dublin by...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tourism Promotion (8 May 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: No doubt I will get an opportunity. The Deputy might send me the details on that and I will have a look at it. I have had many dealings with Louth and Meath tourism. I know they will set aside their collegiality for the Leinster final but it is great to see the Deputy sitting beside a Louth person. Hopefully, Louth will undo the wrong done to them.