Results 1,121-1,140 of 6,728 for speaker:John Curran
- Written Answers — Active Citizenship: Active Citizenship (29 Jan 2009)
John Curran: The Government has made significant progress in advancing measures in support of objectives on Volunteering and Active Citizenship. The Task Force on Active Citizenship recommended that a network of volunteer centres be funded across the country. My Department now provides annual funding of over â¬2.5m to twenty such centres. In 2008, these centres registered over 7,500 volunteers and over...
- Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (29 Jan 2009)
John Curran: I regularly meet with senior Gardaà to keep up to-date with developments in respect of their drug-related operations. Reports on their progress are also made, on a quarterly basis, to the Inter Departmental Group on Drugs, which I chair. Gardaà are also represented on Local and Regional Drugs Tasks Forces. There has been significant success in relation to the supply reduction pillar of...
- Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (29 Jan 2009)
John Curran: I propose to take Questions Nos. 33 and 35 together. As the Deputies will be aware, the Dial-to-Stop Drug Dealing Campaign was officially launched on 30 September 2008. This initiative involves a number of local and regional campaigns run through the mechanism of the Local and Regional Drugs Task Forces. The campaigns are designed to encourage people to provide any information they may have...
- Written Answers — Voluntary Sector Funding: Voluntary Sector Funding (29 Jan 2009)
John Curran: In 2009, my Department is committed to the ongoing development of supports to strengthen and underpin the work of the community and voluntary sector in Ireland. Indeed, the growth of the sector in recent years has been accompanied by a significant expansion of supports by Government. My Department alone provides funding in excess of â¬400m annually to the groups and measures across the...
- Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (29 Jan 2009)
John Curran: I propose to take Questions Nos. 114 and 115 together. This Government is firmly committed to tackling the problem of drug misuse in our society. This is evidenced by the fact that the funding targeted at community-based initiatives funded through my Department's Vote doubled from 2003 to 2008 â from â¬31.5m over â¬64m. These amounts included funding for the Young Peoples Facilities and...
- Written Answers — Community Support: Community Support (3 Feb 2009)
John Curran: My Department manages the Scheme of Community Support for Older People, which assists qualifying older people, by means of a community based grant scheme. Funding is provided towards the once-off cost of installing monitored alarm systems, door and window locks, door chains, security lighting, smoke alarms and in the case of qualifying older people living on our offshore islands, interior...
- Written Answers — National Drugs Strategy: National Drugs Strategy (3 Feb 2009)
John Curran: I propose to take Questions Nos. 300 and 303 together. As the Deputies will be aware, the Dial-to-Stop Drug Dealing Campaign was officially launched on 30 September 2008. I would see the campaign as part of a range of initiatives that are used to apprehend those engaged in drug dealing. The Local and Regional Drugs Task Forces are used to run the campaign which is designed to encourage...
- Written Answers — Community Development: Community Development (4 Feb 2009)
John Curran: The Government has made significant progress in advancing measures in support of objectives on Volunteering and Active Citizenship. The Task Force on Active Citizenship recommended that a network of volunteer centres be funded across the country. My Department now provides annual funding of over â¬2.5m to twenty such centres. In 2008, these centres registered over 7,500 volunteers and over...
- Written Answers — Community Development: Community Development (10 Feb 2009)
John Curran: The RAPID Programme aims to ensure that priority attention is given to tackling the spatial concentration of poverty and social exclusion within the 46 designated RAPID areas. In addition, the RAPID leverage schemes support small-scale projects identified locally by the Area Implementation Teams in each of the RAPID areas. These schemes are co-funded by the relevant agencies and fund...
- Written Answers — Community Development: Community Development (10 Feb 2009)
John Curran: The Project to which the Deputy refers was funded under the Community Development Programme since 2004, receiving funding in excess of â¬371,000 under the Programme in that time. The Project was advised late last year by their auditors and legal advisors to close the Project, which occurred early December 2008. Department officials are investigating alternative mechanisms for delivering on...
- Written Answers — Drug Treatment Programme: Drug Treatment Programme (10 Feb 2009)
John Curran: Between 2005 and 2008, the North Eastern Regional Drugs Task Force (NERDTF) was allocated the following funding to implement their strategic plan: 2005 â â¬410,000; 2006 â â¬636,410; 2007 â â¬891,644; 2008 â â¬1,082,902. This funding covers a number of projects across the region in the areas of prevention, education, treatment, rehabilitation and family support. In addition to...
- Written Answers — Social Inclusion Programme: Social Inclusion Programme (10 Feb 2009)
John Curran: The process of awarding the new LDSIP contract to the company mentioned by the Deputy, which will apply to the whole county of Meath, has not yet been completed. My Department, in conjunction with Pobal, is seeking to finalise some issues with the process of awarding the contract and I am hopeful that this can be brought to a conclusion shortly.
- Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)
John Curran: Before we start to discuss the specific amendments before the House today, I briefly want to clarify for Members why I am returning to the House with more than 80 amendments to the Bill as originally passed by the House in last November. The amendments fall into a number of categories and a good proportion of them are presentational, drafting and technical type amendments on the advice of...
- Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)
John Curran: The amendments before us do not refer specifically to human rights. However, as the issue has been raised by many speakers, I would like to address it. To be fair, the issue of human rights has received considerable debate at different Stages in this and the other House. I reiterate that "charitable purposes" as provided for in section 3 mirror those changes developed in common law over...
- Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)
John Curran: The Deputy is correct that the purpose of the Bill is to maintain the status quo. As at present with regard to the Revenue Commissioners, human rights per se is not recognised as a charitable purpose yet organisations like Amnesty International are registered and will automatically be deemed to be registered with the new authority. The central point is that this legislation was drawn up to...
- Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)
John Curran: None of the amendments we are considering refer to human rights.
- Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)
John Curran: The Deputy is correct that this area has been extremely complex. I inherited the Bill in the course of its passage through the Oireachtas and two of my predecessors as Minister of State, Deputies Pat Carey and Noel Ahern, dealt with the earlier Stages. The underlying issue was that while this is complex, we are trying to maintain the status quo. We are considering what Revenue has done....
- Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)
John Curran: These amendments have been grouped as they relate to charitable trusts. While it is unlikely there are many, if any, single trustee charities, on the basis of legal advice, amendment No. 2 amends the definition of body to cater for such a scenario. Amendments Nos. 3 and 4 are technical amendments. They provide for necessary redefinitions of charitable organisations and trusts arising from...
- Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)
John Curran: I reiterated the position regarding human rights and the position for existing charities. I specifically set out the charitable purposes for which new charities could be recognised. That maintains the status quo. I refer to the remarks of Deputy Wall on the wider issue of trustees and trust law. There is a difference between the wider issue and the matter with which we are dealing. I...
- Charities Bill 2007: From the Seanad (11 Feb 2009)
John Curran: This grouping includes amendments made on the basis of legal advice, principally to clarify matters. One of my basic aims for the legislation was to make charities secure from takeover or from being undermined or misused by criminal or terrorist groups. It is vital this does not occur. Concerns were expressed by Senators during the passage of the Bill through the Seanad and similar...