Results 10,881-10,900 of 15,805 for speaker:Michael Ring

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: I met that team recently and went through the issues with them. There will be spot checks, of course. I have to make sure that the money is well spent. On Leader, the projects approved number 429, with money spent to date amounting to €11 million. In terms of how much capital will be spent this year, to date the figure is €10,687,000.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: The Deputy is correct. It is very small money. I expect that by the end of the year a total of 429 projects to the value of €11 million will have been approved. Today, payments will be made by the Department if projects begin to submit claims for funding. I hope we can get the figure up to €11 million.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: No, not capital spending. I have to wait and see what they are going to-----

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: To date, we have spent €10.687 million.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: I accept that the Deputy is quite correct. There will be another spend. That is why I took the €10 million out.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: Again, I cannot. People have to do their job. I have done mine. The funding is there. I have regularised the scheme and made it easier to run schemes. I cannot but wait to see what happens. That is what I am doing today. Next week, we will see what the other spend will be.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: Very clearly.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: I would not accept it. The Deputy made a very valid point about the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. I had to go in and clean up a terrible mess there. We could not have a sports capital programme because there was so much outstanding money. I had to bring in local authorities and take money from them. I had to talk to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform because so...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: The Deputy referred to the Leader programme. He raised a point I wished to raise. The Deputy is correct in that the biggest problem we had was that there was a large amount of outstanding money. When I sought funding for the sports capital programme from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, I was asked how I could be allocated money when there was already money outstanding. ...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: Deputy Canney is correct. I have dealt with the issues. There were problems with the programme, and we simplified it and made 31 changes. I cannot do any more for now. I met the Leader companies' national organisation last week and asked if there were any other difficulties. It felt that two-thirds of the 31 changes we made had been implemented and it is now seeing the programme freeing...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: That is why I took €10 million out of the LIS and I intend to announce a number of other schemes between now and the end of the year to try to spend some of that money. As the Deputy knows, I have to ask the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for permission to defer money from different schemes. It is not a simple process.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: The Deputy criticises me when we cannot spend money. I tried to get schemes up and running. I asked local authorities to meet local communities. Local authorities submitted the applications and we adjudicated on them.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: The current position arose following the first round of submissions. In the first round, local authorities were asked to submit four projects and when they submitted them we allocated grant aid. In the next round we had a competition and examined the schemes. The situation was similar to what happened with regard to the hub in Skibbereen. We examined hubs where jobs could be created and...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: As I said, I am monitoring the situation. To be fair, a 15-month period is involved. Some of the funding will be spent this year, but most will be spent next year.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: I will look for-----

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: I will seek to carry over some of the allocation for the Department. I will have a €7.7 million carryover. As I stated, I am monitoring the local authorities and I will also announce a number of schemes in the coming weeks. As with all Ministers, I do not want funding for my Department to be returned to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I want to spend my allocation...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: Last week, under the RAPID programme, the Department made an allocation of €2.5 million to inner city Dublin and at least the same amount to the rest of the country. The scheme is up and running again.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: I want to target areas of serious disadvantage. The local authorities and local community development committees, LCDCs, will identify where the needs are. This is a good idea as it gives the LCDCs a degree of autonomy. We will wait to see how it works.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: I will make two points on the RAPID programme. I visited Dublin's inner city two weeks ago where I saw money being targeted in an area that needs it. I also saw the results of the targeted funding and I was very happy with them. As the Deputy is aware, a value for money policy review was done on the RAPID programme in 2011. The review recommended that we should no longer use the...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (15 Nov 2017)

Michael Ring: This has come down to the LCDCs and local members. I expect they will know what is happening on the ground and will be able to identify the areas of need.