Results 11,341-11,360 of 15,805 for speaker:Michael Ring

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: I will respond first to Deputy Martin Kenny, who was speaking in the Dáil when I gave the figures. Up to 900 projects have been approved, with approximately €26 million spent. A total of 285 projects are awaiting approval. In the Deputy's county, Leitrim, there were 20 approvals for a total spend of €498,000. A further 25 projects are waiting to be approved for spending...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: In the Galway east programme, there has been nothing, not even an application. Nothing has been approved. In Galway west, six were approved to the value of €92,554.17, and seven are waiting to be approved to the value of €81,679.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: Six projects have been approved.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: I beg the Deputy's pardon. He is right. In Galway east, nothing has been approved.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: The number listed here is zero. To be fair, as the Deputy will know, there was a second local action group selection process in Galway. That was only carried out in April 2017.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: The contracts were not signed.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: I will get my officials to look into it and see what is going on. However, the figure here is zero.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: They are, and I will get my officials to have a chat with them in order to discover what is actually happening.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: In the context of pre-spending, 86% of the funding has been spent.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: It is true that 14% has not been spent, but 86% of it has.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: In some of the schemes, 100% of the funding has been spent. The figure for other schemes 84% or 89%. When the pre-funding amounts for all the schemes are added together, including town and village programmes and the rural recreational programme, 86% of the 2016 disbursal has been spent.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: I have written to them asking them to give me an outline. I met representatives from the County and City Management Association and they gave me a commitment that the money would be spent in the first quarter of the year. To be fair, which I suppose we have to be, I am giving them a bit of time because of the weather. We had a bad winter. However, we have written to them. I want a...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: The Deputy is quite correct that some of the local authorities have failed again. Some, such as Carlow and Cavan, spent 100%. I will not go through every county in the list, but it goes down to Donegal which spent 8% of the funding provided to it for the town and village renewal scheme. We do not want to penalise the local authorities which performed and delivered and we need to deal with...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: There are two good ideas here. I am giving serious consideration to one in circumstances where I have deputations every day on group water schemes. The Deputy is quite correct that a lot of these schemes were ready to go before the crash which did not then go ahead. On costs and the local contributions, Deputy Ó Cuív brought that scheme in a number of years ago. As such, there...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport does not have much of a record for matching the funding that I have put in place and it is not for the want of my asking. I refer to the local improvement scheme, LIS. Deputy Ó Cuív is a former Minister for my Department and he is right about leverage. I will outline what I have seen happen with the CLÁR programme, the rural...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: To be fair, Deputy Martin Kenny attended many of launches of our projects. One of the flagship projects that I always talk about is the one in Drumshanbo. I have talked to community leaders and business people, as I am sure the Deputy has done, about Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: Yes. Waterways Ireland built the walkway with funding of €700,000 from my Department. We continued the project into Leitrim village and on to Carrick-on-Shannon. Another €1 million has been allocated for the latest connection. It is incredible what the project has done for the county and other examples can be found in Longford, Lubgate in Skibbereen, County Cork and Offaly....

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: The Deputy is correct. That is what we are trying to address. He is right when he speaks about depopulation. That is why we have the national plan and the capital plan. That is why the rural regeneration scheme is in place. This is about targeting communities. It does not have to be the councils. We hope community groups, State agencies, chambers of commerce and people will come...

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: It is.

Select Committee on Rural and Community Development: Estimates for Public Services 2018
Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development (Revised) (25 Apr 2018)

Michael Ring: I know that. When I was in Boston recently, I was told it is the most modern city in the world. It has big problems such as unemployment and traffic congestion, just like Dublin does. When one travels a mile outside Boston, there is no broadband. The mayor told me that it is a big issue. It is a big issue all over the world. Up to 71% of rural Ireland is now going to have broadband. A...